Learn about wolves at Wickiup Hill Learning Center

TODDVILLE — Most Iowans won’t encounter a wolf in the wild. A stray occasionally may wander down from Minnesota or Wisconsin, but the only thing akin to a wolf in these parts is its cousin, the coyote.

Until July 20, visitors to the Wickiup Hill Learning Center can have close encounters with six stuffed specimens who pose no danger, even though one is shown feeding, one is leaping and one is howling. Two look more docile, and the coyote is baring its teeth.

From the touring “Wolves and the Wild Lands” exhibit, on loan from the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minn., the taxidermy animals are poised high off the ground, beckoning visitors to look but not touch. In front of each wolf is a panel explaining the breed, its habitat, its evolution, where it thrives and where it’s trying to survive.

Wickiup Hill is augmenting the exhibit with touch-friendly items from its own collection. A table in the center of the room displays a wolf and coyote pelt, replica skulls, paw prints and a container of scat, more commonly called “poop.” Books and pamphlets lie on the periphery for browsing.

Admission is free, with the $1,500 exhibit hosting fee financed through the Learning Center’s “gifts account,” made up of the money visitors leave in the donation boxes at the front of the building.

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Iowa connections

While the Great Plains Wolf has been extirpated in Iowa, meaning it no longer exists here, its status is listed as “threatened” in Minnesota and “endangered” in other Midwestern regions and Canada.

“Bringing the exhibit in and telling the story of them nationally and historically is pretty significant and important for people, just to get other viewpoints and other perspectives,” said Kent Rector, nature center manager at Wickiup Hill.

When wolves ruled, they killed coyotes to reduce the competition for food sources. As humans encroached on the wolf habitat, the wolf population dwindled. And with that threat gone, the coyote population grew and spread across North America, up to the Arctic.

“The wolves would keep the coyote populations in check,” Rector said. “It would be a lot harder for the coyote populations to survive, and scavenge and forage food. So when the wolves were pushed out, that opened up the whole ecosystem and habitat for the coyotes, and they have adapted and moved into that space, so they're just filling that niche.

“If the wolf population were to move back, like it did in the Rocky Mountains, or in Yellowstone, for instance, we would see the wolf population put the coyote population back in check. It would force them into survival mode, and they would have to live in a little bit harsher areas, and it would be harder for them to be as dominant as what they are now.”

The exhibit’s information panel lists the coyote population as “unknown.” Smaller than a wolf and with larger ears, coyotes feast on rodents, rabbits, fawns, garbage, fruit and dead animals. In terms of the ecosystem, they help keep their live prey from overpopulating.

Coyotes are not a protected species, and they can be found in the wilderness, farmland and urban areas. They tend to be active in the early morning and early evening, Rector said, so while you may hear them yipping and yapping, you may not see them. If you do, they tend to look like mid-sized scruffy dogs.

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“They filled the gap once wolves left,” Rector said. “So that’s kind of the story of the coyotes here in Iowa.”

Other aspects

He added the exhibit, which also features Arctic-, Mexican-, Red- and Rocky Mountain wolves, “broadens that narrative and the story line regarding the populations of wolves that we do have, and how they are integral parts of the landscape and in the ecosystem and that really fragile relationship that exists.”

“It’s a great springboard for our field trip students and for the casual visitor out here, as well, to dive into a topic that they might not be expecting, and to really talk about what it means to live with wildlife, and what those connections are, and how fragile they really are,” he said.

Wickiup Hill is deep into field-trip season, which will continue through summer. Rector said most of the field trips are over by 1:30 p.m., so afternoon is prime time for families and others who want to visit when the Learning Center and grounds are less crowded.

This isn’t the only opportunity to see the traveling exhibit in the Corridor this year. It came to Wickiup Hill from a stop in Polk County, and will be going to the Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids in the fall.

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com