Canadian wolves favor salmon over deer meat...

An Artic wolf prowls around the Canadian Alert military and scientific station

Wolves in westernmost Canada prefer the taste of salmon, when it is in season, over deer or other wild game, a study of its dietary habits said Tuesday.

Researchers in the province of British Columbia studied the poop and hair tufts of eight wolf groups over four years for traces of what they had eaten, and found that deer was their main staple during spring and summer months.

But when Pacific salmon returned to the area's rivers in autumn to spawn, the wolf population "showed a pronounced dietary shift" toward fish, despite the steady availability of deer.

The change in eating habits, the researchers opined in their study published Tuesday in the scientific journal BMC Ecology, is sensible from a safety point of view.

"While hunting ungulates, wolves commonly incur serious and often fatal injuries," the researchers pointed out, while fishing is much less dangerous as well as much less time-consuming than tracking deer or elk over several miles.

"In addition to the safety benefits (of fishing), we show here that salmon also provides enhanced nutrition over deer, especially in fat and energy," the study said.

Of course, bears like salmon too. Thus, wolves could find themselves in a dangerous tussle for a plate of salmon where their territories overlap, the researchers noted.