Yellowstone's last wolf was dead by the 1930s. The wolf, one of America's flagship species, became locally extinct here as Americans shot hundreds of thousands of them.
The effects of losing wolves have been widespread: loss of new Aspen trees, streamside willows even beavers and dams.
"A wolf kill is not an ending but a beginning. Every wolf kill becomes kind of a small epicenter of animal activity; ravens, magpies, coyotes bald eagles, golden eagles...grizzly bears, even black bears. These kills are extremely important to the ecological community of Yellowstone."
-Doug Smith
A great example of a keystone species.
The importance of predators, the Yellowstone case
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAGEXDlUHDE
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