When Predators Collide

Wolves, cougars, and bears—oh my. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is home to many large carnivores and omnivores, making it unlike anywhere else on Earth. So, what happens when these masses of teeth, fur, and claws meet on the landscape?

While it’s a rare sight in Yellowstone, watching two large predators encounter each other is one of the most exciting and intense experiences you could have. When an enormous male grizzly bear comes across a pack of wolves and their kill, who will be victorious? Will the grizzly bear muscle his way in and steal the prize or will the pack band together and successfully drive him off? We’ll cover these tense dynamics, plus some more symbiotic ones, on this episode. 

Joining us today is Jack Rabe, a research associate with the Yellowstone Wolf, Cougar, and Elk Project and Fulbright Scholar collaborating with the Scandinavian Wolf Project. He studies community ecology through the lens of carnivore competition and predation dynamics. Jack received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2025 studying Yellowstone's carnivores. Prior to his nine years working in Yellowstone, Jack studied grouse, deer, coyotes, and bobcats in southeastern Ohio, and worked on the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco monitoring breeding seabirds and invasive plants. 

We’ll chat about what happens when grizzly bears, wolves, cougars, and more species interact, answer a few listener questions, and we’ll ask him the age-old question of what is the cutest wildlife offspring found in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is the land of 49+ Indigenous Tribes who maintain current and ancestral connections to the lands, waters, wildlife, plants, and more.

Voices of Greater Yellowstone was created by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, a conservation nonprofit dedicated to working with people to protect the lands, waters, and wildlife of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, now and for future generations.

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Podcast Artwork > Rachel Dunlap Art

Music > Redwood Trail by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)

Thumbnail Photo > ChristofferVorm from Getty Images

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