Man Captures Yellowstone’s Wolves Playing with a Grizzly. But Things Aren't as Friendly as It Seems
Yellowstone might be loved for its beautiful rainbow pools, prismatic hot springs, and towering mountain cliffs, but deep within its golden lands also lurks a dramatic battleground. Only those who are familiar with Yellowstone’s wild residents know about it. Inside the grassy sagebrush flats, sometimes meadows or tree lines, unfold a brutal rumpus between two of Yellowstone’s leading apex predators, as this BBC Earth film captures.
Surrounded by the brash caws of ravens, a carcass is splayed on a site, likely the carcass of an elk or a bison. Excited, a bear marches towards the carcass and starts nibbling on the delicious meal, totally unaware of two glaring eyes that are spying on it from behind the tree. At first, there is one. Soon enough, the entire pack of wolves emerges from behind the tree cover and encircles the bear. The bear is alone, and the wolves are many.
Wolves have a suite of tactics: brute force, blatant harassment, nipping at the hindquarters, distraction, diversion, confusion, taunting, aggression, circling the target, and, not to forget, the exhaustion strategies they use to force the grizzly bear to surrender. Their greatest strength is the size of their pack, while the grizzly relies solely on its physical strength, willpower, and determination. With a competition so fierce exhibited every other day, it seems “almost impossible” to find grizzlies and wolves sharing the same territory without erupting into a fight. However, one photograph captured by Pete Bengeyfield suggests that the impossible might no longer be impossible.
It was an early morning in the spring of 2019 when Bengeyfield ventured out in Yellowstone to record the Super Bloom, not expecting what was to come next. Upon arrival in the park’s Cascade Meadows, just south of Canyon Village, his eyes fell upon an unlikely sight. A grizzly was standing right next to two wolves and they were not fighting in an “almost impossible moment.” The photograph, which has since gone viral, makes it look as if the two animals are trying to be friends. In conversation with Cowboy State Daily, Bengeyfield clarified that they were not.
Bengeyfield said the bear was standing and just curious as it approached the wolves. When he focused his camera, the bear became alert and started staring at him. The bear, he said, was likely a three-year-old cub, while its mom and siblings were lounging behind the trees, with a carcass. The wolves also wanted the carcass, but they patiently waited to bide their time instead of jumping into a brawl.
Wildlife biologist Cecily Costello explained that the fights between wolves and bears are usually no more than tussles driven by competition for food. Conflicts and arguments are over who gets to eat first and have the bigger slice. While bears defend themselves with physical strength, wolves rely more on posturing, intimidation tactics, and displays of domination rather than actual fighting.
This is not to say that the two predators can never be friends. In one photograph, Yellowstone park ranger Doug Smith recorded a grizzly and a wolf roaming alongside in a snowy landscape. Photographer Lassi Rautiainen captured an extraordinary non-aggressive friendship between a female grey wolf and a male brown bear in a Finnish landscape. The wolf and the bear showcased a 10-day friendship, during which they traveled together, shared food, and even played. Experts speculated that the animals were young, lonely, and struggling to survive alone.
In Bengeyfield’s case, unfortunately, the relationship couldn’t take the form of a friendship. For a short while after the photo was taken, the wolves chased the grizzly. Ultimately, fed up with their pestering, the mother grizzly dragged the carcass behind the trees, and her family went out of sight.
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