Bison back up.
It’s an animal-eat-animal world out there, especially in Yellowstone National Park. There are almost 70 different mammal species in Yellowstone, and most of those can be separated into two categories: predators and prey. That eternal battle between those that don’t want to be eaten and those that like to eat is on full display in the video below.
Male bison can weigh upwards of 2,000 pounds and stand as tall as five to six feet, so they should be pretty menacing to potential predators. They also have the tools to be deadly themselves, with their horns being more than capable of goring another animal to death, or in some rare cases, pinning a Yellowstone National Park tourist to the ground.
That being said, bison are often singled out by predators like bears and wolves because they aren’t the fastest animals roaming the Earth… and they’re a little top heavy. If a wolf – or wolf pack – can get one good bump on the bison, that’s all it might take to give the smaller animal the leverage they need to turn a live bison into a five-course meal.
Notice that I said wolf pack. Wolves have been known to hunt down bison, but they often need a pack to take down just one of the big beasts. As you might imagine, bison are rather formidable, and can be quite the challenge to bring down.
In fact, smaller predatory animals have the best chance to take down a bison when they can sequester one off on its own. Bison do practice that “herd mentality” that you’ve likely heard of, meaning that they will often stand up for one another in an effort to keep their entire group safe. In other words, they make sure it’s hard for prey to single them out.
Another way that bison avoid being attacked is by “putting it into drive” and running as a herd. Though that strategy can be quite successful, it sometimes makes it easier for wolves (or whatever is chasing the large land animals) to get at least one bison to break away. We don’t know for sure, but considering the bison in this clip was on its own initially, that could have been one happened prior to the camera rolling.
This wolf pack living in the Junction Butte portion of the park can be seen giving a bison all it could handle. The large mammal kept spinning and playing defense, but the wolves were definitely wearing it down. It was only when another bison stepped in to act as a reinforcement that the large prey were able to stabilize and counter the wolf pack’s advances.
According to the post’s caption, the wolf pack’s attack ended up being unsuccessful:
“The Junction Butte pack tested several bison today in the northern range, none of which were successful. It is always fascinating to watch these two species interact, as hunting such large prey is risky for wolves, and the outcome is never certain. Bison make up about 15-20% of the wolves total detected kills in recent years.”
