Teamwork in The Arctic
Two separate scenes on opposite ends of the Earth showed a similar theme in wildlife. The first one showed how a pack of Arctic wolves worked together to bring down a bison, which is a much larger prey. After tracking the herd of bison, the wolves circled it and tried to get one of the bison to separate from the rest of the herd. They were not successful at first, but eventually they distracted the bison enough that the herd started to stampede. With the herd in motion rather than standing their ground, the wolves were able to single out a younger and smaller bison, which they brought down. Some wolves attacked the belly of the bison (its most vulnerable area), while others tried to slow it down by attacking the hind legs. The young bison fell soon after. The pack was successful in its hunt because they worked together as a team. Without this teamwork, there’s no way that any of them could have been successful — or even still alive — if any one of them faced off against the horns of any bison.
Teamwork in The Antarctic
The producers of Frozen Planet then showed another scene this time in the ocean near Antarctica. The team this time around was a pod of orcas, also known as killer whales. Again, I watched another hunt in complete awe. The prey during this scene was a seal lying on an ice floe. The orcas used a strategy where they swam in unison under the ice floe to create a massive wave in order to break it up and knock the seal into the water. When the seal hit the water, the whales then used a sideswiping move to create turbulence in the ocean. Some even blew air bubbles in the water to distract the seal. The seal did eventually escape onto another ice floe but was so exhausted that one of the orcas simply came up behind and dragged the seal by the tail and into the ocean. Again, it was an amazing display of teamwork that made the orcas successful in their hunt. In fact, killer whales are sometimes known as the ‘wolves of the seas’ because of their similar pack behavior much like the wolves on land.
Teamwork for Our Goals
These two examples of teamwork in nature made me think about the lessons that we humans can apply. For many of our loftier goals, it is extremely difficult and challenging to accomplish them on our own. Building successful businesses and losing body weight are just two such goals. Although it might be possible to achieve such goals, they are much easier to attain if — like the wolves and orcas — we use teamwork. By having the help and expertise of the right group of people around us, we can achieve goals much faster. The chances of overall success are higher as well when we have the right support and motivation from others. If you have certain big goals that you want to achieve, consider recruiting a team around you so that you won’t have to face your challenges all alone. Get other like-minded people to help you as you help them achieve their goals. Everyone wins when teamwork is applied for success. Feel free to share below some of your goals that you will recruit a team for. (Photo credit: People Hands in the Sky via Shutterstock)
