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THE NETHERLANDS — Imagine you're out for a leisurely ride through Holland's De Hoge Veluwe National Park. As the trees whizz past you and the autumn sun begins to slowly dip toward the horizon, it seems, in that magical moment, as though the world is in perfect balance.
Then a wolf comes bounding out of the trees and heads right for you. Check out this startling video:
Although the cyclist in the video was clearly scared by the encounter, it doesn't appear that the wolf meant him any harm.
The video's caption explains that the wolf is likely part of a pack that lives in the park. It is believed to be a young wolf that has been fed by humans in the past and now has a habit of getting too close to them in search of more food.
As for whether the wolf was trying to hunt the cyclist, the expert quoted in the caption shoots down that theory in a hurry.
"In that case, the film would have ended very differently," says Joachim Mergeay of the Research Institute for Nature and Forest. "A wolf can go up to 60 kilometers per hour (37 mph) — the cyclist would not have had a chance. You can clearly see that the wolf is leisurely walking behind the cyclist, probably just out of curiosity."
While Joachim is probably right, I think just about any of us would probably feel a rush of terror at the sight of a "curious" wolf running from the trees toward us.
