That’s a wild one.
Black bears and wolves are two of the most iconic animals around. Both animals are apex predators and often competing for the same prey and resources.
Black bears are large, muscular mammals that can grow up to 6 feet in length and weigh up to 600 pounds. They are omnivores, and their diet includes a wide variety of foods such as berries, nuts, insects, and small mammals.
Wolves are also large mammals, weighing up to 175 pounds. Wolves are carnivores, and their diet consists mainly of large prey such as deer, elk, and moose.
Black bears and wolves both use the same territory in the woods. In some cases, they compete for the same prey, with wolves preying on young or weakened bears and bears stealing wolf kills in some cases.
They use their strength in numbers to chase their prey to the point of exhaustion.
This black bear is seen sending its cub up into a tree, a clear sign of danger as bears typically use trees as their safety net. The mother bear then quickly scurries up into the tree as well, right as the wolves come into view.
It’s not hard to see why mama bear and her cub are in the tree now…
The wolves jump up at the bottom of the tree causing the bear to going farther up into safety.
What a cool interaction between two dominate and fierce predators.
Wolf Pack Keeps Bear From Attacking Their Pups
Nature is a crazy place.
You never know what is going to happen out there.
Maybe a black bear might try to get some wolf pups for dinner…
This is what keeps me constantly interested, always wanting to learn more and experience more of the outdoors. You just never know what you are going to witness out there.
Black bears are a very smart animal, but they sometimes will make risky decisions in the name of food. That’s what their whole life centers around, is getting as much food as they can as easy as possible. Sometimes that leads to having to work pretty hard for the meal.
Adult male black bears generally weigh around 250-300 pounds, but can span all the way up to 600, and about 35% more than females… although that be as high as 60%. Wolves on the other, generally weigh around 120 pounds, so while both have sharp teeth, good speed, and a powerful bite, a bear is always going to have the advantage one-on-one.
But, wolves are pretty smart too. They spend a lot of time living in packs and working together to survive. When you put six or more wolves together you have a group of highly intelligent killers.
This bear must have been pretty hungry when it decided to go in and check out some wolf pups, which can be a pretty easy meal depending on one thing… whether mom and dad are home. The mother will usually stay with the den while other members of the pack venture off to eat, however, we have seen footage of bears ravaging unprotected dens.
There were multiple wolves around protecting this particular den.
The black bear comes in for the check out and attack but the wolves are on him quick and hard protect their pack.
Alone, the bear could take on a wolf. With this many it is a hard battle… one the bear doesn’t really want to deal with. Neither do the wolves for that matter…
The wolves come in one by one attacking from the rear. The outnumbered black bear struggles to keep them away, and ultimately, it realizes this is a losing battle. The wolves actually work together to both push and pull the bear away from the den, with a combination of running away and chasing.
An amazing encounter.
