10 Foraging with Others: Games Social Foragers Play On a bone-chilling winter night in the far north, a lone wolf travels through the boreal forest looking for his next meal. The half-dozen pack members in the adjacent home range howl periodically throughout the night. | Illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 10 Foraging with Others Games Social Foragers Play Thomas A. Waite and Kristin L. Field Prologue On a bone-chilling winter night in the far north a lone wolf travels through the boreal forest looking for his next meal. The half-dozen pack members in the adjacent home range howl periodically throughout the night. With each chorus he resists the urge to howl in return. With each chorus he feels the pull to cross over the ridge descend into the cedar swamp below and attempt tojoin the pack to give up the solitary life. Suddenly just before daybreak he happens upon an ancient arthritic moose. The chase begins. The moose flounders in the deep snow. Within minutes the wolf subdues the moose his tenth such success of the winter. He feeds beyond satiation and then rolls into a ball and sleeps. At first light ravens arrive gather around the carcass and begin to feed. By midday several dozen ravens are busily engaged in converting the carcass into hundreds of scattered hoards. Later that winter the same wolf travels through the adjacent home range having recently become a member of the pack. Again he happens upon a vulnerable moose. The chase begins. Within minutes he and his new packmates manage to bring down the moose. As the newcomer in the pack he must wait for his turn to feed. At first light ravens begin to gather nearby and wait for their turn at the carcass. At midday the ravens are still biding their time. lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 332 Thomas A. Waite and Kristin L. Field Embracing the Complexity of Social Foraging The vast majority of carnivores live solitarily. Why then do wolves Canis lupus live in social groups Surely you might think the advantages of social foraging must favor group living sociality in wolves. But the data suggest that wolves live in .
