These Pictures Capture the Awesome, Unusual Friendship Between a Gray Wolf and a Brown Bear

The amazing pictures below, taken by Lassi Rautiainen, Susan Brookes, and Staffan Widstrand, depict the unusual friendship between a female gray wolf and a male brown bear in northern Finland. There is a bit of mystery surrounding the question of how they came together, but Lassi has his own theory on this. He explained, “No one can know exactly why or how the young wolf and bear became friends, but I think that perhaps they were both alone when they were young and a bit unsure of how to survive alone. It seems to me that they feel safe being together.”

Regardless of how this pair found each other, one thing is for sure: we’re loving this awesome interspecies friendship!

The two have developed a strong bond of trust in one another.

There is no doubt that their friendship has helped them to survive in many ways.

Here, they can be seen prowling their territory together!

The two have often been spotted sharing their meals…

… and caring for one another. Doesn’t it make your heart happy to see how close they are?

Friends for life!

While these two live in northern Finland, there’s plenty you can do to help gray wolves in the U.S., who are currently endangered. They are also under attack by a barrage of anti-wolf propaganda which rather childishly characterizes them as “the big bad wolf” of the Red Riding Hood variety, in an attempt to whip up fear. You can find out more about awesome wolf sanctuaries, and how you can Support them, here.

All image source: kesava/Imgur