Video: Wolf rushes into the water to hunt beavers

During the process of foraging, the beavers rushed into the water to escape but still could not escape the wolf's terrifying claws .

The wolf caught the beaver.

Deer hunter Jon Galler recorded a wolf's hunting trip near Hill City, Minnesota, USA, Earth Touch News reported on January 27. The Voyageurs Wolf Project, which aims to study the northern wolves of the Greater Voyageurs ecosystem, shares the footage Galler captured.

In the shared post, the Voyageurs Wolf Project team said that beavers are immature, about 6-7 months old. Galler watched the beavers for about 15 minutes before the wolves appeared and crossed the nearby beaver dam. They seem to be unaware of each other's presence until the alpha wolf makes a scent mark. The sound of its scratching frightened the beaver, who was preening on a rock, and jumped into the water. This also caught the wolves' attention.

"The wolf heard the beaver jump into the water and immediately changed its behavior. It rushed into the lake and caught the beaver, who was now completely submerged underwater ," the Voyageurs Wolf Project team shared.

A study at Voyageurs National Park in 2016 found evidence that wolves pulled beavers out of the water and brought them to shore. However, Galler's footage appears to be the first direct observation of a wolf successfully capturing a beaver swimming completely underwater.

In most northern regions where wolves and beavers cohabitate, beavers are most vulnerable to predation during ice-free seasons, because in winter they are active in frozen bodies of water and nests, almost lying out of the wolf's reach. From spring to fall, beavers in such forest areas are in greater danger due to activity in open water, foraging on shore and nest repair.

Beavers may not be as formidable as an agile deer or large elk, but they are also not easy prey to catch. North American and Eurasian beavers are the second largest rodents in the world, behind only the capybara of South America. These beavers can weigh up to more than 27 kg and their teeth that can chew and break trees are also powerful. According to the Voyageurs Wolf Project team, the wolf hunts recorded by Galler would have been more difficult if the prey had been adult beavers.