Watch Yellowstone Traffic Get Held Up by a Lone Howling Gray Wolf
A family was driving near the Mammoth Hot Springs area of Yellowstone National Park when they realized there were others on the road. Not just vehicles, but also alone howling gray wolf that was holding up traffic.
This wolf encounter begins with a lady noticing that there's a wolf that seems to be running alongside the roadway on a rocky ledge. Little did they know that ahead of them was another apex predator who had stopped traffic going the other direction and was letting them know about it. NOTE: make sure your sound is turned up for this one.
Why do wolves like this one in Yellowstone howl? As National Geographic says, it's communication with the rest of the pack. They note that a wolf howl like this one "can communicate things like a wolf's location, warnings about predators, and the position of prey". In a park as big as Yellowstone, sometimes this wolf communication has to travel vast distances.
Who knows what this big guy was telling the others? Annoying humans have returned to our domain? Perhaps. No doubt it's a special encounter when you have one of these creatures who cross your path when normally they're prowling the backcountry.
Credit to these Yellowstone National Park visitors who were smart enough to stay in their vehicles and stop instead of trying to grab a wolf selfie. Don't laugh, it's likely happened.