On the morning of October 27, 2026, a wolf and a polar bear crossed paths outside Dymond Lake Ecolodge, on the Hudson Bay coast about 30 kilometres from Churchill, Manitoba. Lodge manager Drew Pauls filmed the encounter from the lodge deck.
Polar bears are the main event at Dymond Lake every fall. Wolves are not. And that made this morning extra special.
At a glance
- What: A wolf and a polar bear interacting just outside the lodge, filmed from the deck by lodge manager Drew Pauls
- Where: Dymond Lake Ecolodge, Hudson Bay coast, northern Manitoba, Canada
- When: October 27, 2026, during the fall Great Ice Bear safari
- Why it happens: Polar bears wait on land along Hudson Bay each fall for the sea ice to form, which puts them in the same territory as wolves
- Who usually wins: Neither. Most encounters are tests of nerve, not fights
The encounter
Video: Polar vs. Wolf. Filmed at Dymond Lake Ecolodge by lodge manager Drew Pauls.
The video needs no narration. Watch how the two animals size each other up: who advances, who gives ground, and how close each is willing to get.
How rare are wolves at Dymond Lake Ecolodge?
Wolf sightings at Dymond Lake Ecolodge are rare. Polar bears are seen around the lodge every fall; wolves are the exception, which is what made this morning worth filming.
Dymond Lake sits near the treeline of the boreal forest, about a kilometre from Hudson Bay. That edge habitat draws a wide cast: polar bears, foxes, Arctic hare, moose, snowy owls, ptarmigan, gyrfalcons, the ever-elusive wolverine and an occasional wolf.
The polar bears arrive at Dymond Lake not only because it is on their route along the coast as they wait for Hudson Bay to freeze, but because Dymond Lake freezes before the bay. Wolves come and go. Seeing the two together, at ground level, is something most visitors to the Churchill region never do.
Was the wolf running away from the polar bear?
Not necessarily. When wolves and polar bears meet on the Hudson Bay coast, the chase often runs both ways, and a wolf giving ground is usually keeping out of reach rather than fleeing in fear.
An adult polar bear can outweigh a wolf by ten times or more. One swipe can end a wolf’s life, so wolves keep their distance, circle, and come back. Bears that feel crowded will charge, then lose interest. It looks like a chase. It’s closer to a negotiation.
Churchill Wild guides have seen this many times at Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge. Lodge manager Emri Canvin described a morning when a pack of nine Cloud Wolves moved in among sparring polar bears: the bears chased the wolves, then the wolves turned and chased the bears, while two pairs of bears kept sparring with the pack looking on.
Guide Steve Schellenberg saw the same pattern while working with a National Geographic film crew.
“We had a wolf chasing a bear, a bear chasing a wolf,” said Schellenberg.
Watch the Dymond Lake video again with that in mind.
Do wolves hunt polar bears?
Wolves are not known to hunt healthy adult polar bears, but packs have been documented killing polar bear cubs on the Hudson Bay coast. It is rare.
The tactic is teamwork. Some wolves distract the mother while others go for the cub. In 2015, Daryll Hedman, then northeast regional wildlife manager for Manitoba Conservation, found tracks in the Kaskatamagan Wildlife Management Area showing a mother and cub meeting three or four wolves on the tidal flats, with only the mother’s track leading away. Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge is located in this region.
“This doesn’t happen often. It still seems to be a very rare event,” said Hedman in this CBC news article.
Polar bear scientist Ian Stirling and the late Malcolm Ramsay found similar evidence in the Churchill denning area in 1983, when a pack learned to take cubs heading from their dens to the sea ice. A 2004 case on the sea ice in the Northwest Territories, published in the journal Arctic, describes wolves killing a cub there too.
On this coast, moose are the wolves’ main prey. Polar bears are rivals and, occasionally, a risk worth testing.
So who wins, a wolf or a polar bear? One-on-one, an adult polar bear. Against a pack, the bear usually just walks away or holds its ground. Most encounters end with neither animal hurt.
Wolves and Polar Bears at Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge
Video: Bertie Gregory / National Geographic. Filmed at Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge.
If Dymond Lake is where wolf-bear encounters are a surprise, Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge is where they are expected. Nanuk sits on the Kaska Coast, 250 kilometres southeast of Churchill, and Churchill Wild has seen wolves there since buying the property in 2009.
The Nanuk wolves are grey wolves, known to guests as the Cloud Wolves. They have never been hunted, which is why they will approach people on foot and hang around the lodge at dinner time.
In the fall of 2018, National Geographic filmmaker Bertie Gregory spent time at Nanuk and Seal River Heritage Lodge with Churchill Wild guide Steve Schellenberg, who worked five weeks with the crew. The result was the first episode of Wild_Life: The Big Freeze, “Wolf Pack Takes on a Polar Bear.”
For more, see The Wolf Album Updated: Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge and The Wolves of Nanuk by Jad Davenport.
Where can you see wolves and polar bears together?
The Hudson Bay coast of northern Manitoba is one of the few places on earth where you can watch wolves and polar bears at ground level, on foot, with guides. Polar bears come ashore in summer and wait on land through the fall until the bay freezes, and that is generally when their territory overlaps with wolves. Polar bears and wolves also cross paths in February and March, when mothers and newly born cubs are making their way from their dens to the Hudson Bay sea ice.
| Lodge | Best season | Safaris | Wolf sightings |
| Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge | Spring and fall | Nanuk Emergence Quest, Cloud Wolves of the Kaska Coast, Polar Bear Photo Safari, Nature & Travel Photography Masterclass | Semi-Regular |
| Dymond Lake Ecolodge, Seal River Heritage Lodge | October–November | Great Ice Bear, Polar Bear Photo Safari | Rare |
The Great Ice Bear safari is based at Dymond Lake Ecolodge and ends with a Tundra Buggy day in Churchill with Frontiers North.
There are no guarantees in nature. Wolves keep their own schedule, and that’s part of the thrill.
Frequently asked questions
Do wolves and polar bears live in the same place? Yes, along parts of the Hudson Bay coast in northern Manitoba. Polar bears spend summer and fall on land waiting for the bay to freeze, which overlaps with wolf territory near the treeline. Churchill Wild guests see both at Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge and, less often, at Dymond Lake Ecolodge and Seal River Heritage Lodge.
Do wolves hunt polar bears? Wolves are not known to hunt healthy adult polar bears. Packs have been documented killing polar bear cubs on the Hudson Bay coast, with some wolves distracting the mother while others take the cub. Wildlife officials describe this as rare.
Who would win, a wolf or a polar bear? One-on-one, an adult polar bear, which can outweigh a wolf by ten times or more. A pack can harass a bear, but most encounters end with the animals going their separate ways unharmed.
Why do wolves chase polar bears? Wolves test, harass and circle polar bears to keep them away from food, territory or pups, and sometimes to probe for a weak animal or a cub. Bears chase wolves for the same reasons. Guides at Nanuk have watched the chase switch direction several times in one encounter.
Where can I see wolves and polar bears together? Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge on Manitoba’s Kaska Coast is Churchill Wild’s best lodge for a chance top see wolves and polar bears together, especially in late fall on the Polar Bear Photo Safari, the Nature and Travel Photography Masterclass, and in early spring on the Nanuk Emergence Quest and the Cloud Wolves of the Kaska Coast safaris. Dymond Lake Ecolodge, near Churchill, has rare wolf sightings during the October–November Great Ice Bear safari. Lone wolves are also occasionally seen at Seal River Heritage Lodge during the Polar Bear Photo Safari in the fall.
Is it safe to watch wolves and polar bears on foot? Churchill Wild guides lead small groups on foot, carry a range of deterrents, and read animal behaviour constantly. Guests keep together and follow the guides’ direction, and the animals decide how close they come.
What wolves live near Churchill, Manitoba? Grey wolves. At Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge, the local grey wolves are known as the Cloud Wolves of the Kaska Coast.
Related reading
- Churchill Wild guide, polar bears, wolves, featured in National Geographic’s The Big Freeze
- Wolves join sparring polar bears at Nanuk
- Cloud Wolves of the Kaska Coast
- The Wolf Album Updated: Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge
- Interview with a Polar Bear: The Complete FAQ (Scarbrow)
- Great Ice Bear Adventure at Dymond Lake Ecolodge
Walk with polar bears at Dymond Lake on the Great Ice Bear safari.
Sources: CBC News, Wolves take down polar bear near Hudson Bay (2015) · Arctic journal, wolf predation of a polar bear cub
