A Wyoming ecotour guide this week shared suspenseful footage showing a wolf trying to run down a large elk in Grand Teton National Park.
Bo Welden, naturalist and guide for Jackson Hole EcoTour Adventures, noted the impressive strides by both critters and observed via Instagram:
“There is an undeniable power in both these species of animals and to see it firing on all cylinders was beyond incredible. Guides and guests wait for moments like this for years, so I felt very lucky to have witnessed this one.”
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At one point during the pursuit, both animals cross a highway in front of an idling vehicle.
Welden explained that fleeing elk will try to access rivers for safety. In this case the elk simply outran the wolf “and walked away alive” in footage accompanied by Sia’s hit song “Unstoppable.”
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Welden told FTW Outdoors that he captured the footage in October 2021, and that the wolf belonged to the Wildcat Ridge Pack in the park’s northern region. (Grand Teton National Park is just south of Yellowstone National Park.)
“That evening was magical because it highlighted the fact that wolves are not 100% successful in their hunts,” Welden said. “Elk are strong and fast and wolves try to kill them with their faces [teeth]. That’s hard to do.”
Wolves are sometimes killed by elk and typically work as a pack to bring one down.
Welden added: “Both the elk and the wolf deserve tremendous respect as members of a beautiful intact ecosystem. We need them both here. Without the other the one will suffer.”
–Generic wolf image courtesy of NPS/Yellowstone National Park
