There’s no “finders keepers” rule out in the wild.
An intimidating grizzly bear taking down a bison doesn’t mean that the bruin is now the rightful owner of the carcass. Sometimes, like in this video, the battle really begins after an animal takes down its prey.
This footage out of Yellowstone National Park showcases the constant game that animals out in the wild have to play. It’s not a fun game necessarily. Instead, wildlife are always in a state of needing to be one step ahead, and always being on the lookout for potential danger.
It was too late for the bison in this video, which was presumably tracked and taken down by this sizable grizzly. Bears are high on the list of predators that hone in on bison, and when they want to take one down, they’re usually pretty successful. But it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing for the bruin afterwards as a wolf caught wind of the deceased bison and thought it might swing by to see if it could get a piece.
That was easier said than done, as the bear was keenly aware of its surroundings. Nothing was going to be able to sneak up on the grizzly. If anything wanted to snack on this bison, it was going to have to go through the big ol’ bear defending it. And one brave wolf was willing to press its luck.
It seems as though the wolf had its best chance during its first pass on the bear and the deceased bison. The wolf was actually able to go right up to the fallen beast and check it out before the grizzly came barreling back to run it off.
After that, it was a tense game of will wolf-won’t wolf as the wild canine had to pick and choose where to be aggressive. Ultimately, it stayed far enough way from the grizzly to give it space, but close enough to let the rest of the animals in Yellowstone know that it called dibs next.
The wolf was never able to eat any of the bison while the bear was there. Once the grizzly got full and abandoned the bison carcass, the wolf was finally able to move in and make a meal out of what was left of the large, no-longer-living land animal.
If you can get past the obnoxious, hard-rock music that is overlayed on the video, it’s some of the coolest footage of a grizzly in action that you’ll ever see. I might just recommend watching it on mute:
