A lone wolf bravely tried to steal some of a bear’s kill from right under its nose, despite the grizzly’s repeated efforts to scare off its opponent.
The grizzly at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, was tucking into an elk when the daring grey wolf tried to take a bite on September 23.
The bear had buried its kill by the river’s edge to cover the scent of the decaying carcass, but after a few days wolves began to pick up on the smell.
And one daring wolf decided to approach the grizzly to try and steal its snack while the bear was napping, footage shows.
In the video, the wolf calmly sniffs the ground next to where the bear is lying.
A grizzly bear at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, guards the body of an elk it had killed and buried from a hungry wolf
It sneaks towards the elk and appears to steal a few bites of the elk.
The bear lets the interloper get close before it finally leaps to its feet, sending the wolf jumping backwards in fear.
The stand-off continues for almost four minutes, as the plucky wolf makes four approaches and is similarly repelled.
The filmer said: ‘This wolf was alone and therefore not much of a threat to the massive grizzly.
‘It was more of a game to him to see how close the dominating bear would let him get to his kill. To my surprise, he let him get very close.
‘The wolf would slowly approach, the bear would make a slight shift in position, and the wolf would back off for a while. This cycle occurred four times in my watching.’
Grey wolves, which can weigh up to 176lbs, are no match for the massive grizzly bear alone but can pose a threat in a pack.
The bears, which weigh up to 595lbs, are more powerful than wolves, but the latter are considerably quicker.
In the tense stand-off, which took place on September 23, the lone wolf approaches the elk carcass while the bear stays close to its kill
The grizzly bear scares off the wolf when it gets too close to its kill, which it had hidden in the dirt to hide the scent from other predators
Grizzly bears are normally extremely protective of their kills and will fight off other bears and mammals.
Stand-offs with wolves are not unusual as the two animals often target the same prey.
Grey wolves mostly hunt large, hoofed animals including deer, mountain goats and elk.
Grizzly bears have an omnivorous diet including plants, roots and grasses, but are also effective predators and hunt newborn elk, moose and deer.
They have a more adaptable diet than the carnivorous grey wolf, as they can also survive on fish, berries, small rodents – and even human garbage if available.