Wilderness Showdown: Mother Moose’s Desperate Fight to Protect Newborn from a Relentless Wolf in Alaska
These incredible pictures show the scene as a titanic life-and-death battle unfolded between a mother moose defending her calf and a ravenous pack of wolves.
The enormous moose dwarfs her attackers in this thrilling sequence of images taken in the Alaskan wilderness as they attempt to kill her newborn.
As she makes her stand in a small pond in the chilly tundra the mother fights ferociously to save her youngster from the hungry predators.
Life-and-death struggle: This mother moose charges at a wolf as she desperately tries to defend her week-old calf from becoming lunch
Surrounded: But as more members of the pack arrived, the situation became increasingly desperate for the beleaguered mother and child
Grave danger: The nervous calf hides by his mother’s side as the ravenous pack of wolves enters the pond where they she is making her stand
Savage nature: The water splashes beneath her huge frame as the mother moose launches an attack on the first hungry wolf to stray too close
Fury: A wolf is caught in the tumult as the moose stamps down with her hooves, causing water to fly all around her
Attack from all sides: But even as she sees of one wolf, another slips into the waters behind her to prey on her child
Mortal combat: The wolves slink into the water as the mother and her frightened child wait for the onslaught
She uses all her strength to try and repel the attack, charging and pounding at the carnivores with her hooves.
But despite her desperate efforts the persistence and skill of the hunting Grant Creek wolf pack was just too much and her baby was finally dragged away.
Patrick Endrews, a wildlife photographer from Alaska, watched in awe as the action unfolded before his eyes in the Denali National Park.