Researchers in Canada have documented a wild gray wolf hauling a crab trap out of the water to eat the bait inside, according to a recent study. Researchers suggest it may be the first recorded example of possible tool use by a wolf (Canis lupus). The finding emerged from a program maintained by Indigenous Haíɫzaqv guardians to trap and remove invasive European green crabs (Carcinus maenas) from coastal British Columbia province. When several traps were found damaged, the guardians and collaborating scientists first suspected bears or wolves could be the culprit. However, some of the traps remained fully submerged, even at low tide, so they suspected otters or seals instead. To put an end to the mystery, they set up a camera trap aimed at a crab trap where there had been previous damage. “We figured maybe we’ll see a seal nearby,” Kyle Artelle, study first author from the State University of New York in the U.S., told Mongabay in a video call. “And so that might give us the first hint that it’s a seal and then maybe we could follow up with GoPros in the trap itself.” However, the video instead captured a wolf swimming to shore with the trap’s rope in her mouth. She then put the rope down and pulled in more of it until the entire trap was on shore. Then she opened the trap and took out the herring bait inside. These actions suggest the wolf understood there was food inside a hidden, submerged…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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