This wolf has evidently never heard the old saying of “never poke a sleeping bear.”
Most people would assume that the biggest part of the battle out in the wild is bringing down the prey. I’d argue that the real battle starts once the predator has to defend its kill – or its opportunistic discovery – from other predators. That’s what plays out in this intense video out of Yellowstone National Park involving a wolf and a sizable grizzly bear.
This footage showcases the constant game that animals out in the wild have to play (it’s not a fun game by any means). Wildlife are always in a state of needing to be one step ahead, and always have to be on the lookout for potential danger. This mature grizzly thought it had claimed the bison carcass as its own, but that was before it quite literally fell asleep on the job.
That’s when the wolf moved in, and the fight was on.
Typically, a wolf wouldn’t test its luck fighting against a grizzly bear. 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. Oh, and did I mention that they usually weigh between 400 to 1,000 pounds? They’re true apex predators in every aspect.
Wolves are impressive predators in their own right, but they definitely wouldn’t be favorited if odds makers laid out a fight between the canine and the grizzly. In fact, a grizzly bear would be the undoubtable favorite in just about any face off you could think of… besides maybe this “just waking up from a nap” example.
The wolf thought it was moving in for an easy meal, and it may have been able to grab a bite if this grizzly wasn’t such a light sleeper. Once the canine got a few feet away from the bear, the snoozing animal quickly awoke from its slumber to get back to protecting the carcass.
Both the grizzly and the wolf were briefly startled, and despite the smaller animal having the upper hand of being wide awake, the bear quickly asserted its dominance again and scared off the wolf. And it impressively did so without even standing up. Just some quick movement and a look at the canine behind it was enough for the wolf to get the memo and move on.
Just goes to show that sharing isn’t caring in the Animal Kingdom. Throw everything that you’ve seen in Disney and Pixar movies out the window. A grizzly isn’t going to set aside its differences with a wolf and allow for it to chow down too. Once an animal finds food, it’ll defend it with its life… as long as it’s not taking a nap, of course.
Montana Wild posted the video of this unique standoff, and described it like this:
“This old bison carcass had some activity yesterday but was the hotspot for wildlife viewing today. This young optimistic wolf learned rather quickly that the grizzly bear does not want to share!”
