Yes, a grizzly bear can bring down a fully-grown elk!
Yellowstone is one of the more amazing National Parks simply because of the opportunity to witness wild animals doing what comes naturally to them. If you are lucky, you may even get to see nature's true brutal nature play out before your very eyes.
It happened recently in the park's Hayden Valley. Personally, this one of my favorite spots in the park to spot grizzly bears. There always seems to be some lumbering around this area. Park visitors recently got more than they bargained for when a grizzly not only chases a full-grown bull elk, but attacks and drowns it in the Yellowstone River.
It's a brutal scene filmed by YouTuber BE Judson. The video is an amazing demonstration of the grizzly's raw power. If you have problems with the video playing, go here to see it in full. It's worth a watch!
This is one of the best visitor wildlife videos we have seen in a very long time from Yellowstone. The elk's decision to ford the river ended up being his downfall. We are guessing this bull was run down a bit too because the rut is currently in full swing in the park. The bear likely knew this and saw an opening for an easy meal. It appears the elk actually dies more from drowning than the bear's attack. The bear does not care. Whatever works. After all, Yellowstone's bears are in the final phases of fattening up for the long winter months ahead right now.
This is the second brutal video demonstrating the grizzly's killing abilities we have seen this year. Earlier this year, another visitor filmed a grizzly killing a bison in another part of the park. You heard the rangers at the end of the video trying to keep traffic on the road cleared. They were also likely enforcing the park's rule about keeping 100 yards away from large predators like this.
While it is quite brutal, this is what you have the chance to see when you visit Yellowstone National Park, real scenes of nature. That is better than what you can see at any zoo any day.
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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