Amazing footage Snowy Owl.

[DarkShadow]

Brave Owl Defends Its Nest From Hungry Wolves... And Wins!

 

[zombiesniper150 15]

Very cool.

 

[ZombiesniperJr]

Cool

 

[DarkShadow]

Us humans would be dead meat from a pack of wolfs with out weapons yet a snowy owl fended off wolfs just from its flight skills and talons.Nature is just awesome and why I love it so much.

 

[Overread40]

Owls have very powerful talons; even a grazing nip against furred hide would certainly have potential to cause some serious harm.

My impression though is that the wolves are not hunting the owls; but are in the area near the nest. They appear to be reaction more casually to the owl and thus not specifically on the hunt for it. I think were the owl to come to ground against the wolf or had been a millisecond slower or flown low enough a wolf would have finished it off. A owl has power, but like a lot of birds is highly fragile.

That said most predators will avoid fights if they can; getting into a fight means a risk of getting hurt so you've got ot have some big gain to rise getting hurt for it.





On the subject of people its an interesting fact that wolves generally do not hunt people. The only times I've read of it happening are:
1) When the wolves are crossbred with domestic stock - hybrids lacking fear of man and thus being far more bold and potentially aggressive rather than flighty.

2) When wolves are rabid - even read one article that reported several villages bieng struck by one rabid wolf in a frenzy; killing and injuring as it went.

3) During extreme habitat stress World War 1 some wolves turned to man as a food source because of the lack of any game left (it was scared off or shot by man); and by the large amount of human bodies littering the area giving the wolves ample chance to get a taste for human flesh.

4) In some more bold/pressured groups of wolves; however they generally only hunt children and avoid healthy adult humans (akin to how many predators hunt normal prey species). However this appeared to be rare and linked to some more specific packs/groups