Nature is a cruel beast.
I’m a huge fan of nature shows like Planet Earth, Our Planet and more, but sometimes, the harsh reality of nature is a little too much for some folks to handle. Lately, you’ve been more likely to see an idiot tourist get launched by a bison in Yellowstone, but in this case it’s just a nose-to-nose encounter shocked visitors had the chance to witness.
If you’re not a fan of this kind of thing, it’s time to look away…
A video from Yellowstone National Park taken by Michael Daus of Wyoming shows the one-on-one battle between a grizzly bear and a bison. One of them isn’t so lucky. The man behind the camera explains that he’s lived in the area for a long time:
“We knew the bear was in the area, as we saw it near the road, less than a mile before turning into the parking lot for the grand Prismatic Overlook hike. While there was a steady flow of walkers, we carried bear spray and remained on the lookout for the bear the entire time. We weren’t crazy about returning to find the bear so close, just beyond the opposite side of the small parking area. We didn’t even see it until we were at our vehicle.
I was particularly relieved that the bear seemed more interested in the bison, so while very close to the car, we simply maintained what felt like a safe distance. Having lived nearby for decades not minutes, we certainly don’t want our actions or the appearance of our proximity to the animals to set any kind of bad example about approaching wildlife.”
It’s not for the faint of heart:
Grizzly Bear Protects Kill From Wolf
This is a solid 3.5 minutes of anxiety.
A crystal clear video was taken at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming on September 23 and shows a Grizzly Bear with its kill (an elk) going nose to nose with a grey wolf. The person who shot the video had this to say:
“Yellowstone Park grizzly bear 791 defends his elk kill from an intruding grey wolf. 791 recently took down the elk in the Yellowstone river and proceeded to bury it on the rivers edge to cover the scent of the decaying carcass.
However, after a few days the wolves began to pick up on it. This wolf was alone and therefore not much of a threat to the massive grizzly. It was more of a game to him to see how close the dominating bear would let him get to his kill.
To my surprise, as proven by this image, he let him get very close. The wolf would slowly approach, the bear would make a slight shift in position, and the wolf would back off for awhile.
This cycle occurred 4 times in my watching.”
It gets tense, but I don’t think that wolf wants any piece of that big ol’ boy.
