In 1997, a lone wolf crossed an ice bridge that briefly connected Canada with the remote Isle Royale, which lies off the coast of Michigan in Lake Superior and is renowned for its rich biodiversity.
His arrival revived the flagging fortunes of the wider wolf population, which had been hit by disease and inbreeding, and triggered cascading effects that improved the health of the overall forest ecosystem, a study in"Issues like inbreeding and low genetic diversity are an important concern for scientists," first author Sarah Hoy, an ecologist at Michigan Technological University told AFP.
Though the disease eventually disappeared, the population didn't recover right away. The reason was severe inbreeding, which caused lower reproductive success, as well as poorer health outcomes such as spinal deformities of the kind often seen in purebred dogs. M93 was unrelated to the existing population, and also had the advantage of being unusually large – a big benefit when defending turf from rivals or taking down 800 pound ungulates.
The benefits brought by M93's arrival lasted around a decade, then the situation deteriorated once more – ironically as a result of his extreme reproductive success.
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