Following the Pack: The World of Wolf Research

Examines the work of wolf researchers, who spend countless hours following wolves in an effort to learn more about an animal now seen to occupy an important place in the North American ecosystem

The wolf's image has undergone a metamorphosis in recent years. Once viewed as a bloodthirsty, savage killer whose only "purpose" was to be shot and killed, the wolf is now seen as the occupant of a key niche in North America's continental ecosystem and, as such, an object worthy of much study. Crowley and Link tell the stories of a number of wolf researchers, people who spend their lives following the pack to learn about the wild canine. Indeed, they relay considerably less information about the wolf than about the gatherers of that information. The researchers' job seems a thankless one: Who'd want to capture, tag, weigh, measure, and examine a wild wolf in the dead of winter somewhere in the frozen woods of Canada? Nevertheless, a number of dedicated persons do just that, for, after all, the wolf is one of the few nonhuman creatures--if not the only one--whose social structure is nearly as complex and varied as our own, and perhaps we may learn something about ourselves from studying it. Jon Kartman