The wolf (Canis lupus) is a large, adaptable carnivore and apex predator across diverse ecosystems in North America and Eurasia. As a member of the dog family, it possesses a flexible diet, allowing it to thrive in environments ranging from frozen tundra to dense forests. While their formidable size and coordinated pack hunting are adaptations for pursuing large game, wolves are broadly considered opportunistic generalists. This flexibility allows them to persist when preferred food sources become scarce.
The Core Answer: Are Squirrels Wolf Prey?
Wolves will consume squirrels, but these small rodents are not a regular or preferred part of their diet. Hunting small animals involves high energy expenditure versus minimal caloric gain, as a wolf requires an estimated 3.25 kilograms of meat daily. A tiny squirrel provides very little usable energy relative to the effort required to locate, chase, and capture it. Consequently, squirrels and similar small rodents are typically preyed upon only when the wolf’s primary, larger food sources are unavailable.
This highlights the wolf’s ability to adapt its feeding habits to environmental conditions. Small mammals, including ground squirrels, marmots, and voles, may become more common during the snow-free months of summer and fall. However, the biomass contributed by such small prey to the wolf’s total annual consumption remains extremely low.
Primary Diet Focus: What Wolves Prefer
The foundation of the wolf’s diet is large, hoofed mammals, or ungulates. Wolves are physically and socially specialized for preying on animals significantly larger than themselves, such as elk, moose, caribou, and deer. Hunting in packs allows wolves to use coordinated strategies to isolate and subdue these formidable animals.
A single, successful kill provides a massive caloric reward, feeding an entire pack for several days. An adult wolf is capable of consuming up to 9 kilograms (about 20 pounds) of meat in a single meal. This ability to gorge allows them to endure their characteristic “feast-or-famine” lifestyle, which is ill-suited to pursuing tiny, scattered prey. Wolves tend to select vulnerable individuals from herds, targeting the old, young, or weakened animals to minimize the risk and energy cost of the hunt.
Opportunistic Foraging and Scavenging
The wolf’s opportunistic nature is evident when large ungulates are scarce. Wolves will turn their attention to a wide variety of secondary prey, including beavers, hares, and various rodents. In some regions, especially during periods of high abundance, beavers can make up a substantial portion of the spring-fall diet, sometimes comprising 25 to 75 percent of items found in wolf scat.
Wolves are also proficient scavengers, readily consuming carrion. In areas with human development, wolves have been documented eating domestic livestock and foraging through garbage sites. Wolves also consume plant matter, primarily berries, during the summer when they are abundant and acquired with little energetic cost. While berries offer a much lower caloric value than meat, their accessibility makes them a useful supplement when mammalian prey is difficult to find.