A breathtaking encounter between photographers and a pair of Arctic wolves near Eureka, a research base on Ellesmere Island, has captivated millions on TikTok.
The footage was shared by 32-year-old Terry Noah under the handle @silas.pijamini, where it has amassed 24.9 million views since it was posted earlier this year on April 13.
In the viral clip, two photographers can be seen lying on the ice with their cameras raised, staying low as two Arctic wolves slowly approach them. One wolf moves close enough to lie down next to one of the photographers, creating a remarkable moment of proximity. As the video continues, the wolves eventually rise and walk off together into the distance before the clip ends.
Noah told Newsweek the scene unfolded during a guided expedition. “This was taken near Eureka, Ellesmere Island. I was guiding my clients on my Searching for the Arctic Wolf Tour,” he said.
Noah is the owner and operator of Ausuittuq Adventures, a guiding and outfitting company based in Grise Fiord, in Canada’s Nunavut territory. Grise Fiord—also known as Auyuittuq, meaning “the land that never melts” in the Inuit language—is Canada’s most northerly community. Noah is a lifelong Inuit resident of the community, where he grew up hunting, going on adventures, and exploring the land.
Noah said the moment captured in the TikTok video was among his first close encounters with a group of Arctic wolves. He described the experience as both striking and unexpectedly calm. “I felt humbled, they walk by as if you are just an object out on the land that they wanted to check out and that they are the Alpha, but I did not sense any danger nor were they aggressive towards us,” he told Newsweek.
Noah’s familiarity with the region and its wildlife extends beyond tourism. He previously worked for Environment Canada and Canadian Wildlife Services as an Inuit field research technician. For the past 15 years, he has guided around his home in Grise Fiord, and in 2019, he launched Ausuittuq Adventures, taking photographers, tourists and scientists out across the land and sea.
Encounters like the one seen in Noah’s TikTok video are unusual largely because of how isolated Arctic wolves are from regular human presence.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) notes that the Arctic wolf’s habitat is “one of the most remote in the world,” spanning the Canadian Arctic, including Ellesmere Island and Devon Island, parts of Alaska, and the western and northern shores of Greenland.
“Because of its remoteness, Arctic wolves rarely encounter humans and, unlike most gray wolves, can roam freely across the territories they inhabit,” the IFAW says, noting that Arctic wolves are the only subspecies of gray wolves that can be found across the entirety of their original range.
In terms of conservation status, the IFAW says Arctic wolves are listed on the IUCN Red List as least concern. The organization adds that while they were listed as vulnerable from 1982 to 1995, their status was upgraded to least concern in 1996 and has remained that way since.
Still, the group warns that Arctic wolves are not free from risk. According to the IFAW, their remote, icy habitat means they do not face the same pressures as wolves living near humans, but “they are still threatened by climate change, the consequences of which could alter their status in the coming years.”
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