This grizzly isn't giving up this elk carcass, even to a bunch of wolves!
In nature, every day is a life or death struggle. It's either kill or be killed. Animals must do whatever it takes to survive. One of the more successful and opportunistic animals is the grizzly bear. As you'll see in this video from Yellowstone National Park, this big bruin is still up and about in late December when he finds an elk originally killed by a pack of wolves.
Needing some more nutrition to get through the rest of the long winter months, he decides to steal the wolves' hard-earned meal. When the wolves come back trying to steal it back, the bear finds himself outnumbered nearly 20 to one.
What unfolds next is an incredible scene where the bear holds his own against the wolf pack to preserve his meal all for himself.
This footage was shot on December 29, which is rare for a bear to still be actively out and feeding. Normally, the animals are in hibernation by that point in the year.
Wolves are an apex predator wherever they are found, and there are not many animals that can stand up to an entire pack of them and live the way this bear did. In the end, it seems the wolves decided the risk of injury was not worth the reward and they let the bear have the kill reluctantly.
The wolves here are part of the Junction Butte pack, the largest in the park. This probably was not the first and it was certainly not the last time they have tangled with a grizzly. Previously, we shared some newer footage of them trying to take on a grizzly for control over a bison carcass. The result was much the same as you saw here, the wolves decided to just let the bear have the kill.
Overall, this was an awesome encounter and just one of the many reasons why Yellowstone is one of our favorite National Parks.
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For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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