WEBVTT

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It's an isolated wilderness
preserve on the largest island

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in the largest lake
in the world.

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Isle Royale,

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where there's a battle royale
between a population of moose

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and a population of wolves,
duking it out for survival.

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(♪♪♪)

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(♪♪♪)

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It's just after sunrise in
Copper Harbor, Michigan.

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These adventurers are
getting ready to head out

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into the middle of
Lake Superior to an island

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unlike anywhere
else on the planet.

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(Boat horn sounding)

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Welcome aboard,
ladies and gentlemen.

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Welcome aboard the
Isle Royale Queen IV.

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My dad bought the boat in 1971
and I've been coming here for...

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This is our 44th year.

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Captain Don Kilpela is
heading out to Isle Royale,

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a massive island
in Lake Superior

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protected from the touches
of modern-day life.

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Tucked up near Thunder Bay
in Canada, the island actually

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belongs to the state of
Michigan in the United States.

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If Lake Superior is shaped
like the head of a wolf,

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then Isle Royale is its eye.

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Take a look around, you know?

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Take a look!

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I love Isle Royale.

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I think Isle Royale is the most
beautiful place in the Midwest.

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It's beautiful because
it's pristine wilderness.

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The island is home to a
population of wolves and moose,

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and being isolated from the
mainland means it's the

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perfect place for researchers
to study predator and prey.

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But when their
population balance shifts,

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the whole island is at risk.

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Researchers are trying to
figure out when to intervene

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and when to let
Mother Nature take charge.

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It's not exactly an
easy spot to visit.

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You gotta take a boat or
you gotta take a sea plane.

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You've gotta make arrangements.

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It's usually a 2-day
travel experience.

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It's 50 miles long,
10 miles wide.

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It was a resort area
and a commercial fishery

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in the 1850s, 1860s.

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They had copper mining there.

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In 1944 it was, by Congress,
enacted as a national park.

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You really feel like you have
a wilderness experience

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when you come out here.

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There's no roads.

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There's no cars.

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There's no electricity.

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99.8% of the island is
a wilderness area.

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I've been saying
this for many years:

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only the hardiest of the
hardy go to Isle Royale.

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The hardy visit, but the
hardiest work here.

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Rolf Peterson has been coming
to the island for 44 years,

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living here for 6 months at
a time to keep watch over

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the moose and the wolves.

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It's a perfect combination
of science and a great story.

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Isle Royale provides a
really unique observatory

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more than an experimental area.

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We're just observing nature.

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It's a simple system where the
whole island is dominated by a

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single predator, the wolf, and a
major prey animal, the moose.

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And that interaction
has fascinated scientists

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for over half a century.

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Because the whole island is
dominated by these 2 animals,

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Rolf's job is to ring the alarm

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if the whole system
goes out of balance.

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The science part of it is to

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figure out how
nature works, basically.

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What role do predators have in
the dynamics of their prey

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and in the ecosystem
in which they live.

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It's not a static balance.

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I don't even like the word
"balance," 'cause it implies

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some kind of an
equilibrium out there.

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This year, he's counted a
thousand moose on the island.

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That's more moose
per square kilometre

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than anywhere else
in North America.

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In the past, there've been
as many as 2,500 moose

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on the island.

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Yeah, there's a bull moose
feeding in this pond,

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on leftover plants
from last year.

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Aquatic plants.

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And that's a real important
source of protein for moose.

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He's lost a lot of his hair to
winter ticks that were on him

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last year during the winter.

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They're all off him now,
but they're so irritating

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that the moose bite off their
hair and rub off their hair.

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His antlers are growing real
fast right now, and they're

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about 10" long, and they'll
get to be perhaps 3' long.

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She's a young...

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Could be a yearling,

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who's been kicked out of
the house by her mom.

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And so she's looking
for her mom.

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And life is just bad
for a yearling.

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So if her mother has a calf,
she'll get rid of her

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year-old offspring so that
that calf bonds just with her.

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If you're a moose, life is just
full of danger, and everything

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about them is geared
towards avoiding predators.

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Their huge ears allow them
to hear things a mile away.

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That big nose, which looks so
awkward, is full of fancy valves

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that allow them to shut off
their nostrils voluntarily.

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They can close their nose off.

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We can't do that, you know,
we gotta go like that.

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By closing their noses,
moose can swim far distances,

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which is how they got to
the island in the first place.

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Moose probably swam over here
early in the 20th century,

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and then they went through
a big boom and bust

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without any predators here.

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Quickly the moose population
shot up into the thousands,

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gobbling up huge
swathes of the forest,

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almost destroying the island.

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What to do about the
overabundant moose population

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was the prominent wildlife
management controversy

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of the entire National Park
system in the '40s.

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That went away soon
as the wolves showed up.

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The wolves showed up thanks
to a particularly cold winter

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in the 1950s.

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Lake Superior froze solid
and the wolves strolled over

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from Canada to an
all-you-can-eat moose buffet.

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Wolves are a lot tougher
to spot than the moose,

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even for a seasoned
expert like Rolf.

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Saw one at Lake Ojibway once,
a couple years ago.

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Uh, yeah, it's been 2 or 3 years
at least.

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Despite having plenty to eat,
the wolves still have problems.

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Since their population
is small and isolated,

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inbreeding is
putting them at risk.

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Rolf is looking for any clues
they may have left behind.

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Here we've got a wolf scat
from the spring,

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and we just keep track
of what they're eating

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from the hair
that's in the scat.

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So it's either moose
or beaver usually.

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This one's all beaver.

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Okay.

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Moving on.

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I saw a wolf track here,
so they've been by here.

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They love beaver dams because
that's where they catch beaver

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when beaver cross.

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To catch the wolves in action,
he installs remove cameras

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around the island.

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Now this is a remote camera

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that's triggered
by heat and motion.

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So an animal walking by
here will set off the camera,

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and it'll film.

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This camera will stay up for
months, until the battery dies.

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Rolf needs this footage to know
how the wolves are doing,

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and he's not optimistic.

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Right now, the island
is in danger of losing

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its top predator.

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There are only 8 left, the
fewest wolves ever counted.

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If they die out, the moose
population will grow too big

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for the island to handle.

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What really directs what
happens here are unpredictable

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big events, and they're like the
freight train coming around

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the corner that you
don't know is approaching,

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but it's gonna change
everything when it gets there.

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The big events
can start out small.

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In 1980, a visitor brought
their pet dog to Isle Royale,

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introducing canine
parvovirus to the wolves,

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which killed off
half the population.

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That allowed the moose
to grow out of control,

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decimating the food
supply on the island.

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So much so that in 1996, 75% of
the moose died of starvation.

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The next year, an immigrant wolf
came from the mainland.

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He started breeding right away.

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His genes started going out
throughout the whole island,

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because his offspring
dispersed and became

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breeders in all the rest of
the packs within 3 years.

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And so his arrival led to
a genetic rejuvenation

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of the population.

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They rose to high levels.

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And they started killing moose

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at a rate that we'd
never seen before.

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Now the wolf population is back
down because of inbreeding.

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Everybody's so closely related,
they just can't find anybody

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but their brothers or sisters
or mom and dad to mate with.

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These record-low wolf
populations are affecting

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more than just the moose.

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So beaver are going up,
moose are going up, foxes are

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going down because they
rely on scavenged carcasses.

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Ravens are going down.

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I know what the future of
the island without wolves

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would look like, and
it's not very pretty.

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We've seen it before and
the public didn't like it.

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Scientists and
wildlife managers

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thought it was irresponsible,
actually.

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With the island so close
to the tipping point,

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Rolf calls in some volunteers
to give him a hand.

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Bones!

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Lots of 'em.

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Here on Isle Royale, Rolf
Peterson is trying to keep track

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of the moose and the wolves
living on this remote island.

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He's trying to analyze how
healthy the moose population is.

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For that, he needs to scour
the island for bones.

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At 72 kilometres long,
it's a huge chunk of land

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for one person to watch,
so he recruits volunteers

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to come give him a hand.

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I work as a data-programming
guy in health care

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in Jackson, Michigan.

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But this week I'm taking a
week of my valuable vacation

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so I can lead groups
of volunteers off-trail,

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and we're looking
for dead moose.

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And when we find them we do
a little backcountry "C.S.I."

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and we bring certain bones back.

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Bone!

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What you got?

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It's a scapula.

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Drop packs, guys,
and let's spread out

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and search around here.

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We'll probably find
some of the other bones.

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They're on the lookout
for 3 particular bones:

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the skull, the mandible, or
jawbone, and the metatarsus,

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which is a bone in the foot.

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Those particular bones will
give Rolf a lot of information

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about the moose,
like health and age.

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Bones!

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Lots of 'em!

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Where ya at, Larry?

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Toward the ridge.

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Okay.

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It's definitely a wolf kill.

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We've got the bones
spread out here.

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Some of the ribs
are chewed quite a bit.

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Yeah, they were taking
a nice, tasty lunch here.

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Oh, looks like I found
two leg bones over here.

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Which leg bones?

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Um, I really don't know my
bones as well as you do, so...

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Back leg.
Femur. Tib/fib.

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Okay.

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Keep looking.
We need the skull.

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We got a spread over here.

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Some vertebrae, some ribs.

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Oh, we got the pelvis.

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Good work, good work.

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So how's the pelvis look?

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Has it got any arthritis?

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That may be a
little bit right there.

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Ah-ha!

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Got a metatarsus.

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So this one's been chewed on,
but from the metatarsus

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we can tell roughly how healthy
and how big the moose was,

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so this is a keeper.

00:12:52.338 --> 00:12:55.541
Let me see if I can
arrange these.

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Okay, got the skull.

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Got the skull, guys!

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So this is definitely
a wolf kill.

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Um, the bones are
scattered about.

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We found these bones

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probably over a spread
of a good 200 feet.

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We haven't found all of them.

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A lot of the bones, especially
the ribs, have been chewed,

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so the wolves were
definitely quite hungry.

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This particular bull
is not very old.

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The teeth have not
been worn down a lot,

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and the pelvis is not showing
a lot of signs of arthritis,

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so it's a little curious
that they had a chance of

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pulling down a bull moose
at some point,

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probably in the
winter or early spring,

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'cause there's no antlers
growing on the skull

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at this point.

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So it might just have been
starving a little bit towards

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the end of winter, but for some
reason it was weakened and the

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wolves decided they could take
this particular moose down.

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And they ate
pretty much all of him.

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And we can't find all of him.

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And that's fairly typical
of most of the wolf kills.

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You don't find all the bones.

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Okay, guys, go find
another moose.

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Spread out in a picket line,
I got us on a bearing of 210.

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This team will be out in the
woods for a whole week,

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hunting for bones.

00:14:15.555 --> 00:14:18.191
Over the 13 or 14 years
that I've been doing this,

00:14:18.191 --> 00:14:21.627
I have probably found
90 to 100 moose

00:14:21.627 --> 00:14:24.530
that have contributed
to the project.

00:14:29.969 --> 00:14:33.172
Back at his cabin, Rolf goes
over every bone with his wife,

00:14:33.172 --> 00:14:36.275
Candy, looking for
clues into the animals' life.

00:14:36.275 --> 00:14:40.079
The bull skulls always weigh
much more than the cows',

00:14:40.079 --> 00:14:43.449
and you can see here that his
antlers had just fallen off,

00:14:43.449 --> 00:14:47.887
'cause it's kind of a concave
surface, and it's very rough.

00:14:47.887 --> 00:14:49.722
So he died early in the winter.

00:14:53.392 --> 00:14:55.027
That's this guy?

00:14:55.027 --> 00:14:56.129
Yep.

00:14:56.129 --> 00:14:58.431
Okay.
They match.

00:14:58.431 --> 00:15:01.000
All right.

00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:05.037
And then that goes there.

00:15:05.037 --> 00:15:10.576
Hmm.

00:15:10.576 --> 00:15:13.546
And, uh...

00:15:13.546 --> 00:15:16.582
But it was loose
and infected, so...

00:15:16.582 --> 00:15:19.085
All right.

00:15:19.085 --> 00:15:20.520
And that's the right...

00:15:20.520 --> 00:15:22.555
Left hip.

00:15:22.555 --> 00:15:24.157
Dislocated hip.

00:15:24.157 --> 00:15:25.992
He was limping.

00:15:25.992 --> 00:15:27.493
Probable wolf kill.

00:15:27.493 --> 00:15:29.061
Yep.
Okay.

00:15:29.061 --> 00:15:31.964
This is the haul
from this year alone.

00:15:31.964 --> 00:15:33.966
Rolf has amassed
quite the collection

00:15:33.966 --> 00:15:36.269
over the past few decades.

00:15:41.307 --> 00:15:43.910
Well, this is certainly the
world's most unique collection,

00:15:43.910 --> 00:15:47.713
and the biggest collection,
of antlered moose skulls.

00:15:47.713 --> 00:15:53.085
Yeah, we started collecting
skulls of moose in about 1979

00:15:53.085 --> 00:15:56.622
or so, to get more data
on the size of the skull,

00:15:56.622 --> 00:15:58.224
and particularly
the brain case,

00:15:58.224 --> 00:16:00.793
which is a sign
of early nutrition.

00:16:00.793 --> 00:16:03.996
From the antlers we can tell how
healthy it was, because that's

00:16:03.996 --> 00:16:06.599
what the ultimate
purpose of antlers is,

00:16:06.599 --> 00:16:11.003
is to indicate to females
how fit a bull is.

00:16:11.003 --> 00:16:14.173
Yeah, these moose
are a real exception.

00:16:14.173 --> 00:16:16.409
Most moose die
without their antlers on,

00:16:16.409 --> 00:16:18.477
and most of them
are killed by wolves.

00:16:18.477 --> 00:16:23.816
Each of these bulls has a story,
and some of the stories we know.

00:16:23.816 --> 00:16:26.752
These 2 guys in the
front died locked together.

00:16:26.752 --> 00:16:31.157
They got their antlers
stuck during a rutting fight

00:16:31.157 --> 00:16:33.259
and then couldn't pull apart.

00:16:33.259 --> 00:16:36.128
And they both died.

00:16:36.128 --> 00:16:41.734
This is a good example of a
moose that died pretty young,

00:16:41.734 --> 00:16:44.537
probably 2 or 3 years old.

00:16:44.537 --> 00:16:48.174
But his antlers were pretty
pathetic for a 2-year-old,

00:16:48.174 --> 00:16:49.775
and they were asymmetrical,

00:16:49.775 --> 00:16:52.511
which means there's something
wrong with his health.

00:16:52.511 --> 00:16:54.780
And the wolves killed him.

00:16:54.780 --> 00:16:56.749
This among all these
strange moose,

00:16:56.749 --> 00:16:58.684
this would certainly
be the strangest.

00:16:58.684 --> 00:17:00.820
It was born with
uncertain gender,

00:17:00.820 --> 00:17:03.890
neither completely male
nor completely female,

00:17:03.890 --> 00:17:07.260
and it didn't have enough male
testosterone, male hormone,

00:17:07.260 --> 00:17:11.697
to grow normal antlers.

00:17:11.697 --> 00:17:14.634
A set of antlers
that was originally

00:17:14.634 --> 00:17:16.269
attached to this moose.

00:17:16.269 --> 00:17:17.837
They're extremely heavy.

00:17:17.837 --> 00:17:22.375
A large antler might weight
10 lbs, 8 to 10 lbs.

00:17:22.375 --> 00:17:24.510
These are 3 times that, so...

00:17:24.510 --> 00:17:28.814
Each of these antlers
probably weighs about 30 lbs.

00:17:28.814 --> 00:17:32.051
Each of these bones helps
Rolf uncover the story

00:17:32.051 --> 00:17:34.854
of the animals on this island.

00:17:34.854 --> 00:17:36.956
It used to be a
wolf/moose story.

00:17:36.956 --> 00:17:39.759
Then it's a
wolf/moose/vegetation story.

00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:43.963
And then it's diseases of wolves
that have come into play,

00:17:43.963 --> 00:17:47.667
and parasites of moose in
the form of winter ticks.

00:17:47.667 --> 00:17:50.002
And so the story gets
more and more complicated

00:17:50.002 --> 00:17:51.704
with more and more players.

00:17:51.704 --> 00:17:54.040
That's how he gets
the story of the moose.

00:17:54.040 --> 00:17:56.409
But the wolves
are much trickier.

00:17:56.409 --> 00:17:59.312
When Rolf collects the remote
cameras from the island,

00:17:59.312 --> 00:18:02.415
he gets an eyeful that
he wasn't expecting.

00:18:02.415 --> 00:18:04.016
(Growling)

00:18:10.756 --> 00:18:14.260
On Isle Royale, Rolf Peterson
has just collected footage

00:18:14.260 --> 00:18:17.430
from his remote cameras
around the island.

00:18:17.430 --> 00:18:20.533
Wolves are incredibly
difficult to spot in the wild,

00:18:20.533 --> 00:18:23.102
so this footage is crucial.

00:18:23.102 --> 00:18:27.340
It's the first time he's seeing
these wolves up close in months.

00:18:27.340 --> 00:18:32.244
This is really the only
way we see, up close,

00:18:32.244 --> 00:18:35.715
the wolves behaving normally.

00:18:35.715 --> 00:18:38.718
Like here's an adult,
one of the males or females.

00:18:38.718 --> 00:18:42.188
We'll never see
that wolf up close.

00:18:42.188 --> 00:18:47.059
This is my first time through
what we picked up this winter.

00:18:47.059 --> 00:18:48.694
That's a fox.

00:18:48.694 --> 00:18:50.162
That's mostly what's going on.

00:18:50.162 --> 00:18:55.167
And it just snowed, so they
have to dig it all out.

00:18:55.167 --> 00:18:56.602
Ooh, wolf.

00:18:56.602 --> 00:18:58.637
Okay, that's what we want.

00:18:58.637 --> 00:19:01.140
If I can tell who it is,
that's nice.

00:19:01.140 --> 00:19:03.509
All I know is this is a pup.

00:19:03.509 --> 00:19:04.977
Probably another pup.

00:19:04.977 --> 00:19:08.147
There's 3 pups in this pack.

00:19:08.147 --> 00:19:11.283
Okay, that's the collared wolf.

00:19:11.283 --> 00:19:15.988
In his case, he's a
nonbreeding adult.

00:19:15.988 --> 00:19:18.824
His sister is the breeding...

00:19:18.824 --> 00:19:20.993
His sister is the
breeding female,

00:19:20.993 --> 00:19:26.999
and the male is a
more distant relative.

00:19:26.999 --> 00:19:30.202
Sometimes you can see
their femur protruding.

00:19:30.202 --> 00:19:32.671
No, this one looks fine.

00:19:32.671 --> 00:19:34.206
By the time pups
are 9 months old,

00:19:34.206 --> 00:19:37.376
they have to take
their place last in line.

00:19:37.376 --> 00:19:43.349
So if anybody starves it's
the youngsters at this age.

00:19:43.349 --> 00:19:49.155
So it's the alpha male and
female that will eat first.

00:19:49.155 --> 00:19:55.261
Oh, that's one of the adults
there now, chewing on a bone.

00:19:55.261 --> 00:19:56.862
So this was, oh,
maybe the only time

00:19:56.862 --> 00:19:58.831
I've gotten more
than 2 wolves...

00:19:58.831 --> 00:20:01.700
Well, 3 wolves a couple
times in the summer,

00:20:01.700 --> 00:20:04.603
but this is really good
because this, we now know,

00:20:04.603 --> 00:20:08.240
is a brother and sister
and then an aunt,

00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:10.309
who is much more cautious.

00:20:10.309 --> 00:20:13.412
She's waiting for these other
wolves to get through this area.

00:20:13.412 --> 00:20:15.014
Now she's coming.
See, I...

00:20:15.014 --> 00:20:17.083
I was there 10 days previously,

00:20:17.083 --> 00:20:21.320
and these wolves are
smelling my scent.

00:20:21.320 --> 00:20:23.422
Sometimes he
plants little surprises

00:20:23.422 --> 00:20:28.127
in front of the cameras,
just to see how they react.

00:20:28.127 --> 00:20:31.130
This is really important
footage for us, because it was

00:20:31.130 --> 00:20:35.267
the first time these 2 wolves,
we'd ever seen them.

00:20:35.267 --> 00:20:39.705
Then we put some scats here from
the other end of the island

00:20:39.705 --> 00:20:43.442
in hopes that they'd
stop and check it out.

00:20:43.442 --> 00:20:46.078
And they found it extremely
interesting, 'cause they know

00:20:46.078 --> 00:20:50.816
who these wolves are, but
they're not supposed to be here.

00:20:50.816 --> 00:20:52.651
Maybe that's what
they're thinking.

00:20:52.651 --> 00:20:55.154
And sometimes he
catches a glimpse

00:20:55.154 --> 00:20:58.357
at the predator/prey
relationship in action.

00:20:58.357 --> 00:21:03.963
This is one of the better
little clips we've ever caught.

00:21:03.963 --> 00:21:07.766
At night, wolves, all you can
see is the lights of their eyes,

00:21:07.766 --> 00:21:11.237
but it's the audio.
There it is.

00:21:11.237 --> 00:21:14.907
(Growling)

00:21:14.907 --> 00:21:16.275
There it is.

00:21:16.275 --> 00:21:20.913
That's a moose growling at these
wolves to intimidate them.

00:21:20.913 --> 00:21:24.416
(Growling)

00:21:24.416 --> 00:21:26.152
And I'd never heard that before.

00:21:26.152 --> 00:21:28.020
It's really wonderful,

00:21:28.020 --> 00:21:31.357
because the moose is about
a foot away from the camera.

00:21:31.357 --> 00:21:33.359
(Growling)

00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:37.429
And the wolves were intimidated,
and they all left.

00:21:37.429 --> 00:21:39.932
That sound sounds
like a lion roaring.

00:21:39.932 --> 00:21:41.467
So that's really...

00:21:41.467 --> 00:21:43.636
That's the kind of luck
we like to have.

00:21:48.007 --> 00:21:50.576
For now, the wolves
of Isle Royale

00:21:50.576 --> 00:21:52.778
still have a fighting chance.

00:21:52.778 --> 00:21:55.981
But Rolf doesn't want to leave
it up to chance this time.

00:21:55.981 --> 00:21:58.918
He's pushing to introduce
new wolves to the island,

00:21:58.918 --> 00:22:02.855
a pair of them to boost
the current population.

00:22:02.855 --> 00:22:06.492
John Vucetich and I, we share
the directorship of the study.

00:22:06.492 --> 00:22:09.762
We've both advised strongly
that putting wolves here

00:22:09.762 --> 00:22:13.232
from the mainland would be
a pretty smart thing to do

00:22:13.232 --> 00:22:17.203
in terms of conserving the
present population of wolves,

00:22:17.203 --> 00:22:20.272
and conserving their
position here on the island

00:22:20.272 --> 00:22:21.907
as an apex predator.

00:22:21.907 --> 00:22:26.178
And mostly keeping a lid on this
moose population, because once

00:22:26.178 --> 00:22:30.983
that population bomb goes off,
yeah, there's problems.

00:22:34.553 --> 00:22:38.057
It's a foggy, raining morning
on Isle Royale.

00:22:38.057 --> 00:22:40.693
Jeff and the other visitors
are on their way home

00:22:40.693 --> 00:22:43.662
after a week out in the wild.

00:22:43.662 --> 00:22:45.264
Out of the 4 teams
we found, I believe,

00:22:45.264 --> 00:22:47.333
about 19 or 20 different moose.

00:22:47.333 --> 00:22:49.568
We got a lot of data
for the project.

00:22:49.568 --> 00:22:53.138
And most of us are probably
happy to be going home so we can

00:22:53.138 --> 00:22:56.575
get some nice dry clothes and a
warm bed that we're used to.

00:22:56.575 --> 00:22:57.943
The wolves are definitely
an important part

00:22:57.943 --> 00:23:00.246
of the identity of
Isle Royale, I think.

00:23:00.246 --> 00:23:03.148
Just the chance to be
off-trail or on-trail

00:23:03.148 --> 00:23:04.617
and hear the wolves at night.

00:23:04.617 --> 00:23:07.620
Because they do howl, and that
does add a certain flare to the

00:23:07.620 --> 00:23:10.522
island that you're not gonna
get if the wolves are gone.

00:23:10.522 --> 00:23:12.825
And it's nice to know Isle
Royale's here and we're

00:23:12.825 --> 00:23:15.694
lucky enough to be able to
come back year after year.

00:23:15.694 --> 00:23:18.864
As they return to civilization
and the hustle and bustle

00:23:18.864 --> 00:23:22.101
of regular life,
Rolf is still here,

00:23:22.101 --> 00:23:26.171
fighting to keep the wolves
and the island alive.

00:23:26.171 --> 00:23:29.541
I would hope my legacy would
be that people would appreciate

00:23:29.541 --> 00:23:33.345
how important it is to have
a complete ecosystem,

00:23:33.345 --> 00:23:37.049
meaning top predators as well
as herbivores and vegetation

00:23:37.049 --> 00:23:40.219
in some kind of a relationship.

00:23:40.219 --> 00:23:43.789
And it appears to be rather
difficult, even after 50 years,

00:23:43.789 --> 00:23:47.526
for people to actually realize
that these wolves

00:23:47.526 --> 00:23:48.994
are actually pretty important.

00:23:48.994 --> 00:23:52.531
And they, in effect,
manage the island.

00:23:52.531 --> 00:23:54.967
It's just as simple as that.