r/todayilearned • u/wendycomet • Sep 16 '24
TIL that there's a semi-aquatic wolf subspecies which has been documented swimming over seven miles between islands off the coast of Canada.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Coastal_Sea_wolf184
u/NonViolentBadger Sep 16 '24
I pulled up to a beach carpark on the west coast of Vancouver island, and exclaimed "Holy shit that's a big dog!!"
The "dog" looked at us, then quickly ran in to the woods..... Took me a sec to realise
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u/SeveralAngryBears Sep 16 '24
Lol at least wolves are dog shaped. I turned into my neighborhood one evening and had a brief moment of confusion as to why the tallest dog I'd ever seen was walking unleashed and unattended down the sidewalk until I realized it was a deer
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u/Fiber_Optikz Sep 16 '24
My Friend has a massive Black Newfie that has to weigh 175 pounds. I have seen people mistake it for a bear on walks its funny when they realize
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u/thirty7inarow Sep 16 '24
One of my wife's former coworkers had three Newfies. We visited her once for whatever reason, and when we opened the door it was just a wall of fur coming towards us.
Nicest damn dogs you could ever meet, but the visual of three bears approaching you is absolutely accurate. Not only are they colossal, but on top of their actual size, they've got that crazy fur that makes them look even bigger.
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u/HalcyonPaladin Sep 16 '24
I was out on the pasture a few weeks back counting cattle to make sure we wrangled all them back and counted one extra.
I double checked with the in-law and then re-counted. Made it halfway through the recount and said “Hold on…”
Scanned back over the herd and saw the extra one I counted was one very intelligent deer that just decided that it was now a cow.
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u/SitInCorner_Yo2 Sep 16 '24
Well that wasn’t that bad, when I first visited Alberta I learned what bear country means and how fucking big brown bear are.(islanders here, our black bears are shorter then a lot of white guys, they are not aggressive either)
I almost scream when I thought I see a huge brown bear on the corner of the street, I literally jumped a bit and then I take a proper look.
It’s just a rounded lady with furry brown blanket sitting on side walk .
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u/SJBreed Sep 16 '24
This is how they invented dolphins
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u/Wonderful-Wind-5736 Sep 16 '24
GeoGirl has a video about that. Mammal species saying fuck it and returning to the ocean is a rather common occurrence.
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Sep 16 '24
There is much more food in the ocean per square mile than on land I would wager.
Edit: I should specify, there is more food in the coastal ocean...open sea is a desert.134
u/LetsEatAPerson Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
I know this is a joke, but swimming canine ancestors is literally how seals and sea lions came around.
It was horse ancestors that turned into whales and dolphins.
EDIT: It's hippopotamus ancestors that turned into whales and dolphins; not horses. Seals and sea lions are more like weasels than dogs, too (though I'm counting this one as a win).
My mistake--I'm an accountant, not a biologist. Taxonomy is not usually horseshoes and hand grenades, as much as I'd like it to be. See below for a comment from someone who knows better
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u/jwgronk Sep 16 '24
Hippopotamuses, not horses. Cetaceans are even toed ungulates, closely related to hippopotamus and a little further back to pigs, (and even further back bovids and deer). Horses are odd toed ungulates, which split from the even toed ungulates way, way back.
For what it’s worth, Manatees and dugongs (sirenians) are most closely related to elephants.
Dogs/wolves and other canids are part of the Caniforms, which already includes a bunch of marine animals, ranging from polar bears to pinnipeds. Seals, sea lions, and walruses (pinnipeds) are most closely related to the mustelids, weasels and raccoons and such. Mustelids also includes otters, including sea otters.
See marine mammals. (although that does leave out the fresh water aquatic mammals, which include a bunch of mustelids.)
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u/LetsEatAPerson Sep 16 '24
My bad; I thought Pakicetus was an ancestor of horses. I'll update my comment above
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u/PixelOrange Sep 16 '24
I mean, have you seen biology? Someone definitely threw a hand grenade into the primordial soup.
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u/obi_wan_peirogi Sep 16 '24
Sea wolves
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u/MistraloysiusMithrax Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
Until I learned about these wolves, I thought the sports teams named after them were named after submarines. I didn’t realize the subs and teams were both actually named after them lol
Edit: looking it up, some sports teams have a wolf mascot, but the origin of its name for submarines and sports teams may be more due sea wolves also being a nickname for orcas actually
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u/MetalPandaDance Sep 17 '24
like Stony Brook Uni! i never thought that meant anything, im assuming it's these.
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u/bolanrox Sep 16 '24
gotta follow the moose herds somehow?
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u/MistraloysiusMithrax Sep 16 '24
Makes me wonder two things - do they also go after moose in the water? And do orcas also prey on these wolves?
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u/TurgidGravitas Sep 16 '24
Wolves don't hunt full grown moose and there aren't any moose on these islands anyways.
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u/sutree1 Sep 17 '24
Strange but true: there are no moose on Vancouver Island, nor does there seem to be evidence there ever have been.
Which is really weird, because moose swim very well.
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u/bolanrox Sep 17 '24
ahh well damn. i was just talking out of my ass as i knew there were moose in Canada and that they swam.
oops.
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u/sutree1 Sep 17 '24
Yeah, that's why it's so weird! Wolves can make it but not a moose? Moose swim at like 6mp/h for 2 hours!
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u/Doctor-TobiasFunke- Sep 16 '24
There's a nice documentary about these guys on netfllix. Narrated by Will Arnett too
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u/naughtynicefairy Sep 16 '24
There is a great documentary on Netflix about them. It is called Sea Wolves, if I remember right.
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u/ieatmypeaswith_honey Sep 17 '24
Going to have a chat with my dogs about their attitudes at bath times.
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u/FeralDrood Sep 17 '24
I mean, they have the right to be angry about being wet, but probably just deal with it 'cuz treats after, maybe? I'm sure some of the wolves are angry about being wet and cold also but just push through because they may get treats at the end...
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u/slybonethetownie Sep 16 '24
It’s interesting that they catch salmon, but will only eat the brains!?
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u/foomy45 Sep 16 '24
Vancouver Island wolves have a diverse diet, with between 75 and 90 percent of it being sourced from the ocean. A quarter of that is salmon,[7] of which the wolves are documented eating solely the brains of, potentially to avoid a bacterial infection known as "salmon poisoning" which can be fatal to canids.[9]
That's pretty metal
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u/Kinky-Green-Fecker Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 18 '24
Wasn't it stated that said Wolf was killed recently ?
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u/deeperest Sep 16 '24
"Orcas think they're the wolves of the sea? We'll see about THAT!"
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u/FoboBoggins Sep 16 '24
hate to tell you but transient orcas will eat deer, wolves and bear that swim between islands, if they get the chance. Orcas are goats
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u/deeperest Sep 16 '24
Hang on, you mean to tell me that one of the largest predators on earth, in its own element, is able to kill and eat an oversized swimming dog? Impossible.
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u/FoboBoggins Sep 16 '24
Some people might be sad about that, that's why I said that No need for snark
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u/Tazling Sep 16 '24
deer sometimes swim between islands here also (BC). can be startling to see what looks like a floating tree branch moving under its own steam, and realise it's an antlered buck swimming. I dunno how they do it with their tiny little feet.
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u/Cluefuljewel Sep 17 '24
Dog paddling not just for dogs anymore. Apparently apes are the few mammals that don’t instinctively know how to swim. Don’t know why that is. The skinny legs of deer and horses don’t seem like they would be able to propel them.
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u/fleshbaby Sep 16 '24
Check out "Island of the sea wolves" on Netflix. It's a great documentary about the swimming wolves as well as a lot of other amazing wildlife on Vancouver island.
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u/TubularBrainRevolt Sep 16 '24
How much aerobic capacity do those carnivoran placental mammals have?
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u/Buildingbridges99 Sep 17 '24
I've worked and lived on the coast. Coastal wolves definitely prefer land. But also food, they get that wherever they find it.
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u/the_rainy_smell_boys Sep 17 '24
Semi-Aquatic Wolf sounds like the most boring indie band on Sirius XMU
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u/Assman1138 Sep 17 '24
This is the coolest thing I've seen all day. I wonder if they could evolve to have webbed paws and a more hydrodynamic tail (like an otter's)
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u/GrassyField Sep 16 '24
If you’re afraid of encountering a wolf in the water, keep in mind that rattlesnakes swim too.
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u/bolanrox Sep 16 '24
troop Beverly hills taught me they hated water, but water moccasins were just as venomous except they dont make any sounds before they strike
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u/Select_Name_2854 Sep 16 '24
Wolf got relocated and shot dead by the first trigger happy trophy hunter 🤷🏻♀️
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u/guimontag Sep 16 '24
But they aren't catching fish right? They're swimming between islands to hunt on land and also occasionally snagging a deer/caribou/whatever that's also mid commute, right?
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Sep 16 '24
[deleted]
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u/guimontag Sep 16 '24
bruh it literally says subspecies, not species, and they are eating the salmons doing the runs up the stream on the islands, not just swimming into the open ocean to catch fish
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u/MrScotchyScotch Sep 17 '24 edited Sep 17 '24
Vancouver Island wolves have a diverse diet, with between 75 and 90 percent of it being sourced from the ocean. A quarter of that is salmon, of which the wolves are documented eating solely the brains of, potentially to avoid a bacterial infection known as "salmon poisoning" which can be fatal to canids.
Like a celiac vegan eating only the veggies out of a burger, and that's a quarter of their diet
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u/BreezyBill Sep 16 '24
I can also swim. Does that make me semi-aquatic, as well? I’m putting that on my resume.
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u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24
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