A diet of leverets will not be enough to sustain a growing pup or feed an entire wolf pack, so bigger prey is needed. The problem is bigger prey like the Hare are incredibly agile and can run up to speeds of 60 km per hour. If this wolf pack is not going to go hungry, they will need to hunt as a unit.
Amazing footage captured in the Arctic shows a pack of wolves intensely pursuing an exceptionally agile and determined hare. The pack has a litter of pups to feed, and they’re not giving up easily.
Two wolves in the pack embark on the nail-biting chase, sprinting after the hare at lightning speed. Adult hares are extremely difficult to catch — the speedy animals can run at nearly 40 miles per hour, and change directions easily. The wolves must work as a well-oiled machine if they have any chance at capturing the hare as it zig-zags across the tundra.
Despite the wolves’ best efforts, this agile hare makes an escape. The next one, though, is not so lucky.
While the second hare is impressively nimble like the first, the entire pack is in on this chase. The wolves come at the lagomorph from all directions, making it impossible for the hare to outmaneuver them with its usual zig-zagging escape tactics.
Finally, one of the four wolves comes close enough to grab the hare’s back end. It’s a victory for the pack as the others move in for the kill.
While their hunt is a success, it’s still a small meal for an entire pack, and they had to expend quite a lot of energy to get it.
Arctic wolves are extraordinary predators at the top of the food chain, but they have a relatively low hunting success rate. These carnivores can take down large animals like caribou and muskoxen as a pack, and will generally hunt smaller animals – like these arctic hares – alone or in pairs.
