Have you ever wondered who would win in a battle of bison vs a grizzly bear? Well, we have the surprising answer. Okay, so maybe it's not too surprising. A grizzly might stand a chance against a single buffalo. But it has no chance against a charging herd like that.
Just check out the incident below, which showed the predator fleeing a galloping herd of bison. "He didn't seem to care much about that herd," said Wyoming Game and Fish large carnivore specialist Dan Thompson. "I'm sure he sees herds of bison all the time, but I guess the bison felt he wasn't moving along quickly enough, despite his nonchalance, so they gave him a little nudge."
Bear Vs Bison
Typically, grizzlies and bison share a peaceful relation. Grizzlies respect the size of the animals and don't try to mess with them.
"I've seen lots of large male grizzlies walk through herds of 50 to 60 bison without incident," retired federal ecologist and grizzly conservation advocate Chuck Neal told Cowboy State Daily. "It depends on the bear's size, behavior, and psychology, but it's not an unusual sight to see." As he further said, "No grizzly is that stupid."
So what made the animals charge in this case? It was most likely herd mentality that spooked the animals.
"One individual cow probably reacted aggressively to the bear's presence and ran toward it as if she was going to chase it," he said. "Once she ran in the direction of the bear, the whole herd was going to follow along because they're repetitious herd animals."
Meanwhile, wildlife photographer Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven shared his own thoughts on the matter. He said that the animals regularly intimidate grizzlies, referencing a time a mom and her two cubs approached cautiously.
"She looked really intimidated and a little bit scared to make her way safely through all the bison with her cubs," he said. "The bison stood together in groups and forced the sow to zigzag her way through them. They watched her the entire time."
It really just comes down a size disadvantage.
"The grizzly looked tiny, even compared to the smaller cow bison," he said. "The average grizzly in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is between 400 and 500 pounds. A cow bison can weigh over 1,000 pounds, and a bull can weigh up to 2,000 pounds. You can see the sheer difference in size and power when they're that close to each other."
