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LIFE WolfAlps Final Event

Dialogo tra Douglas W. Smith e Luigi Boitani

1920x1080 Immagine-2_17 maggio

A trip to Yellowstone National Park to explore scientific discoveries, management and conservation of the wolf population living in the oldest protected area.

Yellowstone’s wolf population
is among the most studied and best known, even by the general public, and its history is closely intertwined with human history. In the National Park, predators were systematically persecuted until 1933.

In the 1970s, there was a change of pace with the enactment of the Endangered Species Act, which made the wolf a protected species.

Twenty years later, in 1955, 14 wolves from Canada were reintroduced into Yellowstone. An operation that animated mixed reactions in society.

Today there are more than 500 wolves living in an area that extends beyond the park: the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Research has helped to learn more about the biology of the predator: its sociality, hunting techniques, the way it uses space and, not least, its importance in regulating ecosystem equilibriums.

🎥 Event also streamed on the LIFE WolfAlps EU YouTube channel.

Cover photo by André Roveyaz and Francesco Guffanti

Guests

Douglas Smith has been studying wolves for 44 years. He carried out the wolf reintroduction project in Yellowstone National Park, where he worked for 28 years in wolf, bird and elk management and research. He recently retired as Senior Wildlife Biologist. In addition to Yellowstone, he worked for 15 years at Isle Royale under the supervision of Rolf O. Peterson, with whom he graduated from Michigan Technological University. Doug also worked for David Mech in Northeastern Minnesota and Erich Klinghammer at Wolf Park in Indiana. He received his BSc in Wildlife Biology from the University of Idaho and his PhD from the University of Nevada, Reno, studying beavers with Stephen H. Jenkins.

Luigi Boitani is Professor Emeritus at La Sapienza, University of Rome, where he was Professor in Conservation Biology and Animal Ecology, and Director of the Department of Biology and Biotechnology for over 10 years. He was an Affiliated Professor at Idaho University, Moscow, USA. He is a member of more than 25 professional organisations, working groups and boards. He is founder and President of the Institute of Applied Ecology in Rome and Chief Executive of the Fondation Segré in Geneva. Since 1994, he has been a member of the Steering Committee of the IUCN – Species Survival Commission and Chair of the IUCN Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe. Since 1973 he has been involved in the conservation of wolves and other large carnivores on both an Italian and European scale, and has contributed to the production of management plans for over 30 national parks in Italy and Africa.

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