Missoula Notebook
Video: Most. Annoying. Wolf. Ever.
That’s what the momma bear and two cubs in this USGS video, filmed by a motion-activated remote camera in Glacier National Park, have got to be thinking.
By Sutton R. Stokes, 6-26-08
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In the video, the three bears are ambling along in a grassy clearing when this wolf comes up and just will not leave them alone. Momma bear chuffs and charges and the wolf runs off… only to lope back into the frame a little later, nipping at the bear cubs and bowing down like a playful German Shepherd.
A playful German Shepherd… who would no doubt eat those cubs if the mother weren’t around. But the mother is around, and she keeps charging the wolf — though not, it must be said, terribly wholeheartedly — yet the wolf returns again and again.
I first heard about this video a few weeks ago from a friend who works in Glacier, and I’ve been eager to check it out. I heard on MTPR this morning that it had been posted for the public on the USGS web site, so I thought I’d hunt it down and pass it along.
It’s worth watching if for no other reason than to know what a grizzly’s chuffs sound like. They remind me of the sounds I make in a soccer game when I charge an attacker, in the last split seconds before he or she deftly and effortlessly outmaneuvers me.
Which, come to think of it, is basically what this wolf was doing to this bear.
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I don't think they were just "...not being left alone." If you look where the elk carcass was, you will notice a small dirt pile. I could be mistaken, but I think the Sow buried the carcass there, and that is why they are 'hanging' in this area for so long.
All the grizzlies I've been around, and I've been living among them for over 40 years, they tend to 'stash' their food, and hang in the area till it's completely gone.
REALLY COOL though thanks for 'digging' it up for us.
Comment By Sutton, 6-26-08Very observant, Ann, I think you are right. The interesting thing to me is how non-aggressive the bear was toward the wolf, even so. Although I guess it's easy to say she was "non-aggressive" from where we're sitting; the picture might have looked decidedly different in person.
Small bear, too, eh?
Yes I noticed her size too. Either she is small or that wolf is HUGE.
I think the sow knew the wolf was not a threat. It sure is cute how the cubs 'mimicked' momma.
I have heard the jaws, and the grunts they can do. It is definitely a hair raiser.
Back in the 70's we were fortunate enough to 'work' with Ken Greer (deceased) and Fred King in collaring and studying the Grizzlies after they 'closed' the open dumps. Very thrilling and educational.
Looks a bit more overt than that. What are those tracks in the grass? Someone backing in a pickup, dumping the meat and then driving off?
Comment By Sutton, 6-26-08@Dave: Sounds right, since the video caption describes it as a "road killed elk." Guess a park employee must have hauled it in for the locals to snack on.
Comment By Red Dancer, 6-27-08Um, I'm sure they do that on purpose. How often does an elk get hit by a vehicle in the middle of a field right smack in front of a motion sensored camera? lol
Comment By Ann, 6-27-08Of course they take 'road-kill' to an isolated area for the scavengers to enjoy. There are too many hazards for both human and animal to leave a road-kill on the road. There are those types of 'feed' grounds all over the Parks etc. What would you have them do leave them on the roadways?
Comment By Dewd, 6-27-08I'm pretty sure those two bright orange objects in the upper left corner are some kind of traffic safety markers, like the common tall cones or freestanding posts, lying on their sides. Also the big engine-wrecking yard sounds at the end tell me this is not video'd in the " wild". It's close to internal combustion civilization. I'll bet there's a road just out of view. And yes that Sow is awfully small and lean.
Comment By Ann, 6-27-08And where, may I ask, is there a place where there isn't some kind of human(combustion engines etc.) in the area? Maybe ANWAR or Alaska or northern regions of Canada. But there isn't anywhere in the continental United States that isn't infiltrated by humans in one way or another.
One of the problems with human wildlife conflicts, is because people think that these animals in the Parks are nothing more than animals in a 'petting' zoo. Just because they are near roadways, or buildings does not make for a NON-wild animal. So yes this was filmed in the 'wild'. As 'wild' as you can get in the United States.
@Red Dancer: Being from Baltimore, I assumed this was a security camera and that they have them hanging from every 20th tree or so.
Comment By Aaron, 6-29-08This reminds me of an almost eerily similar video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JktcQ2A32cU
@Aaron: well, that's definitely the most annoying sasquatch ever, to say the least.
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