Watch a Mountain Lion in a Standoff with Coyotes in Yosemite
This video is old, but boy does it show the chaotic wildlife of Yosemite National Park in action.
The below video was posted by Richard Nyberg on YouTube and shows a mountain lion perched on a tree and eventually moving over to a fence above at least two coyotes howling at it. At first glance, it appears the coyotes are simply after the big cat, but the description in the YouTube video gives a little more insight into the incident:
Yosemite mountain lion appears to be treed by two coyotes. In fact what is going on is a mother mountain lion is distracting the coyotes from her two cubs. The mother mountain lion and her cubs were feeding on a deer in the Ahwahnee Meadow when the coyotes arrived on the scent.
Take a look for yourself:
Wow. A mother mountain lion distracts a pack of coyotes in order to save her cubs. Just amazing.
The cameraman sure pushed their luck with how close they got for this video, but it seems the animals were distracted by their own conflict. An incredible display of wildlife in Yosemite.
The mountain lion is not scared at all. It is simply climbing the tree to get a vantage point. The coyote is relaying the message to the pack (maybe only one other). There’s really not much going on in this video and it certainly isn’t a “stand off.” If there was really an encounter the coyote(s) wouldn’t stand a chance. If it were a pack of wolves that might be different, but not with coyotes. Coyotes are smaller, less aggressive and eat mostly small animals like rodents and squirrels, unless they’re with a pack.