When it comes to protective parental instincts in nature, size doesn\u2019t matter, as demonstrated by a pair of Yellowstone coyotes who chased off a grizzly that apparently got too close to their den of pups.<\/p>\n
The grizzly, likely a young and inexperienced bear, initially pivoted and tried to chase one of the coyotes that came after it. But when the second coyote came barreling in, the grizzly turned tail, fled up a hill and didn\u2019t come back.<\/p>\n
None of the animals made contact with each other during the brief, dramatic encounter at Blacktail Ponds in Yellowstone National Park.<\/p>\n
\u2018Pretty Ballsy\u2019<\/p>\n
It was probably a classic example of coyotes protecting their young, retired wildlife biologist Franz Camenzind told Cowboy State Daily.<\/p>\n
Normally, even a pack of coyotes wouldn\u2019t be a match for a healthy adult grizzly. But that didn\u2019t seem to matter to these coyotes when their pups were threatened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019d be aggressive\u201d if their pups were at stake, said Camenzind, who studied coyote behavior in and around the National Elk Refuge near Jackson.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormally, they wouldn\u2019t do that (go after a grizzly), but there\u2019s the motivation of protecting young,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty ballsy of them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Wildlife photographer Mark Fletcher took video of the encounter on April 25. He told Cowboy State Daily that he didn\u2019t see any coyote pups.<\/p>\n
But he surmised that protecting a den of pups would be the one thing that would prompt coyotes to risk getting torn up by a grizzly.<\/p>\n
Camenzind said that tracks with coyote biology and behavior.<\/p>\n
Coyote pups are usually born in April, and mated pairs \u2014 or even groups of adults \u2014 will guard dens, he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Wildlife Jam<\/p>\n
Fletcher has been a professional photographer for 40 years and has photographed wildlife all over the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019s never seen anything quite as bold as those\u00a0little coyotes chasing off a grizzly.<\/p>\n
During his latest trip to Yellowstone, he was driving on his way out of the park toward Gardiner, Montana,\u00a0when he saw several vehicles stopping and pulling over ahead of him, a typical wildlife traffic jam.<\/p>\n
He drove past those cars and into a pullout at Blacktail Ponds.<\/p>\n
The Blacktail Ponds are a busy place this time of year. Herds of bison pass through as they move between their winter and summer range.<\/p>\n
And every year, a few unlucky bison get trapped in thick mud under the ponds and drown. Their carcasses attract scavengers and carnivores, including grizzlies.<\/p>\n
Fletcher said he immediately spotted the grizzly, which he figured to be a young bear, just striking out on its own.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just jumped in the back of the pickup and used that to brace my camera,\u201d so he could photograph the bear through a 600 mm telephoto lens.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the sudden, the bear started running, and I switched my camera over to video,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when he saw the coyotes come zipping in, and he caught the chase on video.<\/p>\n
It was a matter of being in the right place at just the right time, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything that brave,\u201d he said of the coyotes\u2019 actions.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t see a carcass nearby. He also figured there was no way the coyotes would have been that bold over just a carcass, so they must have had pups somewhere close.<\/p>\n
After running the bear off, \u201cthe coyotes just calmly walked back down the hill,\u201d Fletcher said.<\/p>\n
Communal Parenting<\/p>\n
Coyotes are good parents and caregivers to their young, Camenzind said. A mated pair will take care of their pups together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe male will go out and do most of the hunting,\u201d while the female is nursing very young pups, he said.<\/p>\n
Across most of Wyoming, coyotes can be legally hunted any time of year, so people might be used to seeing them only alone, or perhaps in pairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoyotes can make it as just a pair, whereas that\u2019s really difficult for wolves,\u201d Camenzind said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because wolves rely primarily on large prey animals that take an entire pack to hunt. Coyotes can get by on a huge variety of food, including grasshoppers and the like, he said.<\/p>\n
In places like Yellowstone where they\u2019re protected, coyotes will form groups or packs, not unlike wolves.<\/p>\n
Sometimes more than one female in the pack will have pups, and the entire group will pitch in to help, he said.<\/p>\n
Once the pups get big enough to eat meat, the adults go out to hunt or find carrion to bring back to the den to feed them, he said.<\/p>\n