Family of bison fight off pack of wolves to protect calf being attacked

A camera trap in a Polish forest has captured first-of-its-kind footage of a family of bison fighting off a pack of wolves.

On September 15 last year, five wolves began hunting the animals – only to be driven off.

The recording shows the pack surrounding a calf, biting its neck and attempting to drag it away before two cows come to the rescue.

The wolves return and seize the calf a second time in the background of the video — however, this time the entire bison herd comes to its defence.

The clip was recorded in the Białowieża Primeval Forest, the oldest and best-preserved temperate lowland forest in Europe, which hosts the world’s largest population of European bison.

The forest covers 350,600 acres (141,900 hectares) on the border between Poland and Belarus. There are more than 870 bison on the Polish side, while the Belarusian side has roughly 730 bison.

Also known as ‘the king of the forest,’ the European bison is typically considered a non-prey species, meaning it has no predators except humans. But the footage calls this into question.

‘To our knowledge, we present the first video-recorded evidence of wolves attacking a European bison herd in the Białowieża Primaeval Forest,’ researchers wrote in the study, published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

‘Although the video did not capture a direct kill, it suggests that other attacks on European bison could potentially be successful.’

Historical records indicate that wolf attacks on European bison were once more common, with around eight kills recorded annually in the Białowieża Primeval Forest between 1840 and 1849.

The forest was a popular hunting ground for monarchs from the 14th century onwards, helping to explain why such detailed records exist

European bison went extinct in the wild in 1919, but were reintroduced to the Białowieża Primeval Forest in 1952.

The first confirmed bison kill since reintroduction dates to the mid-1990s, after which wolves appeared to shift their diet towards roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), red deer (Cervus elaphus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa), likely because these species are easier prey than bison.