Wolves have been back in Germany for over 20 years and their number is slowly increasing. But how much space is there for these predators in our partly densely populated country? Biologists have now examined this question. Your study shows: Not all territories suitable for wolves in Germany are occupied yet. The suitable habitat in our country would be enough for 700 to 1400 wolf territories – so far, just over 150 such areas have been occupied.
The wolf was once widespread in Germany, but was almost wiped out by hunting and loss of its habitat. It was not until the end of the 1990s that wolves migrated from neighboring eastern countries and established the first packs and territories. In 2000 there was the first “domestic” wolf offspring. Since then, the population has grown steadily; in the Germany-wide monitoring 2018/2019, biologists included 105 wolf packs, 29 pairs and eleven territorial wolves.
Enough loot and enough retreat
But how much can the wolf spread in Germany? So far, most of the animal’s territories have mainly been concentrated in a strip that stretches from East Saxony to the North Sea. However, there are also initial occurrences in other federal states. This raises the question for authorities, farmers and municipalities in many regions whether they too will soon have to adapt to wolves as neighbors. “Most attacks by wolves on grazing animals occur especially where wolves are establishing themselves in new territories and sheep and goat owners have not yet adjusted to their presence,” explain Stephanie Kramer-Schadt from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) and her colleagues.
It is therefore all the more important to inform potential victims in good time whether their region is fundamentally a wolf area. The scientists have now examined this in a model study. To do this, they first recorded the characteristics of the existing wolf territories and the requirements that a suitable habitat must meet. “The size of the territories mainly depends on the food available,” explains Kramer-Schadt and her colleagues. “A wolf territory must be at least large enough that the parent animals can capture enough each year to raise the offspring. In Central Europe, the area sizes determined in studies are often between 100 and 350 square kilometers, in Germany around 200 square kilometers. ”
Plenty of room for new territories
In the next step, the researchers considered the properties of the suitable habitats. So not only must there be enough food, but also protection: important for the rearing of boys, for example, are retreats from people in every territory, especially in the cultural landscape, ”explain the biologists. Large cities and metropolitan areas such as Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig or the largely densely populated North Rhine-Westphalia are therefore rather unsuitable. “Areas with a very good suitability lie among other things in the Bavarian Alps, along the Czech border, in the low mountain ranges and scattered in northeastern Germany”, report Kramer-Schadt and her colleagues.
From these factors, the biologists calculated that there are between 700 and 1400 areas in Germany that are potentially suitable as wolf territories. This means that the existing stocks still have ample space to multiply and expand – if you let them. “The results of the study also show that in Germany in all landscapes, pulling wolves or, in some cases, territorial wolves must be expected,” say the researchers. But they also emphasize that their results do not mean that there should or should be so many wolf territories in the future. The study only shows where and how many places in Germany theoretically exist for wolves.
“The results of the present study provide the authorities and institutions responsible for wolf management with the information necessary to enable them to adapt their measures in a forward-looking manner,” says Kramer-Schadt and her colleagues. In their opinion, it makes sense if the areas not yet populated by wolves are preparing for their possible settlement.
Source: Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V., Study: Habitat modeling and estimation of the potential number of wolf territories in Germany (PDF).