Yellowstone: Realm of the Coyote Page #2

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But another wild dog is

a real virtuoso...

...the fox.

With its sharp ear,

the fox pinpoints its prey.

And when it strikes,

it strikes with style.

Foxes fight with style too.

It's a dance of dominance when

foxes gather at an elk carcass.

Foxes, unlike coyotes,

don't live in packs.

And encounters are usually testy.

In the lower valleys,

Cain is on the lookout for animals

in trouble.

Once the buffalo roamed the West

in the millions.

Then they were all but eradicated.

In the bison's most desperate hour,

Yellowstone sheltered the only

wild herd in the United States.

Winter has always been hard on

these great beasts.

But even in the lethal cold,

one thing has always made

Yellowstone a haven...

...the geysers

A single geyser like Old Faithful

can erupt with enough energy

to melt tons of ice.

Hot springs, mud pots,

steam jets, and fumaroles

these are the vents for

the earth's great boiling energy.

Yellowstone has more geysers

than anywhere else in the world.

In the depth of winter,

when the subzero winds bite,

the bison cluster around

these oases of warmth.

Here, grass still grows,

covered only by a thin layer

of snow that the bison can

plow with their heads.

But sometimes the snow hides ice

kept thin by the hot springs.

Buffalo can weigh up to a ton.

But their legs are

narrow and pointy.

On thin ice,

that's a treacherous combination.

Every step may be

a step toward disaster.

In Yellowstone, the things that

give life can also claim it back.

There's nothing the herd can do...

...no lifeline the can throw.

It will take the buffalo nearly

four hours to drown.

Death is a long time coming

on the high plateau.

Deep into the month of April,

winter lashes the park

one last time.

Yellowstone is chilled,

frozen under a great white cloud.

Temperatures drop to 40 below.

This is beyond cold.

This is an assault

on all things living.

If a coyote knows loneliness...

this must be the loneliest time.

But a new season is on its way.

With every passing day,

huge cracks rend the ice and

shatter the crust of winter.

Cain has made it through

a trying season.

But now he must do more than

simply endure.

He needs a mate, a pack,

a territory to call his own.

Sooner or later he must find these,

for without them,

his life will be desolate and brief.

With the coming of spring,

food is emerging everywhere.

And Cain is on the prowl.

As the snow retreats,

carcasses are revealed.

Among them, the bison that drowned

in the winter.

Freezing waters have preserved

the carcass, and with the thaw,

it's reappeared just in time

to catch Cain's eye.

The new season feeds

on the remains of the old.

A bear emerges from hibernation.

It's time for breakfast.

Only this fast has been

four months long.

And a solo coyote can figure

the odds.

The grizzly settles down

to enjoy Cain's meal.

As the thaw continues,

white turns to gold,

and then to green...

...and the dance of spring goes on.

With great urgent leaps,

the cutthroat trout migrate up

the Yellowstone River.

Many will end up as food

for predators along the banks.

Like the osprey

the magnificent fish hawk.

In a land of hunters,

the osprey is one of the greatest

with feet that grasp like pincers...

the perfect tool for holding on

to a slippery fish.

Every morning, the river

brings a new feast to

the osprey's door.

And for Cain, for all those that

dwell in Yellowstone...

...the first murmur of spring

has now turned into

a full-throated roar.

With so much food in abundance,

life is flourishing everywhere.

Newborns have also appeared

at Cain's old pack.

Two months of gestation

have led to this:

Five new members of the pack,

five potential partners,

five potential rivals.

All around Cain,

families are springing up.

But he has no pack, no mate,

no young...

His only companion: a badger.

In fact, the partnership of

coyote and badger is legendary.

Native Americans spoke of

an ancient bond between the two;

they called them "cousins."

What they are is something

like hunting partners.

Cain's keen senses locate the prey.

The badger - a master digger

flushes it from the earth.

Above ground, the coyote keeps

watch for fleeing prey.

Cain gets the meal this time.

But his deeper hunger endures.

He needs a mate.

At Cain's old pack,

the two leaders raise their pups.

But they have help:

other pack members pitch in

to watch over the pups

to teach them

to protect them from threats...

...like the grizzly.

A half-ton beast with five-inch

claws is an unwelcome visitor.

Led by the mother,

the pack uproots,

moving the pups to a standby den

they've prepared for just such

emergencies.

But nature holds other threats

for the coyotes.

Each year the park must face

a trial by fire.

The great inferno of 1988 was

the most ferocious

to scar the region in two centuries.

But almost every year,

lightning sets Yellowstone aflame.

In the aftermath,

Cain walks the smoldering earth.

His quest for a mate has

led him far.

But he still has many

difficult miles to go.

Fire is not only

a destructive force.

It also kindles new life.

After a blaze,

the grasslands send up new shoots.

As if in response to

the killing flames,

everything comes to life again.

Fire brings a second spring...

It is a time of beginning for

the pups too.

They have survived the blaze,

and are growing rapidly.

Weaned in their second month,

they're too big for the den now.

They've moved into a kind of

fort tucked away under a tree.

This tug-of-war is just practice.

Today, it's a feather

one day soon - it will be a bone.

In the early hours of a new day,

a young pup sets out after a vole.

But he can barely handle a bee!

Success.

It's the pup's first catch,

a first taste of his new life.

The pups are becoming more assured.

But it's one thing to hunt

on your own,

another to work as a team.

And that's what they're

setting out to do.

Their target - a badger.

The pups aren't old enough to know

they're supposed to be partners.

They've still got a lot to learn.

But the pups seem to feel pretty

good about themselves all the same.

Year after year,

the drama of Yellowstone's seasons

play out on a grand scale.

For this park spans the decades.

It spans the continental divide.

It spans 2.2 million acres.

Yet for all the enduring panoramic

beauty of Yellowstone,

there is another face to this park

rougher, more unformed,

almost otherworldly.

Yellowstone has been a national

park for well over 100 years.

And yet in a sense...

...it is built anew every day...

...boiling up in great basins

of sulfur and mud.

Those that roam Yellowstone

day after day

find that each day takes them

over slightly different terrain.

Each day,

they find the horizon is new again.

After six months alone,

Cain catches sight of

a potential mate.

She was cast out from her pack

during the food shortage

last winter.

The lone female has been

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