How Wolves Outsmart Buffalo During Hunting | BBC Earth

When a pack of wolves sense something wrong with a bull, they leave the healthier ones behind to chase it instead.

Watch more videos from BBC Earth:

Check out the other two channels in our BBC Earth network:

Natural World: A Wolf Called Storm

Welcome to BBC EARTH! The world is an amazing place full of stories, beauty and natural wonder. Here you'll find 50 years worth of astounding, entertaining, thought-provoking and educational natural history content. Dramatic, rare, and exclusive, nature doesn't get more exciting than this.

[darrel]

“Let me just leave before it gets good”

[justim]

the worlds finest wildlife documentary maker. "ill just leave this here and come back in the morning". give this man an award

[KorewaEden]

I heard wolves are getting nerfed in the next patch tho

[SubparPanda]

I'm loving all this wolf footage, so beautifully shot too. Them knowing that bull was on it's death bed is all about smell, look no further than dogs trained to warn people of things like oncoming seizures before they even know and Oscar the cat who lived in a nursing homes and knew hours before that certain patients were going to die.

[sailing]

"I am only getting paid 9-5 so my shift finishes now. I'll see you tomorrow 9AM for some more filming!"

[entertainus]

the wolves could literally sense death from a mile away.


now i can really understand ancient religions that assigned divine qualities to animals like this...

[Rizemize]

*Ok guys! It's 04:00 PM. I go home and I'll come back at 08.00 AM sharp.* Said a wildlife filmmaker to the buffalo and wolves.

[bryanmartinez]

I feel like the narrator killed the buffalo at the end. The way he said “i don’t know what happened here” was sus

[SkyboundMar]

“I don’t seem to know what happened here” yea, that’s because you left and went home, you muppet

[nayandusoruth]

Interesting hunting strategy, waiting for something to die on its own...

[daniel-jbxz]

“I’ll come back in the morning “, he says using a drone ?

[doodlemunchkin]

It’s pretty interesting to know wolves can sense when an animal is in distress or old and dying. They do the same thing when hunting herds of elk, they instinctively know which one in the group is the weakest or ill and vulnerable.

Sort of reminds me of how dogs can often sense if something is wrong with their owners emotionally or even physically or medically—like how a lot of them have been able to tell beforehand if someone was about to have a stroke or heart attack. There are even dogs that are trained and used to sniff out cancer cells in people. It’s widely believed that dogs can literally smell a person’a DNA, and distinguish how healthy an individual is.

[asianpower]

Wolves: Come on croke already, we're hungry
Buffalo: I'll die when im goddamn ready

[SnoopyDoofie]

"Looks like meat's back on the menu boys" - LOTR

[klashinkov]

Whoa. Wait. Hold on. How did that wolf know that old bull was sick from that far? That is insane. I don’t think you people realize how crazy that is. And then they just waited for it to die.

Edit: Holy 💩! Thank you for the likes. You guys are awesome!

[biggg_tonyy]

Buffalo: sticks tongue out
Narrator: he looks surprised
Crew: ikr

[slugzkea]

I saw something similar in a different documentary, i think it was called "Wolf battlefield". a pack sniffed some old tooth rot of some leaves and was able to track the scent, which lead them to a very old, dying moose. They waited for the moose to collapse and die, then ate it. The moose was miles away. it was amazing.

[adeebmalick]

“ There must be something that I missed “
Yeah - U missed the main part 🤦‍♂️

[smoothcoastin]

What?... "I'll come back the next day"? Really, mid day?

[rachell]

What a great documentary maker! He sees wolves acting in a strange unexplainable way, so instead of setting up cameras to make sure to capture it fully, he decides to leave and return in the morning 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️