Wolf Island

Discovering the Secrets of a Mythic Animal

By: L. David Mech, Greg Breining - contributor, Rolf O. Peterson - foreword

Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne

In the late 1940s, a small pack of wolves crossed the ice of Lake Superior to the island wilderness of Isle Royale, creating a perfect "laboratory" for a long-term study of predators and prey. As the wolves hunted and killed the island's moose, a young graduate student named Dave Mech began research that would unlock the mystery of one of nature's most revered (and reviled) animals - and eventually became an internationally renowned and respected wolf expert. This is the story of those early years.

Wolf Island recounts three extraordinary summers and winters Mech spent on the isolated outpost of Isle Royale National Park, tracking and observing wolves and moose on foot and by airplane - and upending the common misperception of wolves as destructive killers of insatiable appetite. Mech sets the scene with one of his most thrilling encounters: witnessing an aerial view of a spectacular hunt, then venturing by snowshoe to photograph the pack of hungry wolves at their kill. Wolf Island owes as much to the spirit of adventure as to the impetus of scientific curiosity. Written with science and outdoor writer Greg Breining, who recorded hours of interviews with Mech and had access to his journals and field notes from those years, the book captures the immediacy of scientific fieldwork in all its triumphs and frustrations.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 Greg Breining (P)2020 Tantor

The book about wolves I didn’t know I needed

I love this book. In a year of illness and struggle, this unique pursuit of information about wolves is interesting and delightful. The effort to track the wolves is mind-boggling, although the authors seems to be suited to it. Brrr.

Isle Royale, a dream never realized.

Fascinating inception into the study of wild populations of wolves and other inhabitants of our wild lands! Now being carried on by many organizations.

Good information

My only complaint with this story is that the authors arrogance gets annoying. He strokes his ego at very opportunity and makes sure you know how important he was to this wolf study and in general.

Awesome

Great work by author. Love the way the story unfolded. Really helped with foundation of wolf knowledge.

Beautiful Isle Royal!

Amazing place, loved the history but last chapter was amazing with all the advances in technology! All natural history historians see global warming even if we do not want to !!!!

Adventurous and scientific appreciation of wolves

This book combines outdoor adventure with credible and authoritative life experience in wildlife biology. The author writes with level-headed admiration for the species. The storytelling left me jealous for this kind of experience!

Fascinating!

Wolves are a charismatic species - loved or deplored. The wolf societies and social structures are complex, yet simple when compared to humans. I felt for the lone wolf, the outcast. I wish he had delved more into that side of the story, yet that was not the crux of the research. Well done!

interesting science, arrogant author

the parts about the actual wolves and island are fascinating and pull you in. The author's regular self importance made it difficult for me to get through.