What do wolves and bears do when nobody's watching? : Othor Games

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:51 pm

An amateur photographer happened upon the scene of a grizzly bear and a grey wolf encountering each other in the wild.

What do you think happened next?

Spoiler

There was a spot cleared right across the river from these two. Once I stopped I was able to look closely and saw the wolf was "playing" with a grizzly bear. I thought they might be attracted to a carcass, but there was no food around. The bear rolled on its back with its feet in the air. It also slid around the snow.

The wolf stayed close, checking things out. The bear approached the wolf and they appeared to sniff around each other and on the ground. I had my camera so I took several pictures. They interacted for more than five minutes and then they both walked up the small drainage and out of sight. I don't know if that's a common type of encounter, but I doubt I will ever see it again!

Source: http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2011/08/what-do-bears-and-wolves-yellowstone-national-park-do-when-no-ones-watching8548

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 1:05 pm

It's in neither parties interest to fight each other, they aren't competing for mates, they probably don't compete too much for food, and both have large ranges for territory. Fighting is risky business, and animals tend to avoid it.

Now if it had been bear + bear, or wolves + wolves on the other hand...

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:24 pm

There were a bunch of squirrels gathering nuts and birds eating worms and bugs after a heavy rain one morning. The bird allowed a squirrel to get close to it and the squirrel started to sniff and investigate the bird. Interesting how animals are so passive around each other (usually) but so scared of humans.

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 11:02 am

There were a bunch of squirrels gathering nuts and birds eating worms and bugs after a heavy rain one morning. The bird allowed a squirrel to get close to it and the squirrel started to sniff and investigate the bird. Interesting how animals are so passive around each other (usually) but so scared of humans.

Eh, not so surprising. It doesn't really boil down to much more than the animals seeing each other a lot more often than they see humans since most non-scavenger animals tend to avoid towns and the like.

It's still pretty cool to have an account of something like this happening in the wild.

» Fri Aug 05, 2011 1:22 am

There were a bunch of squirrels gathering nuts and birds eating worms and bugs after a heavy rain one morning. The bird allowed a squirrel to get close to it and the squirrel started to sniff and investigate the bird. Interesting how animals are so passive around each other (usually) but so scared of humans.

actually, i've had squirrels jump out in front of me while walking, they couldn't have been much farther then 6-7 feet

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:22 pm

It's in neither parties interest to fight each other, they aren't competing for mates, they probably don't compete too much for food, and both have large ranges for territory. Fighting is risky business, and animals tend to avoid it.

Now if it had been bear + bear, or wolves + wolves on the other hand...

Exactly what I think. Why risk serious injury for no real reason?

If the bear had a cub however I can assure you it would have been a bit more protective the same for if the wolves had pups.

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:25 pm

There were a bunch of squirrels gathering nuts and birds eating worms and bugs after a heavy rain one morning. The bird allowed a squirrel to get close to it and the squirrel started to sniff and investigate the bird. Interesting how animals are so passive around each other (usually) but so scared of humans.

It's probably because humans have a habit of killing for no reason, hunting seasons are [censored]! :banghead:

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 12:42 pm

There were a bunch of squirrels gathering nuts and birds eating worms and bugs after a heavy rain one morning. The bird allowed a squirrel to get close to it and the squirrel started to sniff and investigate the bird. Interesting how animals are so passive around each other (usually) but so scared of humans.

Humans tend to be obnoxious animals. We are foreign lookin'; bears and wolves have seen each other before but humans are an odd sight for them.

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:37 pm

Eh, not so surprising. It doesn't really boil down to much more than the animals seeing each other a lot more often than they see humans since most non-scavenger animals tend to avoid towns and the like.

It's still pretty cool to have an account of something like this happening in the wild.

Plus we look huge near smaller animals, even animals on all 4 legs (since we'll look taller).

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 8:45 pm

There were a bunch of squirrels gathering nuts and birds eating worms and bugs after a heavy rain one morning. The bird allowed a squirrel to get close to it and the squirrel started to sniff and investigate the bird. Interesting how animals are so passive around each other (usually) but so scared of humans.

Maybeeeeeee it's because humans are terrible people :lol:

. We tear down their habitats. :shrug:

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:59 pm

D'awwww! ^_^

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:40 am

The question is, "Who would win the fight if they were to fight?"

That is pretty frickin' cool though.

I was mountain biking once and saw a family of wolves on the ridge I was riding on. We all stopped. They looked at us, we looked at them. Each party kept their distance. Ultimately, we decided that it'd be better for us to ride back down the way we came and find a different route to our destination. Crossing paths with the wolves probably wasn't in my parties interest. (Wow, typo city here.)

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:12 pm

They went away so they could drink their coffee and talk about fooling stupid tourists

um..am I the only one who tought of Gary Larson when you read the OP?

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:24 pm

I was going to come up with something furry related to say to this, but I'm having difficulty with it.

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 1:46 pm

this is surprising, sort of, having grown up with fairy tales where bear the next in the chain of who chase and beats who(approximately): mouse>cat>fox>wolf>bear>man.

but than again, nature is harmonious and is peaceful in and withing itself, all of it in harmonious and peaceful relationship to other parts of it(animals to animals, animals to air, animals to trees, etc). but when problems like competition food, mating, territory, etc(as Solid_moose said) come into play and that harmony is disturbed. or man comes into equation and often disturbs this perfection due to poor stewardship skills. if people were better stewards of nature, things like this would be seem more often.

nice find though. i think i'll share this.

» Fri Aug 05, 2011 12:50 am

Awwwww... caaautteee.

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 11:40 pm

That's either a very big wolf or a very small grizzly. Or the wolf is keeping his distance and what we're seeing is an optical illusion brought on by a lack of depth perception. Still interesting that they're in such close proximity but I would take the words "playing together" with a grain of salt.

» Thu Aug 04, 2011 7:29 pm

It's probably because humans have a habit of killing for no reason, hunting seasons are [censored]! :banghead:

Let's not make this thread political, shall we?

On topic, that's pretty interesting. i mean, I didn't expect them to tear eachother to shreads, but I guess I never thought what would happen if a bear and a wolf do when no one is looking.

» Fri Aug 05, 2011 12:46 am

Let's not make this thread political, shall we?

Hunting isn't political, really.

» Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:02 am

well bears generally get on gaming forums ready to ban noobs