Every dinner is fought for out in the wild, and Yellowstone National Park is often the backdrop for food-fueled-face-offs that are caught on camera.
Right now, most bears are coming out of hibernation. Males typically emerge in March, with the females (also known as sows) generally emerging in April. And when they do wake from their long, winter’s nap – actually referred to as a torpor state – they are almost always in search of food.
That’s likely the exact scenario that was playing out with this sizable grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park.
This big ol’ bear was able to track down a carcass and was ready for a post-hibernation chow down. The only issue? There was a pack of wolves that wanted to lay claim to the food source. Of all the animals you could choose to pick a fight with (I’m talking from the perspective of other wild animals), the grizzly bear is probably on the short list of worst predators to match up against.
Grizzlies are known to be some of the fiercest animals on the planet. They’ve got razor-sharp claws and incomparable strength, and they are often the ones that are scaring off wolves from carcasses. This time around, it was a sneak attack by a wolf pack that got the best of the grizzly bear… and even managed to scare off the beast from the carcass it was trying to snack on.
For a moment, the wolves had the advantage in the fight. But it didn’t take long for the grizzly to establish a defensive position and intimidate the canines. Julie Argyle, a wildlife photographer, captured this intense showdown on camera and shared it to her social media page, describing the encounter as this:
“After watching wolves feed on a carcass for most of the day, we noticed something moving near the tree line. There, coming towards the carcass at a dead run was this amazing grizzly. The wolves had retreated to the sage and most were sleeping, unaware of the bear. Once the bear reached the area where the wolves were, the wolves must’ve smelled him, and they immediately let out a low howl, stopping the bear in his tracks, and then all chaos broke out.
Two wolves jumped at the bear and it took off running toward the carcass. The pack followed, but they were no match for the bear. Once they reached the carcass, we lost sight of the bear, but about 30 minutes later, they all reappeared, and the wolves escorted the bear out of the area. This was an incredible display of the behaviors of two apex predators.”
Truly stunning footage.
Evidently, the grizzly bear didn’t feel like standing up against the wolves… at least not in that moment. It ran off, and the photographer says that it tried to return later, only to be chased off again by the wolf pack. Chances are that the grizzly eventually did claim the carcass as its own and was able to bulk up a bit, but it ended up being a dinner well earned rather than an easy meal.
