'Amazing' video shows wolf hunting fish in northern Minnesota

INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Voyageurs Wolf Project shared "amazing" video of a wolf hunting fish recently in northern Minnesota. 

The breeding female wolf of the Windsong Pack was captured on trail cameras fishing over the past few days in the Voyageurs National Park area of Minnesota, with the organization noting all the wolf has done the past few weeks is "fish and spend time with her pups, who are starting their young lives as pescatarians, it seems."

"The footage is particularly neat because it shows her lying down on a small island in the middle of the river to wait-in-ambush for fish. As she waits, her ears are constantly flickering and twitching as she tries to detect fish breaking the surface of the water," the Voyageurs Wolf Project says. "Cueing in on the sound of fish splashing in water appears to be one of the primary ways wolves hunt fish in our area."

In one hunting expedition, the wolf catches a fish as it goes down the rapids, killing the fish and carrying it away, the organization notes. Data from the wolf's GPS collar show soon after she caught the fish, she went back to her den and probably gave the fish to her pups, Voyageurs Wolf Project said. 

Voyageurs Wolf Project knows of three other packs that have been hunting fish over the past few weeks. This is the seventh year the organization has documented fishing behavior.

"Every year we see [and] document more individuals from different social groups fishing — all of which indicates fishing is a widespread behavior of wolves in northern Minnesota and likely similar boreal ecosystems," the Voyageurs Wolf Project says. 

The Voyageurs Wolf Project is a research project through the University of Minnesota aimed at furthering an understanding of wolf behavior, specifically how wolves spend their summer. The organization shares its discoveries on social media and near-daily videos and photos from its trail cameras of wolves and other animals that call Minnesota home, amassing a large and loyal group of followers. 

To learn more about what the organization does and how you can support it, visit the Voyageurs Wolf Project website here.