Animals

A wolf raided a crab trap. Was it tool use or just canine cunning?

Scientists remain split on whether rope-pulling ingenuity counts as tool use

A gray wolf stands on some small rocks in shallow water, while an out-of-focus flock of birds takes flight in the background.

Coastal wolves like this one were recorded reeling in a crab trap and feasting on the herring and sea lion flesh meant as bait.

Kyle A. Artelle

By Elie Dolgin

One damp spring evening last year, a wolf hauled a crab trap ashore off the central Pacific coast of British Columbia.