{"id":3098,"date":"2026-05-10T16:17:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T23:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/?p=3098"},"modified":"2026-05-10T16:19:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T23:19:23","slug":"wolves-cougars-and-the-fight-for-food-in-yellowstone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/2026\/05\/10\/wolves-cougars-and-the-fight-for-food-in-yellowstone\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolves, Cougars and the Fight for Food in Yellowstone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Yellowstone National Park is known for its stunning landscapes and wilderness, housing some of North America\u2019s most iconic apex carnivores, such as wolves and cougars. However, these animals do not live in isolation from one another \u2013 they often interact and compete for prey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/cat_extract.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/cat_extract-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3099\" srcset=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/cat_extract-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/cat_extract-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/cat_extract-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/cat_extract-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/cat_extract-624x416.jpg 624w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/cat_extract.jpg 2047w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Extracting a cougar from a tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Our guest this week is Wes Binder, a PhD Candidate in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, who has spent many years in Yellowstone and is researching these complex interactions. Using GPS telemetry data, camera traps, and field investigations of kill sites, he aims to understand the mechanisms that drive these interactions and how they vary with diets, dominance hierarchies, and environmental conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/collar_deploy-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/collar_deploy-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/collar_deploy-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/collar_deploy-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/collar_deploy-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/collar_deploy-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/collar_deploy-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/collar_deploy-624x468.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cougar collar deployment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To learn more about the dynamics of wolf and cougar interactions, as well as Wes\u2019s experiences working with large animals in Yellowstone, tune in to KBVR 88.7FM this Sunday, May 10 at 7:00pm. You can listen to the episode anywhere you listen to your podcasts, including on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/kbvrfm.orangemedianetwork.com\/inspiration-dissemination-5\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">KBVR<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/3usrAGPKdWufw5IttiuIm9?si=a970bf67a75143db\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/inspiration-dissemination\/id1337404264\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple<\/a>, or anywhere else!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/fording_with_hound-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/fording_with_hound-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3101\" srcset=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/fording_with_hound-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/fording_with_hound-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/fording_with_hound-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/fording_with_hound-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/fording_with_hound-624x832.jpg 624w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2026\/05\/fording_with_hound-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Wes fording with a hound<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Written by Matthew Vaughan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yellowstone National Park is known for its stunning landscapes and wilderness, housing some of North America\u2019s most iconic apex carnivores, such as wolves and cougars. However, these animals do not live in isolation from one another \u2013 they often interact and compete for prey. Our guest this week is Wes Binder, a PhD Candidate in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13955,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1305762,1305732,1305763,993810,1305680,1305761],"class_list":["post-3098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cougar","tag-fisheries-and-wildlife","tag-movement","tag-predators","tag-wolf","tag-yellowstone"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13955"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3102,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3098\/revisions\/3102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}