11/20/2025
“A coastal wolf in Canada has been filmed hauling in a crab trap — and researchers aren’t calling it luck. Scientists at the University of Victoria say this behaviour may qualify as tool use: the wolf recognising a human-made device, understanding its function, and exploiting it to access trapped prey.
It’s a remarkable example of cognitive flexibility. These sea-wolves already hunt fish, dive for shellfish, and navigate tidal zones — but using human gear as a foraging tool suggests an even higher level of problem-solving than previously documented.”
Source:
researcher Paul Paquet, new paper published today,
Potential Tool Use by Wolves (Canis lupus): Crab Trap Pulling in Haíɫzaqv Nation Territory. (Ecology & Evolution)
Heiltsuk First Nation, camera traps, Kyle Artelle and UVic Applied Conservation Lab.
Remote camera video (five separate sequential videos combined) of a wolf in Haíɫzaqv Territory pulling an initially submerged green crab trap to shore to access baited cup within. Observation recorded on May 29, 2024 (not April—erroneous date set on camera). Video content can be viewed at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.72348.
