The Arctic Wolf Living with the Pack

by David L. Mech

Book Overview

The author chronicles his study of a pack of wolves in the Arctic and shares observations and photographs of their day-to-day life. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0896582116
• ISBN13: 9780896582118
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Voyageur Press (MN)
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.3" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Fantastic subject-matter, uninspiring style.

L. David Mech (NOT David L.) achieved something that most biologists could only dream about: he gained the trust of a wild pack of wolves on Ellesmere Island, in the high Arctic. You may have read the National Geographic article he wrote about it. The book is more or less a filled-out version of the NG article. It's simply laid out and nicely presented with lots of photographs. Most of the book concerns the pack's everyday activities and behaviour - socialising, hunting, feeding pups, and so on. There's some information on wolves in general, for people who are completely new to the subject. Mech also tries to describe the almost overwhelming emotion of making contact with the pack. Mech has a scientist's style. His first priority is to make the text totally truthful, and his second is to make it clear and readable. He does very well on both points. This scientific approach has a drawback: it's very difficult to write a 'hard' scientific book that still has the spark of delight in it. Like most people, Mech doesn't really have the knack. The main let-down is the way Mech sometimes explains the hard facts, gives a tiny, tantalising glimpse of the wolves' nature or personalities - and then changes the subject. I got the impression that he was leaving out some of the most fascinating insights, maybe because he couldn't back them up scientifically. Still, it's a first-class introduction to the Arctic wolf. I recommend it. And by the way, the photography is great. And Arctic wolf pups are very, very cute.