In a remarkable display of animal ingenuity, a wolf playing the role of an ordinary fisherman has been caught on video hauling up crab traps from water off the west coast of Canada — potentially the first documented instance of wolves using tools, according to scientists.
Heiltsuk Nation members, an indigenous community in British Columbia, had set the crab traps specifically to catch invasive green crabs, which are destructive to eelgrass habitats that are supportive of marine life, wiping out the clams, salmon and herring the Heiltsuk people rely on for food. (RELATED: Human Infected With New Strain Of Bird Flu Previously Only Seen In Animals)
You can watch the video of the scene here.
A wild wolf has officially been caught using tools — and scientists are stunned. 🐺🪢
Researchers in British Columbia documented a coastal wolf using a fishing float and rope to pull in a crab trap, giving us the first confirmed evidence of tool use in wild wolves.This… pic.twitter.com/FmrLg1J0fV
— Science Feed (@Science_Feed_) November 18, 2025
However, when they returned to check the crab traps, they discovered several had been ripped to shreds, a startling discovery detailed in a study from the Ecology and Evolution journal that was published Monday.
Initially, suspicion fell on wolves and bears, but some pointed the finger at marine mammals instead due to the traps staying submerged in deep water around the Bella Bella community.
“This sequence appears to demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the multi-step connection between the floating buoy and the bait within the out-of-sight trap,” wrote the authors of the study.