At Tower Junction, we turned northeast and left the Grand Loop Road. We were headed into the Lamar Valley. Long a haven for wildlife, the Lamar Valley has recently become famous as the hunting ground for an active pack of wolves.
I'm glad we attended the ranger program last night and learned about the reintroduction of the wolves to Yellowstone. We learned that each wolf pack has a distinct pecking order. They're led by an alpha male and an alpha female. The couple don't tolerate breeding by any other members of the pack. And they are incredibly territorial.
We didn't have much hope of spotting a wolf, but we were going to give it a try. Oh, I'm so glad we did!
But first, we had the opportunity to spy a bear. We'd seen glimpses of a few before, but this was the best shot of one in the open. It was just a little one, and we didn't get a great look, but it was probably a black bear. It may surprise you that color is not a reliable indicator of species. Black bears can be black, brown, cinnamon, or even blond. The features that distinguish them from grizzlies are face (black bears have a tapered head/snout; a grizzly's face is round and flat) and shoulders (grizzlies have a heavily-muscled hump). Black bears are far more common than grizzlies.
Up ahead, we encountered an enormous traffic jam. A crowd was gathered on the side of a hill. Cameras, binoculars, and scopes were everywhere, and they were pointed across the road at a spot along the river bank. This was something we had to check out.
We quickly learned that a wolf had killed an elk calf earlier that day. And just like we'd learned at last night's ranger program, she filled her belly with as much meat as she could carry and left to feed her pups. Meanwhile, a grizzly bear moved in on the carcass. Now the wolf had returned, and the bear wasn't about to budge.
How lucky are we?! We get to witness a standoff between a she-wolf and a grizzly bear. Most people only dream of seeing one or the other in the wild, and we got to see both!
Look closely at the center of the photo (or at the magnification below).
The wolf is a white dot on the opposite bank, and the bear is (mostly) hidden in the brush on this side.
The wolf is circled in yellow. The bear is circled in red.
Someone had a scope trained right on the action. We were treated to an up-close view of several attempts by the wolf to intimidate the bear away from her property. We never actually saw them make contact, but I saw the bear rear at least once. Not wanting to push a violent confrontation, the wolf intermittently lay on the grass above the river bank and paced through the shallow water below.
The presence of wolves and bears is a controversial subject both in and out of Yellowstone. But it sure was exhilarating to watch them interact, utterly untamed. Sure beats the zoo!
I'm glad we attended the ranger program last night and learned about the reintroduction of the wolves to Yellowstone. We learned that each wolf pack has a distinct pecking order. They're led by an alpha male and an alpha female. The couple don't tolerate breeding by any other members of the pack. And they are incredibly territorial.
We didn't have much hope of spotting a wolf, but we were going to give it a try. Oh, I'm so glad we did!
But first, we had the opportunity to spy a bear. We'd seen glimpses of a few before, but this was the best shot of one in the open. It was just a little one, and we didn't get a great look, but it was probably a black bear. It may surprise you that color is not a reliable indicator of species. Black bears can be black, brown, cinnamon, or even blond. The features that distinguish them from grizzlies are face (black bears have a tapered head/snout; a grizzly's face is round and flat) and shoulders (grizzlies have a heavily-muscled hump). Black bears are far more common than grizzlies.Up ahead, we encountered an enormous traffic jam. A crowd was gathered on the side of a hill. Cameras, binoculars, and scopes were everywhere, and they were pointed across the road at a spot along the river bank. This was something we had to check out.
We quickly learned that a wolf had killed an elk calf earlier that day. And just like we'd learned at last night's ranger program, she filled her belly with as much meat as she could carry and left to feed her pups. Meanwhile, a grizzly bear moved in on the carcass. Now the wolf had returned, and the bear wasn't about to budge.
How lucky are we?! We get to witness a standoff between a she-wolf and a grizzly bear. Most people only dream of seeing one or the other in the wild, and we got to see both!
Look closely at the center of the photo (or at the magnification below).The wolf is a white dot on the opposite bank, and the bear is (mostly) hidden in the brush on this side.
The wolf is circled in yellow. The bear is circled in red.Someone had a scope trained right on the action. We were treated to an up-close view of several attempts by the wolf to intimidate the bear away from her property. We never actually saw them make contact, but I saw the bear rear at least once. Not wanting to push a violent confrontation, the wolf intermittently lay on the grass above the river bank and paced through the shallow water below.
The presence of wolves and bears is a controversial subject both in and out of Yellowstone. But it sure was exhilarating to watch them interact, utterly untamed. Sure beats the zoo!