A single wolf kill is unpredictable, but kills cluster in certain areas. Ravens—and possibly other species—learn those patterns.

Spatial memory may play a larger role than previously thought in how scavengers find food.

@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
@fiwivienna.bsky.social

Video: Matthias Loretto

We GPS-tracked 69 ravens + 20 wolves + 11 cougars across Yellowstone NP for 2.5 years + recorded 492 ungulates killed by those carnivores

Ravens associated with wolves but rarely with cougars, and fed from wolf kills far more often—showing this strategy mainly works with wolves

📷 Matthias Loretto

For decades biologists assumed ravens follow wolves to their kills.
Our paper @science.org shows something different: ravens rarely follow wolves far. Instead they remember areas where wolf kills are common and return to them—sometimes from >150 km away.
doi.org/10.1126/science.adz9467
📷Dan Stahler