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Your point about abandoned ponds is spot on, and that is precisely what we do see in Voyageurs. Most wetlands in the area are not occupied by beavers. For instance, we digitized a little over 7,000 beaver ponds from aerial imagery in our study area, which is about 1,500 square kilometers (excluding large lakes).
“Wolves (Canis lupus) and beavers co-occur across most boreal ecosystems in North America and Eurasia. Wolves are the primary predator of beavers wherever the two species co-occur, and beavers are important seasonal prey for wolves. Although wolves are primarily cursorial predators, they often use ambush strategies to hunt and kill beavers.