The Hidden Life of Wolves - 9781426210129

The photography is stunningly beautiful and the insights that Jim and Jamie Dutcher share with us opens a world of understanding into wolf behavior." –Apogee Photo Magazine

Delve into amazingly intimate wolf photography by Jim and Jamie Dutcher, a couple who spent many years living with a pack of wolves at the edge of Idaho's Sawtooth Wilderness, observing their complex social hierarchy. Here is the alpha pair, leaders of the pack, often the only couple that mate. Here are the pups, born with eyes shut in the spring, tousled by their mother through the first six weeks of life. Here is the omega wolf, lowest ranking wolf in the pack, whose subservience, often playful, alleviates pack tension. Here are moments of cooperation and moments of snarling dominance, moments of communication and affection. Here, too, are heartwarming moments of connection between the Dutchers and the wolves, caught in pictures that remind us how close the links are between wolves in the wild and the beloved family dog.

Short chapters introduce the wolves as individuals, describe the Dutchers' years of coming to know them, and address the complex conservation issues surrounding the near-extinction and now replenishment of the species in the wild. Sidebars explore myths about wolves, including Native American spirit stories, European fairy tales, and modern ranching hearsay.

For animal lovers, nature lovers, environmentalists, and especially dog lovers, this book shares the new understanding gained by six years of the authors' living intimately with wild wolves. Created to complement a traveling exhibition that makes its debut at Chicago's Field Museum in March 2013, it will also appeal to those unable to see the show.