You Still Here

You still here 5 7 24

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>🚧 You Still Here? Tuesday, May 7, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Horses love it when you run up behind them....

You Still Here? Tuesday, May 7, 2024

 Horses love it when you run up behind them....

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wildlife

<p>Even though it wasn&#x2019;t the case in a tussle in Yellowstone National Park this fall, grizzly bears generally at the top of Wyoming&#x2019;s wildlife food chain, said a leading wildlife biologist said. </p>
<p>That includes general dominance over wolves, or at least being left alone by the canines, Wyoming Game and Fish large carnivore specialist Dan Thompson told Cowboy State Daily. </p>
<p>When a pack of 10 wolves successfully ran off a large grizzly this fall in Yellowstone, it was probably an exception rather than the rule, he said. </p><figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Wolves VS Grizz" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hVQU9UjbOFs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>

<h2>Pack Strategy </h2><p>&#x201C;The dominance hierarchy works itself out pretty well in nature with grizzly bears coming out on top, but the strategic pack strategy of wolves does come into play around certain situations especially involving carcasses,&#x201D; Thompson said. </p>
<p>It&#x2019;s suspected a carcass was involved in the clash filmed in October in the Hayden Valley area of Yellowstone. The wolves had apparently claimed a carcass and the grizzly seemed to want it – but the wolves thought otherwise.</p>
<p>In the video, the bear can be seen standing on its hind legs to observe the situation from a distance before dropping to all fours and lumbering in. </p>
<p>The wolf pack responds by closing in form multiple sides and soon all the critters are involved in a spinning melee that drags on for a few minutes. Then the bear decides it has had enough and lumbers off with the wolves pursuing it in a line before the bruin takes shelter in some timber. </p><h2>Bears Learn To Share</h2><p>Wolves and grizzlies both were once bountiful in Yellowstone and the surrounding wildlands. However, by the 1970s, wolves had long since been wiped out and only a few grizzlies were left scattered around the park. </p>
<p>Grizzlies were placed under federal protection so they could recover, and in the decades since have rebounded and continued to<a href="https://cowboystatedaily.com/2022/10/31/game-fish-says-no-grizzlies-yet-in-bighorns-yet-but-it-may-just-be-a-matter-of-time/"> push their range</a> ever farther across Wyoming and neighboring states. </p>
<p>The grizzlies had the place mostly to themselves until the mid-1990s, when wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone. </p>
<p>They, too, have <a href="https://cowboystatedaily.com/2022/12/21/monster-sized-wyoming-wolf-leaves-tracks-near-lander/">thrived and continued to expand</a> their territory outside of park. </p><h2>General Mutual Respect</h2><p>For the most part, bears and wolves avoid tussles with each other – neither species is too keen on the risk of injury that comes with going tooth-to-claw with the other, Thompson said. </p>
<p>On the rare occasions that encounters do turn lethal, grizzly cubs are the most likely victims, he said. </p>
<p>&#x201C;We have documented a few cub mortalities from wolves, but generally speaking the two species occupy the same areas spatially, but temporally and behaviorally use the landscape differently,&#x201D; he said.</p>
<p>&#x201C;Both species will scavenge and happily take an easily obtained meal, but if that means potential wounds associated with usurping a prey animal or carcass it&#x2019;s generally easier to keep going,&#x201D; he added. </p>
<p>Scarcity of food in any territory occupied by both species might rachet up tensions, Thompson said. And although many people might be tempted to see things in terms of a back country version of bar fights, that&#x2019;s not how nature really works. </p>
<p>&#x201C;I would point out that we don&#x2019;t term these interspecific interactions as &#x2018;conflict&#x2019; as they&#x2019;re both wild animals doing the daily tango that is crucial to the adaptation and evolution of the species,&#x201D; Thompson said. </p><h2>Cats Still Stuck At The Bottom</h2><p>Meanwhile, mountain lions remain at the bottom of the apex predator heap in Wyoming, steering clear of both grizzlies and wolves.</p>
<p>Although there have been increasing incidents of mountain lions slaying wolves in the Pacific Northwest, don&#x2019;t expect that to happen anytime soon in the greater Yellowstone region, Thompson said in a previous interview. </p>

Wolves attack grizzly 1 1 31 23

<title>🚧 Bears Are Still King, Even Though A Grizzly Lost A Fight To A Pack Of Wolves In Yellowstone | Cowboy State Daily</title>

When grizzlies and wolves clash, the bears usually come out on top, even though wolves prevailed in one recent brawl in Yellowstone National Park.

Bears Are Still King, Even Though A Grizzly Lost A Fight To A Pack Of Wolves In Yellowstone

Energy

<p>HollyFrontier&#x2019;s Cheyenne Refinery will shift from refining petroleum to producing a diesel fuel made out of soybean oil, the company announced Monday.</p>
<p>HollyFrontier announced in a news release that the conversion from petroleum refining will take 12 to 18 months and by the time the work is completed, about 200 workers will have been released.</p>
<p>The reduction in the refinery&#x2019;s workforce will occur over a period of time, said Liberty Swift, manager of corporate communications for the company.</p>
<p>&#x201C;Everyone&#x2019;s learning today what the plan is so no one would be taken by surprise,&#x201D; she said. &#x201C;We&#x2019;re working with everybody to try to assist them through this process.&#x201D;</p>
<p>The refinery on the south side of Cheyenne has been processing petroleum for 86 years, according to Mike Jennings, HollyFrontier&#x2019;s president and chief executive officer.</p>
<p>But Jennings said given the crash in oil prices caused by both oil price wars and the coronavirus, the company did not believe petroleum refining was a sustainable business.</p>
<p>In addition, the company was looking at high operating and maintenance costs related to the refinery over the next three to five years, he said.</p>
<p>Swift said there is a growing demand for diesel fuel made from renewable resources, particularly in California, but also in Colorado.</p>
<p>The Cheyenne refinery was well-suited for the conversion because some of the equipment already in place can be used to produce the renewable diesel, she added.</p>
<p>Any equipment not used in the production of renewable diesel will be idled, Swift said.</p>
<p>The conversion process is expected to cost about $125 million to $175 million, the company said.</p>
<p>When the work is finished, about 80 employees will remain at the refinery.</p>
<p>The company will work where possible to put employees removed from the refinery to work at other HollyFrontier plants, Swift said.</p>
<p>She added the company wants to continue working with Cheyenne as it has in the past.</p>
<p>&#x201C;We want to continue to be in the Cheyenne community and want to continue to be a strong community partner,&#x201D; she said. &#x201C;This is a way we can stay in the community.&#x201D;</p>

You Still Here? Tuesday, May 7, 2024

More in You Still Here

Bonus Video 1: Thursday, March 6, 2025

Today In Finance: Thursday, March 6, 2025

Bonus Video 2: Thursday, March 6, 2025

Today In Politics: Thursday, March 6, 2025

Most read