That’s about as violent as it gets out there.
But, that’s nature. Everything needs to eat, even if it’s at the cost of another animal.
These animals live in harsh conditions and have to fight for every meal.
One of the coolest parts of wolf pack behavior is their hunting strategy. Wolves are apex predators and are able to take down large prey such as elk, bison, and moose.
When hunting large game, the pack works together to take down the animal. This is a highly coordinated effort that involves each member of the pack playing a specific role. For example, some wolves may act as decoys to distract the prey while others move in for the kill.
They have to be good at hunting though because feeding a pack takes a lot of food. On average a wolf needs four pounds of food a day, but it’s normal for them to have ten pounds in a sitting. A pack with 6 or more wolves and you have yourself a lot of needed food.
Naturally, these predators don’t take kindly to another animal trying to get their food.
A coyote is seen coming in to eat a dead bison at Yellowstone National Park. A bald eagle sitting having a meal lunges at the small dog as it comes in. The coyote jumps out of the way, but still goes in for a bite.
Immediately the whole pack of wolves picks their heads up and takes notice. They all charge for the coyote that takes off in front of them.
Quickly, the much larger wolves get to the coyote and take him down. The pack all grabs on to the dog and violently pull away on the coyote.
Don’t mess with a wolf packs food.
Grizzly Bear Protects Its Kill From Wolf
This is a solid 3.5 minutes of anxiety.
A crystal clear video was taken at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming in September a couple of years back and shows a big ol’ grizzly bear with its kill (an elk) going nose to nose with a grey wolf.
Needles to say, both of these majestic beasts want a taste of that delicious elk meat, but ol’ grizz isn’t gonna let that happen.
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.
Watch it go down
Mama Grizzly Chases Down Elk Calf At Grand Teton, Cubs Join The Feast
Nature, man…
One particular female grizzly bear in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park is some what of a big deal. Popular with tourists, “Bear 399” is arguably the most famous grizzly bear in the world.
Grizzly 399 was born in 1996, and according to Outdoor Life she was given her name/number by the Yellowstone Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team who has monitored her closely for the duration of her life.
She is 7-feet tall, weighs 400-pounds and has given birth to 16 cubs over the years. Though she has spent most of her life in close proximity to tourist activity, the bear has never had a negative run in with humans.
Rafael Sandoval was recently exploring Grand Teton National Park when he captured an absolutely awe inspiring sequence of photos of Bear 399 hunting down an elk calf to feed her own cubs.
The pictures were originally shared by wildlife photographer Rafael Sandoval of Jackson Hole EcoTour Adventures (give him a follow).
“So this just happened last night and my heart is still racing… This grizzly sow #399 bagged an elk calf for a dinner for five after an intense chase. For the past few months, bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have been browsing on nutrient dense vegetation such as grasses, flowers and roots.
However, as prey species like elk, bison and deer begin dropping calves like it’s going out of style, the bears have begun to switch over to more savory menu options. The CALFeteria is open, folks!”
CALFeteria? Savage.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPl_jFDr–w/
Even though it’s only an elk calf, the raw power and speed of the grizzly is on full display. Grizzlies are capable of reaching speeds of 35 mph, which is terrifyingly fast when you think about it.
In one photo the bears long sharp claws are clearly visible as it closes in and overwhelms the baby elk.
The fact that the mama bear had 4 cubs in tow to feed somehow makes the little elk’s demise less sad.
Once the elk was on the ground, those baby bears jumped on that thing like drunk people on a 2AM pizza.
Elk Tries To Escape A Wolf, Slams Right Into A Moving Car At Yellowstone National Park
Matt Fluke of Idaho Falls, Idaho, was looking for a place to picnic with his family when the car behind him got smoked by an elk. Boom, right into the side of their SUV.
Of course there is nothing special about hitting an elk with your car, just about anybody that’s every heard a country song has a deer a time or two. But this elk wasn’t just crossing the road, it was running for its life.
Yep, right after it slammed into the car and knocked itself out, a black wolf emerged from the trees, just seconds behind it.
“I didn’t look at my dashcam video until I got back to where we were staying at. Originally I thought it happened behind that car. We pulled over for a second and saw the elk on the road and the wolf with it.”
Naturally, they pulled over to watch nature take its course.
Wanna catch an elk? Just chase it into a moving car… chase is over.
“There was a turn out real close and lots of other cars stopping around there. You could see it from where we were at and the car that was behind me pulled over and then pulled out and went down the road… it was wild.”
Wild indeed.
