Two of the world’s top predators squaring up.
Grizzlies and wolves are common in a few ways, and very different in others.
Both are predators, using both hunting and scavenging methods to secure their food sources and for the most part they stand unchallenged in whatever food chain they happen to be living in.
The biggest difference between the two (other than size) is that grizzlies tend to live alone, unless it’s a mother with her cubs, while wolves stay together in packs.
Within the bounds of Yellowstone National Park, both species have rebounded spectacularly from near regional extinction after policies of predator eradication were enacted for many decades in the park. These programs have long been put to rest, but population restoration for both bears and wolves in the park required some significant effort on the part of rangers and scientists.
Wolves were effectively extinct in the park until 1995, when US and Canada wildlife officials teamed up to bring 14 wolves from Jasper National Park in Alberta to Yellowstone. 17 additional wolves were brought the year after and the animals took to their historic range like wildfire. Today there is a stable population of around 108 free roaming wolves, according to the NPS.
Grizzly bears were never fully removed from the ecosystem, but in 1975 there were only about 136 in Yellowstone, according to NPS. They were listed as Threatened under the amended Endangered Species Act and a number of protections were put in place to assist in their restoration. The bears responded very well to these protections and today around 1,063 live in the area.
It’s not often these two top dogs come nose to nose, but one such occasion was captured on video by some tourists a few years back.
While out on a guided tour, the group spots a grizzly far away across a field. At first it appears to be alone, just looking for some food, when something else enters the fray.
An entire pack of wolves begins moving across the same field, and although there was quite a bit of distance between them, the grizzly decides he needs to get a closer look. It’s possible they had freshly killed something and he was trying to steal it away, but we can’t know for sure.
As the bear makes its way towards the pack, the wolves begin to get on edge. Clearly, they don’t like this lumbering creature encroaching on their territory.
In a one on one fight, I’m taking the bear all day every day. Even if it was 2 or maybe 3 wolves, the grizzly is just substantially stronger and larger, so you’d have to give it the advantage.
But what if there’s at least 9 wolves? That certainly changes the math.
That’s exactly the case here and those wolves were not about to be scared off by this bear. They circled the creature who seemingly realize it was in way over its head and was looking for a way out without getting taken down and ripped apart.
For a few nerve-racking minutes, we watch the wolves do a coordinated attack on the bear, keeping him where they want him, before teaming up to run it off into the woods.
You can hear the wildlife guide say
“Yeah this is not common, I’ve never seen this before guys.”
Simultaneously exactly what you do, and don’t, want to hear from your guide.
If they were any closer it might have been a problem, but turned out to be one of the best experiences you can have at Yellowstone.
“This grizzly was foraging in the far end of the valley when the wolves started to cross his path.
The grizzly started standing up on his hind legs to get a better view of what was going on and then started to approach the wolves.
Soon the rest of the wolf pack appears and escorts the bear into the trees.”
Wolves Chase Black Bear Up A Tree
Outta my kitchen.
Generally, wolves and bears aren’t going to tangle at Yellowstone National Park… or anywhere else for that matter.
Sure, they generally will hunter similar prey, and are both opportunistic hunters, but the omnivorous bears have a wider variety of fruits, fish and plants in their diet.
However, if they’re starving they may try to hunt either other, but it’s very, very rare. Wolves may attack a cub, but incur the wrath of the mama bear, and bears may hunt a lone wolf here and there, but only when desperate. Neither one really want to go through that trouble for a meal.
Most of the time, when these two tangle, it’s about protecting food… and a pack of wolves will do everything they can to defend a kill against a thieving grizzly, and vise versa.
In this instance, we have the Junction Butte Pack treeing a black bear who got a little close to their fresh bison kill:
“Black bear wanders into the wrong neighborhood.
These two older males of the Junction Butte Pack did not take too kindly to this black bear encroaching in on their freshly killed bison.
They chased and harassed this bear up the same tree for close to half an hour.
If you look closely in the second video, you’ll see one of the wolves showing off his teeth as the bear scrambled back up the tree.”
Pretty wild.
Here’s a another view, with a little more of the backstory:
Grizzly Bear Fends Off Wolves To Protect Elk Carcass
This is a solid 3.5 minutes of anxiety.
A crystal clear video was taken at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming on September 23rd 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
