Tag: Yellowstone wolves

Yellowstone wolf on solo patrol chased for a mile by coyotes

“This yearling wolf was not being tolerated by this coyote family in the valley and they made it well known,” researcher Taylor Rabe stated in a video post.

A researcher who studies wolves in Yellowstone National Park has shared footage showing a young wolf fleeing from coyotes with its tail between its legs.

“The first video really highlights the size difference between wolves and coyotes,” stated Taylor Rabe of the Yellowstone Wolf Project, in reference to her Instagram slide post featuring wolf 1497F. “This yearling wolf was not being tolerated by this coyote family in the valley and they made it well known.

“They chased her for about a mile before she quickly crossed the road and left the area all together.”

Although coyotes are about one-third the size of wolves, they’re formidable in groups and will aggressively defend cubs. (Female gray wolves can weigh up to 110 pounds; adult coyotes average 20-35 pounds.)

Wolf 1479F, who is wearing a research collar, belongs to the Junction Butte Pack in the park’s northern range. Rabe’s post also shows the inquisitive canine feasting on a carcass and inspecting a bison on a game trail.

The researcher added that it’s common for young wolves to explore on their own and explained that wolf 1479F was only a couple of miles from the main pack, which “is nothing in the wolf world.”

–Image courtesy of Taylor Rabe

Watch: Yellowstone elk turns tables on wolf after stirring chase

Dramatic video footage shows an elk running for its life while being chased by a wolf in Yellowstone National Park, but the elk’s odds of survival suddenly improve.

A Wyoming-based guide has captured dramatic footage showing an elk running for its life while being chased by a wolf in Yellowstone National Park.

Bo Welden’s footage (posted below) begins with text informing viewers to prepare for an “expected outcome.”

While that’s a vague hint of what’s to come, viewers can see from the outset that this is an emergency situation for a cow elk that appears to be on her own.

Several seconds pass with the wolf, exhibiting remarkable stamina, attempting to catch the elk as both animals sprint across the rugged landscape.

But soon the elk reaches its herd and the dynamic changes. The elk that was fleeing, now with the herd’s support, begins to chase the wolf, which barely escapes.

Welden, who guides for Jackson Hole Wildlife Ecotour Adventures, explained the “expected outcome” statement via Instagram:

“Have you ever tried to catch and kill your food with your face? Plus your food runs 30+ miles an hour, one stomp from a powerful hoof kills/injures you, and has a fierce motherly instinct! It’s no easy task.”

Gray wolves (some are black) typically require the strength of a pack to take down a healthy adult elk.

Welden told FTW Outdoors that the chase occurred in Hayden Valley and that the black wolf in the footage is a member of the Wapiti Lake Pack.

–Generic black wolf image from Hayden Valley courtesy of Scott Thomas

Watch: Tiny Yellowstone wolf pup leaves den, encounters bull elk

“At just a month old, this was likely the first time the young wolf had ever seen an animal of this size,” the tour company explained.

A tour guide in Yellowstone National Park this week captured extraordinary footage showing a tiny wolf pup emerging from a den to find itself face-to-face with a bull elk.

“At just a month old, this was likely the first time the young wolf had ever seen an animal of this size,” Yellowstone Wolf Tracker explained via Instagram. “The two shared a quick glance that seemed to make time stand still.” (See video below.)

The description continued, “This moment, although short-lived, made us onlookers ponder questions regarding what the future might hold for the young wolf.

“Would this encounter potentially shape the wolf into a fearless hunter? Are we possibly seeing the makings of a future pack leader? Only time will tell!”

The footage is grainy because it was captured, by Michael Sypniewski, through a spotting scope from a distance of 3/4 of a mile.

Leo Leckie, spokesman for Yellowstone Wolf Tracker, told FTW Outdoors that the pup belongs to the Junction Butte Pack in the park’s northern range.

The Junction Butte wolves “have become skilled bison hunters over the years,” Leckie added.

Yellowstone wolves also prey on elk, deer, and smaller mammals.

Wolf pups are born in early spring. They typically begin to emerge from dens at 10-14 days, according to the park. They stay at the den site for up to 10 weeks.

Yellowstone Wolf Tracker offers wolf-watching expeditions throughout the year.

Yellowstone wolf killed by trapper fondly remembered by researcher

“I think one of the main reasons I was so drawn to her was because I could see myself in her and she always made me smile,” Taylor Rabe wrote as part of her tribute.

A researcher who studies wolves in Yellowstone National Park on Sunday posted a video tribute to one of her favorite wolves a year after the animal was killed outside of the park by a trapper.

The female wolf was cataloged by park researchers as 1229F.

Taylor Rabe of the Yellowstone Wolf Project expressed her feelings via Instagram:

“Yesterday was one whole year without 1229F running around the park causing trouble – my favorite girl. She was spunky, charismatic, and moved to the beat of her own drum. She was always playing with the puppies and prancing around all over Lamar Valley.

“I grew very fond of her over the years, and loved trying to pick her out of the pack (though it wasn’t very hard). She was so unique, and I will cherish the moments I had with her.”

Yellowstone has lost several wolves that ventured outside the park during recent hunting and trapping seasons.

Rabe’s tribute comes nearly three weeks after the end of the most recent season in Wolf Management Unit 313, immediately north of the park in Montana, because an established quota of six wolves had been reached.

A park spokeswoman confirmed to FTW Outdoors that all six wolves “belonged to packs that spend the majority of their lives inside Yellowstone National Park and have territories largely within the park.”

One was a male collared research wolf from the Mollie’s Pack.

Rabe’s tribute to wolf 1229F continued:

“She helped me fall in love with wolves and wolf watching. I think one of the main reasons I was so drawn to her was because I could see myself in her and she always, always made me smile. That’s the beauty of watching wolves in Yellowstone – you can’t help but fall in love with them and following along with their stories, no matter how they may end.

“Unfortunately, she was trapped and shot last winter, and man do I miss seeing her every day in the field. Her absence is truly felt – but she made my time here so fun. Thanks for the memories girl, may I think of you always.”

–Image courtesy of Taylor Rabe

A true survivor, Yellowstone wolf pup issues ‘adult-like howl’

This year’s lone surviving pup from a popular Yellowstone National Park wolf pack has expressed herself as a survivor and a force.

This year’s lone surviving pup from a popular Yellowstone National Park wolf pack has expressed herself as a survivor and a force.

Taylor Rabe, a Yellowstone Wolf Project researcher, shared the accompanying footage showing the young wolf issuing an “adult-like howl” before continuing across the wintry landscape.

Rabe stated via Instagram: “Extra sassy + extra cute — featuring the Junction Butte pack’s one and only surviving puppy this year. This female pup is about 7 months old, and not too small anymore (listen to her new adult-like howl).”

The Junction Butte pack inhabits the park’s northern range.

Life is difficult for all park wolves, which are vulnerable to attacks by other wolves and the large critters wolves prey upon in order to survive – and by hunters and trappers if wolves wander beyond park boundaries.

Rabe explained that the Junction Butte pack produced two litters this year and that researchers “had visuals on multiple puppies born, but we’ll never know why she was the only one that survived.”

Rabe’s post has two click-through portions: one featuring the howl and the other showing the the wary predator on the move sporting a thickening winter coat.

Stated Rabe: “She’s quite beautiful now, and continues to grow like a weed.”

‘Elusive’ Yellowstone wolf pack reacts to trail cam

A researcher who studies wolves in Yellowstone National Park on Thursday shared footage showing a rarely seen pack reacting to a trail camera.

A researcher who studies wolves in Yellowstone National Park on Thursday shared footage showing a rarely seen pack reacting to a trail camera.

Viewers can click here to watch Taylor Rabe’s Instagram reel featuring adult members of the Shrimp Lake Pack in the northeast portion of the park.

Two wolves are shown inspecting or reacting to the motion-sensor camera and, as Rabe jokingly notes, those who listen with sound can hear one wolf “taking a pee on a tree.”

“Wolves are very aware when cameras are in the area, and you can see these two adults checking it out!” Rabe explains in the footage, which was captured in June.

According to Rabe, who conducts research for the Yellowstone Wolf Project,  the Shrimp Lake Pack consists of four adults (including two yearlings) and four new pups.

Wolves reach adult size in about one year and viewers can glimpse the yearlings – one black, the other gray – on the trail behind the older wolves.

Rabe concludes: “The Shrimps are very elusive, so any sighting of them is exciting – even on a trail cam!”

–Images are video screen shots

Yellowstone bison ‘barrel onto scene’ to save calf from wolves

A guide has captured dramatic footage showing two adult bison rushing to the rescue as wolves attacked a young calf in Yellowstone National Park.

A guide has captured dramatic footage showing two adult bison rushing to the rescue as wolves attacked a young calf in Yellowstone National Park.

Michael Sypniewski, who guides for Yellowstone Wolf Tracker, described what he documented via Instagram:

“This young bison was sleeping on the outskirts of it’s herd when it was caught off guard by a group of wolves. Separated from the herd, I thought for sure the wolves were on their way to securing an easy meal.

“Then, seemingly out of no where, two adult bison from the nearby herd came barreling onto the scene to protect the youngster, almost trampling the calf in the process.”

The bison calf, which sustained bite wounds, did not appear to have been seriously injured.

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Wolves in Yellowstone prey on bison calves – along with elk, deer and other mammals – and have been known to attack adult bison if an animal appears vulnerable.

Bison are the largest land mammals in North America and can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds. More than 5,000 bison inhabit Yellowstone National Park.

–Generic bison image courtesy of NPS/Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone wolf flees rival pack in ‘epic’ downhill chase

A young wolf under attack by a rival pack Wednesday in Yellowstone National Park was captured on video fleeing in a full downhill sprint across rugged terrain.

A young wolf under attack by a rival pack Wednesday in Yellowstone National Park was captured on video fleeing in a full downhill sprint across rugged terrain.

The dramatic footage was captured by Michelle Holihan for Yellowstone Wolf Tracker, which described the scene via Instagram:

“Today our Winter Wolf Watch saw the Rescue Creek Pack run across the Lupine Creek Pack and an epic chase began. Several Rescue Creek Pack wolves ran up on a grey pup from Lupine, the rest of her pack fled but she didn’t understand the danger until it was too late and she had to flee full speed down a mountain slope to escape.”

Viewers are likely to be amazed at the remarkable speed and agility on display by the young gray wolf and those leading the attack.

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Wolf Tracker continued: “We lost sight of the grey and don’t know what happened to her! Wolf packs are territorial but in the winter when all the wildlife is concentrated at low elevations they can have encounters like this one.”

–Image courtesy of Yellowstone Wolf Tracker

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Watch: Yellowstone wolves chase nosy bear up a tree

A tour company that operates in Yellowstone National Park has shared footage showing two male wolves chasing a black bear up a tree.

A tour company that operates in Yellowstone National Park has shared footage showing two wolves chasing a bear up a tree.

“Black bear wanders into the wrong neighborhood,” Yellowstone Wolf Tracker wrote this week on Instagram.

The footage, captured by a Wolf Tracker guide, shows the bear leaping onto the tree and scrambling several feet up to escape the older male wolves. (If footage doesn’t appear below, click here.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg5Nqqgvdfg/

If viewers swipe to the the second clip they’ll see one of the wolves baring its teeth.

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A commenter asked if the bear or wolves were hurt during the confrontation and Wolf Tracker responded: “All okay! Just some friendly disagreements.”

The disagreement began when the bear approached the wolves’ freshly killed bison. “They chased and harassed this bear up the same tree for close to half an hour!” Wolf Tracker wrote.

The wolves belong to the Junction Butte Pack, which roams the park’s northern range.

–Black bear image is generic, courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Watch: Oblivious hikers startle Yellowstone wolf pack

A photographer on Saturday shared video footage showing two Yellowstone National Park hikers startling a wolf pack at close quarters and continuing on as though nothing had happened.

A photographer has captured footage showing two Yellowstone National Park hikers startling a wolf pack at close quarters and continuing as though nothing had happened.

That’s because the off-trail hikers were not paying attention and did not know that wolves had been napping and were suddenly watching them from only 20 yards away.

“They have no clue,” Julie Argyle says in the video, as she and her group watch from 600 yards. “Isn’t that funny, those people have no clue.” (Video is posted below.)

Argyle was shooting through a spotting scope; hence, the grainy footage. It shows the hikers – one of them fidgeting with his backpack – walking with their heads down as the closest wolf eyes them from a hill to their right.

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Stirring in the shadows are at least three other wolves, all from the Wapiti Lake Pack.

“The wolf at the beginning of the video was actually laying down halfway down the hill when the hikers were walking up,” Argyle told FTW Outdoors. “I hadn’t started my video at that time. It realized they were coming toward it and it jumped up and hid behind the tree.”

Wolf from Yellowstone’s Wapiti Lake Pack. Photo: Julie Argyle

Yellowstone guidelines stipulate that tourists must stay at least 100 yards from bears and wolves. But it does not appear as though the hikers had been in danger.

In fact, in sharing the footage – the encounter occurred Sept. 25 – Argyle hoped to drive home the point that wolves are not the savage creatures many believe them to be.

Wolf from the Wapiti Lake Pack. Photo: Julie Argyle

Her Facebook introduction reads: “What happens when two hikers unknowingly walk into an area where a pack of wolves is sleeping? Absolutely nothing.

“Contrary to what some people want you to believe, wolves are not going to attack you. In most cases they will run away from you if you encounter them in the back country.”

When it was suggested that the hikers were fortunate that a momma grizzly bear wasn’t sleeping on that hill with her cubs, Argyle responded, “They sure were. That would have been an entirely different story.”