Bison Hits Hungry Wolf With Some High-Powered Sweet Chin Music In Yellowstone National Park

That’s gonna hurt in the morning.

It’s an animal-eat-animal world out there, especially in Yellowstone National Park. There are almost 70 different mammal species in Yellowstone, and most of those can be separated into two categories: predators and prey. That eternal battle between those that don’t want to be eaten and those that like to eat is on full display in the video below.

Male bison can weigh upwards of 2,000 pounds and stand as tall as five to six feet, so they should be pretty menacing to potential predators. They also have the tools to be deadly themselves, with their horns being more than capable of goring another animal in self defense.

Or in some unfortunate cases, using those same horns to impale a too-close tourist.

On the flip side, wolves have been known to hunt down bison, and often need a pack to take down just one of the big beasts. As you might imagine, bison are rather tough creatures and can be quite the challenge to bring down. They’re a little top heavy, and aren’t all that fast… but it’s still a tall task for predators to make bison the main entree.

Predatory animals have the best bet to take down a bison when they can sequester one off on its own. Bison do practice that “herd mentality” that you’ve likely heard of, meaning that they will often stand up for one another in an effort to keep their entire group safe. But on occasion, one will break away from the herd, and that’s when animals like wolves really start licking their chops.

This wolf pack thought they were in luck when they singled out a bison by the water. There were at least four canines circling the adult bison, and those type of numbers are generally in favor of “Team Wolf.” But what the wolves didn’t know was that this particular bison knew how to defend itself. When one of the wolves attacked, the bison hit it with a little chin music, and that effectively ended the hunt.

Who knew that one kick to the chin could set the tone like that? Once the one wolf was down for the count (stunned and likely injured, not deceased), the numbers for the wolf pack weren’t all that great, and the bison was able to get away. Yellowstone National Park was the backdrop for this incredible animal encounter caught on tape, and the caption of the clip told more about the close call – and the painful blow that one wolf suffered:

“After unsuccessfully attempting to pick off some calves from the herd, part of the Junction Butte Pack decided to try their luck on an isolated and exhausted adult bison. But that bison reminded the wolves just how dangerous hunting an animal that might weigh up to 20-times more than the average wolf can be.

A kick to the face like that can kill a wolf outright or severely injure it. It took a while for the wolf that took the kick to shake it off and it still could have a broken jaw or other injury. The bison made good its escape to live another day.”

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