If you cant tell, I am sick of not seeing any bears. Johnny had the genius idea of going to the wolf and bear exhibit in West Yellowstone. They have a small but informative museum area, and out back is where they keep the real deal….. live bears and wolves. I felt like I was cheating a little by going, but its been almost a month and a half, Im overdue. Its usually $10, but bc we work for the park it was free. Bawlyoo. I wasn’t all that interested in the wolves until I got there, but they are really neat. There were about 10 wolves, 5 in 2 separate exhibits. They fed them right when we arrived. This place is neat bc they only take wolves and bears that wouldn’t survive anyway, meaning their mother, pack were killed or were abandoned very young. They would not have survived without this place. The bear exhibit only has 2 bears out at a time, 7 total, and we just happened to be there when they had the 2 biggest grizzlies out, and it was feeding time. They were brother and sister, their mother had been killed. The workers hide their food under rocks, very big rocks, corners of the exhibit, all over really, so you get to watch seek it out. The female was 750 lbs and the male was 980 lbs. When I read that, I thought these bears were gonna be enormous. Johnny was talking about how huge they were when they came out, and I was saying I didn’t think they looked that big. I mean, they were big, but 980 lbs? I pictured the beast of a bear in National Lampoon’s Vacation with John Candy. This 980 lb bear came out and I was like, “I would slap him around.” Then after they ate, they started to “play.” They were kicking the shit out of each other, and this is when I really noticed their size. They stand up, slap each other in the face (really hard), you get a good look at the claws, and get a glimpse of how easily your head could fit in their mouth when they are biting each other. I couldn’t imagine dealing with any of that. As far as the wolves go, I was very impressed. They had a great video going about wolves showing wolves hunting/stalking elk in Yellowstone. I think I would be more afraid of a pack of wolves than a bear after seeing that. They are impressive. I kept looking at the wolves in the exhibit, then back to the video over and over, almost in disbelief. I was thinking they look so harmless in person, but then you see them separate a herd elk and chase down one elk that stands out to them over miles of all kinds of terrain. Bears just swipe fish and raid trash cans and aren’t very good at either. Wolves are the real deal. I mean, I knew what they were all about before I got there, but its different when you see them in person. I guess you appreciate them more. Don’t get me wrong, I still love me a bear, just surprised that their size wasn’t more intimidating. However, the female moved a near boulder size rock bc she thought there was food under it. And she did it with ease. She looked over after she did it and all I could think was “no thank you ma’am.” I want no part of that.
They also had a stuffed polar bear who had the most funny and stupid looking facial expression, had to get that.
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