Of Wolves and Men

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Most white wolves are found in the north, though Lewis and Clark and many mountain men, explorers, and immigrants reported large numbers of very light wolves on the Great Plains in the early 1800s. Zoo populations are sometimes derived from animals of questionable genetic background and/or geographic origin, and in many cases subspecific labels are casually applied. The Cape hunting dog, or African wild dog, Lycaon pictus, on the other hand, has much in common with the wolf in its hunting habits and social behavior, and some zoologists have suggested that it belongs in the same genus with the wolf.

But taxonomic distinction among wolves is probably most valuable for the way it distinguishes among factors other than size and color. What happens when a wolf wanders into a flock of sheep and kills twenty or thirty of them in apparent compulsion is perhaps not so much slaughter as a failure on the part of the sheep to communicate anything at all—resistance, mutual respect, appropriateness—to the wolf. Originally published in 1978, and now with a new afterword by the author, Of Wolves and Men is classic wildlife literature at its best.If no library near you owns the item, your local library may be able to borrow it for you via interlibrary loan: http://www. They killed wolves with ‘ almost pathological dedication’ from the 1860s right through to the 1970s, targeting even radio-collared wolves that were part of scientific studies.

He is of the subspecies occidentalis, and the trees he is moving among are spruce and subalpine fir on the eastern slope of the Rockies in northern Canada (10). The form that the book takes, in and of itself, with the photographs and paintings, poetry and anecdotes, promotes simply in its form different ways of knowing this subject. For many Native Americans the wolf is also a spiritual symbol, a respected animal that can make both the individual and the community stronger. I once saw a wolf on the tundra winging a piece of caribou hide around like a Frisbee for an hour by himself.As Americans, we do this quite frequently, when we think of a certain event or social gathering we are planning on attending or even being forced to attend, we draw up and image within our minds. At the end of that section, I wasn’t any closer to understanding why they killed wolves the way they did and in such huge numbers.