The Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog: Grizzly Kills Bull Elk in the Yellowstone River

Earlier this week I returned from a two week trip out to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. On Sunday, September 20th, we drove from the North Entrance to begin our second leg of the trip in Grand Teton. Along the way we ran into our first "bear jam" of the trip, just south of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River in the Hayden Valley. Across the river a grizzly bear was lying on top of a bull elk, and had been there since Friday morning protecting its quarry. Remarkably, the kill was captured on video. I should warn here that some people might find this video a little disturbing, due to seeing a wild animal lose its life. The bull elk appears to have made a critical error by running into the Yellowstone River:

Here's another video of the bear as he works to partially bury its quarry over the next 24 hours. To wildlife officials this bear is known as "grizzly 791":

Here's another video showing a lone wolf trying to grab a bite of meat for himself five days after the kill. The bear is quite passive in allowing the wolf to get within inches of the kill, but that's as close as it will get:

Finally, here's one last video showing two bears fighting over the same carcass on the morning of September 26th. It appears that another bear has taken possesion of the carcass (note the collar on the bear standing on the bank). Perhaps the challenger in the river is the original owner?