It seems that every time we learn more about Nature, the lines separating human beings from other species get blurrier and blurrier.

Take for instance the footage below, obtained by a webcam installed by researchers from the Haíɫzaqv Nation in British Columbia: the video shows a young female wolf raiding a crab trap to feast on the bait inside.

Actual tool use, or just clever puzzle-solving on the part of a hungry predator? Scientists are divided at the moment, yet this sort of behavior would hardly surprise dog owners all around the world, who can attest to the uncanny intelligence of their quadruped companions.

On previous occasions we’ve also covered other instances of incredible animal behavior that is borderline human-like: an orangutan making a poultice to treat its wounds, for example; or a crow stealing a credit card to purchase a train ticket.

This video also reminded me of Whitley Strieber’s novel Wolfen, in which he reinvented the werewolf mythology by imagining a highly dangerous species that preyed on human beings and descended from common wolves, but were much more intelligent and with evolutionary traits like opposable thumbs and a shorter, human-like snout.

Canids that could live in our communities undetected, have a taste for human flesh, and could manipulate doors? Maybe that’s why many resist the idea of tool-using wolves…