Teenager wakes up to a wolf chomping his head during a camping trip

It just goes to show that you can't generalize.
Sometime animals break their own rules about how they act around people.

Yesterday I was hiking near my cabin 35 miles from NYC and came across one of the common black bears that I see in the area.

Usually they run like hell as soon as they see you. This one stopped 30 feet from me and we had a starring match for a long time.
I started talking to him in a deep voice, but it seemed to make him curious and so he started slowly walking toward me, like I was his buddy or something?

I stomped and clicked my trekking poles, but it didn't seem to phase him.

Eventually I did a bit of a lunge towards him like a fake attack. He then ran away, but it was still weird to see a black bear take that kind of chance.

I suspect he will be shot in the next bear hunting season:-(

Sounds like the 11 year old boy that was bitten in Canada (I believe it was Algonquin Park) a while back. In both cases you had a sleeping camper bitten and a wolf driven off after some aggressive action by humans. Wolves learn to hunt from other wolves and in the US hunting humans isn't a skill they are passing down. So I imagine this both wolves were playing it safe and "experimenting."

Makes me second guess my recent purchase of bacon scented shampoo & conditioner. Darn, I was sure it was going to be a hit with the ladies.

That would suck.

But I would rather it be that way, than eradicate the risks of the outdoors.

We need wild, not just woods.

He was sleeping outside his tent, correct?

They say the attack was the work of a wolf with deformed jaw and likely not good at hunting — so likely an "opportunistic" attack. No guarantees in life, but far fewer animals spot us as easy prey when we are inside our tents.

"I started talking to him in a deep voice, but it seemed to make him curious and so he started slowly walking toward me, like I was his buddy or something?"

The first black bear I ever saw while backpacking started walking towards me after I made noise right in front of him. I was actually clapping my hands to make noise prior because I was walking through thick veg near a stream. I first heard, then saw him and we locked eyes. After that he started walking towards me. I turned around quick to see what my surroundings were, and as soon as I turned back around to look back at him he ran off. I was a little freaked out.

My theory is that once I turned around and exposed my backpack I appeared to him to be much bigger (this is before "I saw the light") and upon that action he got scared and ran.