Predator photos with stories

[Deleted]

A crocodile with not so usual meal. This crocodile had killed a honey badger, but trying to rip it in peaces wasn´t easy.








www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/predator-vs-prey/in-photos-crocodile-nabs-a-honey-badger-in-south-africas-kruger-park/

[brobear]

www.boredpanda.com/bear-friend-wolf-lassi-rautiainen/ 
 
Unusual Friendship Between Wolf And Bear Documented By Finnish Photographer

[Deleted]

brobear

That story is true, what comes to incident of kind of friendship between male bear and female wolf. But those photos aren´t all of them. For instance the photo which you shared isn´t those two, but some other bear and wolf which happen to be relatively close to each others. It happens quite often, that they stand there just a few meters between them, when talking about bears and wolves.

What makes that "friendship case" so unique is, that the wolf and the bear ate even same time on same carcass with distance of just approximately half a meter, around 1,5 ft from each others. And that it continued 1,5 weeks. I try to find original photos concerning these "Romeo and Juliet", there are some sites with original photos.

Edit and add, quote from the book "Fighters":

"Had the two been members of the same species one would have surmised that deeper feelings were at work. But a wolf and a bear
- huh! In fact, their friendship actually grew night by night. Romeo would appear first. Not long afterwards Juliet’s pale form could be
discerned in the forest. As soon as it became evident that no other bears or wolves were feasting, she would join her friend. At its best the
distance between the two heads as the animals sank their teeth into the food was a mere 30-40 cm. 

This unusual love affair lasted for well over a week before the animals went their separate ways. Later, I saw Romeo several times but
he was always alone. Juliet, on the other hand, could be seen hanging out with her relatives. It is highly characteristic of wolf behaviour
for the pack to disperse, only to gather again in a variety of compositions – even during the same night."

tom
You once asked if bears are in packs in these days... check this photo




When there is a carcass, there is always possibility to see a lot of bears taking their part from it, unless a dominant bear happens to come to the place. When dominant bear comes there, all others take distance, as do all the other animals too. When dominant bear is on carcass, there are no other bears, wolves or wolverines near, they all know better to wait.

Younger bears share way better with each others, even though they also keep wolves and wolverines away. Then again some wolves are cheeky and bold, like one half-famous called Bum Biter can cause quite a mess. He and his pack are known to harass bears on carcasses and especially younger bears have even retreated from carcasses, when Bum Biter (and or other wolves) has put up a show, running fast in the middle of the bears biting them and causing them to flee.

What comes to big whale carcasses and salmon rivers situation is different. I guess, that when all bears know, that there is more than enough food available, it´s a different game and also dominant bears are more tolerable, just taking the best place and then happy with it.

[Deleted]

brobear

Again this link  wildfinland.org/pdf/fighters.pdf

There when looking at photos in pages 76-78, those three photos are from "Romeo and Juliet". 

One photo of this particular pair here:




And these two photos are also from same pair:





It´s interesting how different color of the bear looks to be in last photo, but light conditions have effect, also wolf looks more pale in that last photo.

[Deleted]

These photos are from 2016 and Finland. What can be seen in  photos is a youn wolf playing around with two bears, who are 2,5 years old and considered still as cubs even though mother has already left them to survive on their own. These brothers had no problem with the wolf who wanted to play. Photographer Pekka Toivonen told, that they chased each others, sometimes wolf chased bears and sometimes bears chased wolf and in the manner like kids play with each others. As in photos can be seen, wolf jumps against the bears like saying "your turn".

This wolf stayed in the same area with these youngster bears for two weeks in August 2016. In two photos same wolf with mother bear and two cubs. Mother didn´t let wolf come too close to cubs and commanded cubs to climb to the tree at some point. But no big conflict there either, luckily. Toivonen says in one discussion thread, that mother bear gave swipes to wolf if it came too close causing wolf to learn fast to not go too close again.

Here some photos showing how young wolf and those two young male bears played with each others.

 










And then finally this wolf with mother bear.

[tom]

Aug 14, 2021 5:48:20 GMT -5 @shadow said:

tom
You once asked if bears are in packs in these days... check this photo




When there is a carcass, there is always possibility to see a lot of bears taking their part from it, unless a dominant bear happens to come to the place. When dominant bear comes there, all others take distance, as do all the other animals too. When dominant bear is on carcass, there are no other bears, wolves or wolverines near, they all know better to wait.

Younger bears share way better with each others, even though they also keep wolves and wolverines away. Then again some wolves are cheeky and bold, like one half-famous called Bum Biter can cause quite a mess. He and his pack are known to harass bears on carcasses and especially younger bears have even retreated from carcasses, when Bum Biter (and or other wolves) has put up a show, running fast in the middle of the bears biting them and causing them to flee.

What comes to big whale carcasses and salmon rivers situation is different. I guess, that when all bears know, that there is more than enough food available, it´s a different game and also dominant bears are more tolerable, just taking the best place and then happy with it.

Do we know for sure that photo is not simply a family group or similar e.g. mother with some older cubs?

What I was referring to is Packs of Bears running/hunting together like Wolf packs. Male Bears as we know are solitary and Mothers with cubs is about as close to calling a Bear pack a pack.

[Deleted]

Aug 14, 2021 14:59:41 GMT -5 tom said:

Aug 14, 2021 5:48:20 GMT -5 @shadow said:

tom
You once asked if bears are in packs in these days... check this photo




When there is a carcass, there is always possibility to see a lot of bears taking their part from it, unless a dominant bear happens to come to the place. When dominant bear comes there, all others take distance, as do all the other animals too. When dominant bear is on carcass, there are no other bears, wolves or wolverines near, they all know better to wait.

Younger bears share way better with each others, even though they also keep wolves and wolverines away. Then again some wolves are cheeky and bold, like one half-famous called Bum Biter can cause quite a mess. He and his pack are known to harass bears on carcasses and especially younger bears have even retreated from carcasses, when Bum Biter (and or other wolves) has put up a show, running fast in the middle of the bears biting them and causing them to flee.

What comes to big whale carcasses and salmon rivers situation is different. I guess, that when all bears know, that there is more than enough food available, it´s a different game and also dominant bears are more tolerable, just taking the best place and then happy with it.

Do we know for sure that photo is not simply a family group or similar e.g. mother with some older cubs?

What I was referring to is Packs of Bears running/hunting together like Wolf packs. Male Bears as we know are solitary and Mothers with cubs is about as close to calling a Bear pack a pack.

Yes we know for sure, that in these photos aren´t family groups. That big bears aren´t with their mothers anymore. Also this is just one photo with many bears in same place. Male bears are solitary, but younger bears can eat in same place with no problem so it´s not so odd to see many male bears close to each others in peaceful way. It can be that in some photos can be brothers who stay still together after mother has kicked them out from her protection. Situation changes immediately if dominant male bear appears. Still when bears aren´t hungry they are way more tolerant than when hungry.

Many of these photos are taken near one feeding place, where wild bears are photographed when they arrive. So it can be assumed that not hungry bears in these photos. 

But yeah, bears don´t hunt in packs  

[tom]

Lots of pictures of Wolves and Bears peacefully sharing close proximity. With the exception of a mature male or a Female with very young cubs I think both mutually respect each others presence. Naturally when confronted with a pack of Wolves a mother with cubs knows instinctually that her cubs may be on the dinner menu. Of course the opposite could be true as well as in a large male Bear getting near a wolf den with young pups.

[brobear]

Aug 14, 2021 15:19:10 GMT -5 tom said:

Lots of pictures of Wolves and Bears peacefully sharing close proximity. With the exception of a mature male or a Female with very young cubs I think both mutually respect each others presence. Naturally when confronted with a pack of Wolves a mother with cubs knows instinctually that her cubs may be on the dinner menu. Of course the opposite could be true as well as in a large male Bear getting near a wolf den with young pups.

Remember the polar bear who came along and ( to the surprise of everyone ) instead of killing and eating the husky dogs, he played with them. Bears and other wild animals are full of surprises.

[Deleted]

Aug 14, 2021 15:19:10 GMT -5 tom said:

Lots of pictures of Wolves and Bears peacefully sharing close proximity. With the exception of a mature male or a Female with very young cubs I think both mutually respect each others presence. Naturally when confronted with a pack of Wolves a mother with cubs knows instinctually that her cubs may be on the dinner menu. Of course the opposite could be true as well as in a large male Bear getting near a wolf den with young pups.

Yeah, young bears and wolves can come along quite ok time to time. Those young males have nothing to fear what comes to wolves and then again wolves observe carefully how bear is, calm or irritated. Older wolves and bears are a different story, but time to time they can be quite calm too near each others, when all animals have had enough food. Wolves for sure know, that especially male bears aren´t too interested about them and act indifferently while adult male bears don´t need to care about wolf or pack of wolves as they see no threat what comes to wolves in normal conditions.

These photos come from a few cases, but these photographers tell, that they have seen similar things every now and then. Still playing with each others like that one wolf and two young male bears is quite unique. Even "Romeo and Juliet" didn´t touch each others even though they ate same carcass. These two cases are most unique incidents which I have seen or heard what comes to wolves and bears.

[Deleted]

Sometimes you can make all the noise you want, but still in the end just have to wait your turn...




Story from 2012:


This sighting marked a very interesting beginning to our trip to TATR in June. We had already seen a few tigers on our first safari and were very relaxed heading back towards the gate. However, with lots of time to spare, we decided to spend some time scanning the water holes by the road and Praveen Siddannavar did a great job of spotting the Dholes; as for me, I had seen just the Gaur but it was Praveen sir who noticed the dogs and asked to stop. What unfolded was of utmost interest; the huge bull gaur was at the water hole to drink and the dholes too had arrived for the same purpose. Neither party was willing to give up the water hole- the dholes were 6 in number and even though they tried to unnerve the bull by circling him, he did not budge. He left the place only after drinking his fill and it was only after his departure that the dholes got to occupy the water hole! Will post a few more pictures of the event soon.

www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?10970-Dholes-vs-Gaur

[OldGreenGrolar]

/\ The gaur definately gets to drink first.