ENHS Nature Trails February 2002 Article 3

Wolf Ways
Guest Article

It all began with Lupey, a male timber wolf (Canis Lupus) I acquired from the London Zoo when I was a student at Cambridge University in England. Actually that is not quite true, as a youngster I used to read about and dream about wolves. While at Cambridge a group of us discussed our favorite animals at a party and the steps to acquiring Lupey began at that point. Once I assumed responsibility, Lupey remained my companion throughout his life, first in England, then Rochester (New York), then Eugene, and finally in Nova Scotia.

As stated on the cover of the lovely volume, The Lone Wolf Clan by Bonnie Jo Hunt and Lawrence J. Hunt: "A wolf may grow old and his hair turn gray, but his mind doesn't change to his dying day" (from a Greek proverb). Of course keeping a lone wolf in captivity is not a very natural thing to do, and I doubt whether the adventure should be repeated. Yet this offered me a unique opportunity to bond closely with a remarkable animal. Perhaps the most remarkable and rewarding adventure with Lupey was our drive together from New York to Eugene--more than fun for each of us.

Although forewarned, my arrival at the University of Oregon in the summer of 1967 seems to have caught the administration off-guard. Lupey's pen was not yet constructed; we may have set a record for physical plant efforts! In three days he had his home across Franklin Boulevard from the main campus. Separated from menow, however, Lupey was a lone wolf--something totally unfair for such a sensitive social animal. So we soon acquired two female wolves to keep him company. The Eugene pack began. With the help of the university and the National Science Foundation we built what was then called the Biosocial Colony in an (then) orchard on the eastern part of university property. This gave the animals three acres of pens to run in, and gave us the opportunity to monitor individual animals from birth. This was done by inserting cameras and audio equipment in the dens and taking extensive notes.

In 1974 Lupey and his pack moved to Nova Scotia where we founded the Canadian Centre for Wolf Research in cooperation with Dalhousie University and the local wildlife park. The animals now had 10 acres of heavily wooded land, and our observations moved from close interactions with the animals to more distant ("objective") methods. For 25 years we followed the lives of more than 30 animals, an effort that consumed several thousand video and audio tapes. Students in Yellowstone Park and elsewhere combined this with field observations.

Over these years our emphasis has been upon the development of behavior, especially those actions that contribute to social interactions and longer-term roles in pack structure. Wolves coordinate their activities through a variety of vocalizations, displays, and marking activities.

The packs are hierarchically ordered, with an alpha male and female clearly in charge. This leadership role is often benign and extremely subtle in its manifestations. Individual animals not only have distinctive roles but also remarkably different personalities. The link between individual personalities, the origin of these personality differences, and the social roles played by the individuals remains poorly understood. One clear lesson is that, except for broad strokes, a wolf is not a wolf is not a wolf. Some animals are shy, some are snappy, some are active, and others are much more passive, . . . . As individuals they are each remarkable, as is their ability to join their distinctive natures in a unified pack structure. This structure itself changes of course as the animals age, new animals are born, and social role opportunities vary.

My early impression of these animals is that they are remarkably delicate. "Delicate" may seem like a strange term to use, but I believe it even more now. Of course they are robust, yet underneath that robustness is a sensitivity to their physical and social worlds that we can only glimpse. It is a treat to see their actions and interactions emerge and change over a lifetime.

One cannot work with these animals without a sense of reverence and awe. They are stunningly beautiful, and a joy to watch. The subtlety in their actions and interactions opens mystery after mystery. This sense of mystery then spreads across the natural world. When one thinks of this world being progressively endangered and limited one can only feel a deep sadness. Human myth as applied to animals reflects a remarkable arrogance as well as ignorance, learned from another aspect of our wolf project.

I confess I was shocked and angered when the new administration at my Canadian University froze funds for the wolf work, and threatened to either euthanize the animals or ship them individually to different zoos. (This remains a calloused stance one often sees in human responses to all forms of nature, including human nature.) Our group would not and will not let them harm our animals, a goal supported by generous public donations as we wound down our observations. Now, well cared for, all existing animals have a secure future. There will be no new pups, however. Perhaps in some ways that is a blessing. We have mountains of data that need more detailed analyses. And this work did prompt me to return to my home in Eugene, also the true home of early explorations of wolves in the context of other wolves.

Through the years my wolves have taught me that every level of biological organization informs the others if we allow it to. How wonderful it is to be back in Eugene where laboratory scientists and natural historians see each other as partners in unraveling and protecting windows of mystery in thisworld--The more closely one looks at the world the more deeply mysterious and wonderful it is.

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