Forget trash pandas… Welcome the garbage wolves!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
In Italy, wolves are taking back space – making human interactions more likely. Should we be scared?
Ask Martina Lazzoroni and team at University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna.
They compared urbanized and wild wolves from forty-four locations. Using motion-sensitive cameras to observe behavior, they exposed wolves to human voices and human-made objects.
AND? Urban wolves showed less fear of objects, but heightened fear when objects were switched out. All wolves feared human voices.
Urban wolves are more adaptable, but won’t be moving in next door anytime soon.
Their fear of humans makes them evasive neighbors – so no howling late night parties.
Lazzaroni, M., Brogi, R., Brivio, F., Bassi, E., Boromello, A., Teichmann, T., Range, F., Apollonio, M., & Marshall-Pescini, S. (2026). Wolves respond differently to human cues as they expand into urban landscapes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 123(8), e2529810123. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2529810123