As of 2008, the Wildlife Conservation Society has made a new study that cautions that removing the gray wolf from the protection of the Endangered Species Act may result in a decline in the pronghorn species. Since wolves are larger than coyotes, they decrease coyote numbers by either killing them or by causing them to shift to safer areas which are not inhabited by wolves. Healthy wolf packs balance out the coyote population, and the fewer the coyotes, the more pronghorns because coyotes and pronghorns have a predation relationship. Wolves are too big to feed on pronghorns themselves, since a small pronghorn won’t satisfy their empty stomachs. The wolves feed on coyotes, providing themselves with food, and reducing the amount of predators for the pronghorns.
Therefore, I think that in a way, wolves are the pronghorn’s best friend. The relationship between the pronghorns and the wolves is commensalism, a type of symbiosis that benefits one animal and does not affect the other. This is because when wolves eliminate some of the major predators of the pronghorn, its population increases since they have a longer life due to their greater chance of survival. I think that the gray wolf is safe to be removed from protection under the Endangered Species Act because their reproduction rate is increasing, as well as the gray wolf population. It will not necessarily impact the pronghorn population because the amount of gray wolves is not decreasing. If an unexpected drop in the wolf population does occur, then the gray wolf should immediately become protected by the Endangered Species Act again. Otherwise, as the Wildlife Conservation Society predicted, there could be a decline in the population of the pronghorn species. Therefore, unless a drastic drop in the wolf population occurs, I think that it is safe to remove them from protection under the Endangered Species Act.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080303145300.htm
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