In stunning footage, the horse fights off determined wolves with death-defying courage.

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Almost unbelievably, he succeeded! He was rescued and the mares were brought to safety. In the video below we show how the horse fought off the wolves.

The horse risked his life to face the wolves

We were shivering as we watched the footage. The wolves had used a very clever trick to trap the horses - at first glance, you'd think they didn't stand a chance. As is their general strategy, the vultures attacked the back of the animal, the thighs, first, slowing it down. They tried to throw it off balance, to bring it to the ground and bite through the neck or possibly the belly. However, the stallion, being an excellent fighter, did not give up and fought back, so one of the wolves tried to hit him on the nose, on the head, in an attempt to turn him over and throw him off balance. The horse fought with all his might and managed to distract the stallion, saving his own life.

Why did the wolves let the horse go?

You may ask, could five wolves really not have beaten a single horse? Why did they let him run? The answer is nuanced, and the intelligence and judgement of the wolves play a big part in it. Their hunting success rate ranges from 14-20%, which at first sight may seem a low number. However, it is important to know that these animals will weigh up any attack and stop a fight if it becomes too risky. Wolves are not heroic fighters, but extremely clever, deliberate survivors.

If the prey proves to be too strong or too aggressive, they prefer not to tremble, because the injured wolf cannot hunt and thus signs its own death warrant. The central element of the video was the stallion turning back: presumably this is what prompted the wolves to give up, although they tried to attack the head as a last resort; the hoofed one did not give up. And let's not forget that the horses in the video, which are probably Mongolian, are tough, robust animals, weighing around 350 kg. And a 350 kg feral mass can wreak havoc on a wolf.

Mongolia is home to the Canis lupus chanco, also known as the Mongolian wolf, a subspecies of the Eurasian grey wolf

Don't demonise predators

As in all our similar writings, we think it is very important to say that what we saw in the footage is a perfectly natural phenomenon: the predator attempting to take down a prey animal. Especially now that the strict protection of European wolves is coming to an end, it is very important to try to be clear on this issue.

As evolutionary psychologists Leda Cosmides and John Tooby say:

Our modern skulls contain a mind from the Stone Age.

The fear of carnivores is deeply ingrained in us as a survival mechanism, but in our modern world it distorts the possible outcomes of human-wildlife interactions. Experts now know that no conservation effort can succeed without a fundamental change in our attitudes towards wild animals, especially predators. As our world becomes more urbanised, our interactions with wildlife will become more frequent. To prevent our irrational fears of these animals from turning into prejudices, it is important to understand how they work, their intrinsic values, so that we can become more compassionate.

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