Its likely that the horse hasn’t been attacked by wolves so has no reason to fear them. But wolves would be familiar with cattle and horses i would presume. My hunch is they’re confused by the horse’s complete indifference since they’re driven by their chasing instincts, so if the animal has no reaction to the wolves they’d have a hard time engaging in the hunt or they’d be extremely weary of a large animal that is very unconcerned about them.
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Maybe the horse was told that the only way to survive prison the wild was to go right up to the biggest wolf in the pack and act all crazy. Then they’ll leave you alone.
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Animals can read body language of other species. The pack was very docile (sitting around and looking in other directions) so horse likely realized they weren’t interested in hunting it and felt unconcerned. Being relaxed was probably smart since if the horse got too skittish the pack might have decided it was prey afterall.
I’m definitely not an expert but I’m not sure how regularly packs hunt horse-sized prey. A deer is pretty safe, maybe even elk. But bison, moose, and horse all stand a decent chance of inflicting a lethal injury on one of the pack. If I’m a wolf pack I’m letting those be unless I’m particularly hungry (or spot a weak animal).
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I agree, the body languages of these animals are at the weirdest cross-purposes, if the wolves were thinking the horse might be prey. The horse is imposing and nonchalant the wolves seem timid and a bit confused. Just odd.
And this NG article restates what I’m seeing elsewhere: wolves in the western US prefer to eat the big animals such as deer, elk, and moose (meaning they’ll eat other things opportunistically, of course):
From watching too much PBS I know that wolves can chase big animals til they’re isolated and exhausted and wounded and then wait it out/move in, which cuts down on the possibility of injury:
BTW, this Telegraph article about local reaction to the Italian wolf’s (if this is the Italian wolf in the video) comeback talks about how these wolves eat livestock, and also rabbits, hares, deer, and wild boar (which actually sounds as crazy as taking on this horse, tbh):
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Wolf-coyote hybrids occur in the eastern US, and this video seems to have been shot in Europe somewhere?
BTW, these coyote-wolf hybrids look like big coyotes, but act something like wolves; they’re bolder and form packs. But with the smarts of both parent species, they live alongside people who maybe don’t know they’re out there running around their yards at night, hunting. (Well there is the odd bout of howling, lol, that’ll tip you off.)
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There’s a big size gap between deer, elk, and moose. From what I’ve read/watched in the past wolves will hunt moose, but it’s dangerous and they typically want some advantages such as a large pack and some environmental constraint that impairs the moose’s mobility. And large males don’t tend to be hunted much.
Draft horses (which that seems to be… though I don’t know horses) are bigger than a bull moose. I think it’s quite plausible that the horse is simply too large for the wolves to consider hunting it. A kick from a moose (or horse) can kill a wolf.
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Pff. Everyone knows that wolves are just forest puppies unless provided with an adequately metal soundtrack; at which point one should observe due caution.
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“The horse raised by wolves”, in theaters soon.
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Agreed, they look more like coyotes then wolves.
Why do we expect the “red in tooth and claw” stereotype to be going on full-time? Let nature just be chill.
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Draft horses are definitely very large animals, but small horses and even decent-sized ponies are bigger and heavier than one might think if you haven’t stood next to one or had your foot trod on or been casually pushed into a stall wall by a horse just being obnoxious.
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