According to the Canadian scientists, wolves prefer hunting in water for the salmon, whenever it is possible, rather than hunting for deer and other hoofed animals.

The researchers studied the feeding habits of wolves in a remote area of British Columbia. The research was led by Ph.D. student Chris Darimont of the University of Victoria in collaboration with Canada's Raincoast Conservation Foundation. They found out that if in case Salmon fish is available in plenty, the wolves might cut on hunting deer and other hoofed animals.

Darimont said, "Over the course of four years, we identified prey remains in wolf droppings and carried out chemical analysis of shed wolf hair in order to determine what the wolves like to eat at various times of year."

The scientists said that wolves, which otherwise depend on deer throughout the year, cut down on them in autumn, when there is plenty of Salmon around. This study was published in journal Ecology. Darimont further reported, “One might expect that wolves would move onto salmon only if their mainstay deer were in short supply. Our data show that this is not the case; salmon availability clearly outperformed deer availability in predicting wolves' use of salmon."