FILMMAKER CAPTURES WHAT TAKES PLACE WHEN WILD WOLVES GO BACK TO KILL
When wildlife filmmaker Jake Davis stumbled upon a fresh wolf kill in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem—a bull elk lying dead in the snow—he immediately recognised the opportunity to capture something extraordinary. He installed cameras and sensors worth around $100,000 in weatherproof boxes surrounding the death site, and he left them operating for more than a month. He found a unique and personal glimpse into the lives of wild wolves when he eventually returned to review the video.
Davis's early love of nature was ignited by the untamed Teton Range and its fauna near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he spent his summers as a child. He went on to work as a cinematographer for the BBC, National Geographic, Disney, Netflix, and Apple as a result of his early encounters. He most recently filmed snow leopards for BBC's Planet Earth for five months in Mongolia.
Davis, who has started a YouTube channel, hopes that his videos will "excite people to appreciate the joy, wonder, and tranquillity that nature has to offer." His most recent video shows the amazing activity surrounding the elk carcass, including wolves, ravens, magpies, coyotes, golden eagles, and red foxes. All of the many creatures can be seen in the video consuming the elk carcass. A wolf even attempts to take one of Davis' cameras at one point.
“When I came back to check the cameras, I was shocked,” Davis says. Wolves are incredibly intelligent and cautious. To film them this intimately is extraordinarily rare. This is some of the most special footage I’ve ever captured.”
Around six weeks after the death of the elk, Davis returned to the site to discover its skeleton. “It’s pretty incredible to see how none of this elk went to waste” he says in the video. “My perspective [on death] has shifted a little bit after seeing just how many animals that his life has gone to support.” He adds, “Maybe it’s cliché, but it is the cycle of life, and to see it all play out on camera like this is a cool reminder of how valuable wolves are in this ecosystem.”
