American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West by Nate Blakes

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American Wolf

by Nate Blakeslee

The story of the rise of a Yellowstone wolf, and what her life and death tell us about the struggle for the American West.

FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New

Publisher Description

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The enthralling true story of the rise and reign of O-Six, the celebrated Yellowstone wolf, and the people who loved or feared her.
 
Before men ruled the earth, there were wolves. Once abundant in North America, these majestic creatures were hunted to near extinction in the lower 48 states by the 1920s. But in recent decades, conservationists have brought wolves back to the Rockies, igniting a battle over the very soul of the West.

With novelistic detail, Nate Blakeslee tells the gripping story of one of these wolves, O-Six, a charismatic alpha female named for the year of her birth. Uncommonly powerful, with gray fur and faint black ovals around each eye, O-Six is a kind and merciful leader, a fiercely intelligent fighter, and a doting mother. She is beloved by wolf watchers, particularly renowned naturalist Rick McIntyre, and becomes something of a social media star, with followers around the world.

But as she raises her pups and protects her pack, O-Six is challenged on all fronts: by hunters, who compete with wolves for the elk they both prize; by cattle ranchers who are losing livestock and have the ear of politicians; and by other Yellowstone wolves who are vying for control of the park's stunningly beautiful Lamar Valley.

These forces collide in American Wolf, a riveting multigenerational saga of hardship and triumph that tells a larger story about the ongoing cultural clash in the West—between those fighting for a vanishing way of life and those committed to restoring one of the country's most iconic landscapes.

Author Biography

Nate Blakeslee is a writer-at-large for Texas Monthly. His first book, Tulia, won the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and the Texas Institute of Letters nonfiction prize, and was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award. The Washington Post called Tulia one of the most important books about wrongful convictions ever written. Blakeslee lives in Austin, Texas, with his family.

Review

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
Shortlisted for the 2018 J. Anthony Lukas Prize
An Outside Magazine Best Book of 2017
A Science Friday Best Science Book of 2017

"Blakeslee draws O-Six in novelistic... detail, using the conflicting insight and perspective of biologists, politicians, ranchers, environmentalists, lawyers, other animals, and hunters.... Seeing a wolf is exceptionally rare, and this book is as close as most readers will come." 
—The New Yorker

"A matriarch overthrown in what seems fairly described as a 'putsch,' marauding gangs running attacks into neighboring territory, an hours-long standoff with a grizzly, a discarded water bottle—a rarity in the wilderness of a national park—tossed around and protected like a prized new toy. The lives of the wolves in Yellowstone are often dramatic, but are full of touching, tender moments too, as Nate Blakeslee vividly writes in American Wolf."
—Los Angeles Times
 
"The story of one wolf's struggle to survive in the majestic Yellowstone National Park offers an ambitious look through the eyes of an endangered animal."
—New York Times Book Review

"Ambitious... a significant and engaging work. It's easy to write about the importance of local social life. It's harder to know what to do to support it.... Klinenberg's argument has a powerful simplicity. Look after the social infrastructure and social bonds will largely look after themselves."
—Financial Times

"American Wolf takes its place in a long lineage of wolf books.... [T]here are cherished, striking images here…testament to the ever-flowing life force that is the wolf."
—Rick Bass, New York Times Book Review

"[American Wolf] is a startlingly intimate portrait of the intricate, loving, human-like interrelationships that govern wolves in the wild, as observed in real time by a cadre of dedicated wolf-watchers—in the end, a drama of lupine love, care, and grief."
—Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake 
 
"Wild, poignant, and compelling, American Wolf is an important, beautifully wrought book about animals, about values, and about living on this earth."
—Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief and Rin Tin Tin
 
"A transcendent tale of the American West."
—S. C. Gwynne, author of Empire of the Summer Moon and Rebel Yell
 
"Gripping and fascinating! Wolf versus wolf, wolf versus man, man versus man."
—Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale and Hag-Seed (via Twitter)

"In this vibrant work of nonfiction, a Texas Monthly writer goes into the mind—and heart—of a wolf. He tells the remarkable true story of O-Six, a wolf brought back to the Rockies by conservationists, as she fights hunters, cattle ranchers, and her own species for survival."
—Entertainment Weekly

"[American Wolf] reads like a novel... a testament to the genius of Blakeslee's tautly constructed narrative."
—Outside

"Blakeslee takes readers into the snowy [Lamar Valley], and deep into a genuinely human tale told with the energy and verve of a bestselling thriller. A tight, dense narrative, American Wolf races along like a predator on the hunt."
—Texas Observer

"A masterful and elegant tale."
—Associated Press

"Beautiful, detailed... [American Wolf] centers on the rise, reign, and family life of O-Six, matriarch of the Lamar Canyon pack and so well-known to park visitors that the New York Times gave her an obituary."
—Publisher's Weekly (starred) 

"The fight... [over] Yellowstone's wolves is embodied in O-Six's story, told with great immediacy and empathy in a tale that reads like fiction. This one will grab readers and impel them into the heart of the conflict."
—Booklist (starred)

"Utterly compelling.... Blakeslee's masterly use of fiction writing techniques to ratchet up the tension will hook a wide swath of readers."        
—Library Journal (starred)

"A savory blend of hardcore journalism, biodiversity analysis, weather and terrain reporting and good old-fashioned storytelling... American Wolf is the tale of an extraordinary wolf and those absorbed with her storied life."
—Shelf Awareness
 
"Nate Blakeslee has achieved the Jack London-like feat of creating a great story whose main character is an animal."
—Nicholas Lemann, author of The Big Test and Redemption
 
"There are so few wolves in the West that each one can cast a kind of enchantment. This fine book takes one animal, and uses it as a way to understand the vectors that whipsaw the last wild places. It will linger in your mind and heart."
—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Radio Free Vermont

"American Wolf is an intimate and riveting book about America's most iconic and embattled predator.... A wonderful and welcome addition to the pantheon of nature literature."
—John Vaillant, author of The Tiger and The Golden Spruce

"A well-rendered story... evenhanded but clearly and rightly on the side of the wolves."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Gorgeously written, and offering stunning insights into both animal and human nature, American Wolf is a masterly feat of science journalism."
—Michael Finkel, author of The Stranger in the Woods

"Engaging... a must read for researchers, citizen scientists, and visitors to Yellowstone, where the story of the wolves continues to evolve." 
—Science
 
"As in a great novel, we are swept along in a multi-generational saga involving matters of character, courtship, and shifting social relations."
—Tom Kizzia, author of Pilgrim's Wilderness
 
"Heartbreaking front-line coverage of our war on the wild.... Blakeslee hauntingly gives the victims faces, families, and stories. A quietly angry, aching, important book."
—Charles Foster, author of Being a Beast
 
"A compelling environmental drama of the reintroduction of wolves to the Rockies, as clear-sighted on human politics as it is on wolf politics."
—Neil Ansell, author of Deep Country
 
"The Game of Thrones story of modern western wolves, [unfolding] in just as riveting a fashion. It is an absolutely mesmerizing read."
—Dan Flores, author of Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History
 
"American Wolf gives us true profiles of wolf lives lived in their actual families. And when humans get involved, the trajectory of their lives forever changes."
—Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel
 
"Written with heart, but not sentimentality, American Wolf is nothing less than Shakespearean tragedy played out against the backdrop of our troubled relationship with nature."
—J.B. MacKinnon, author of The Once and Future World

"[American Wolf] is about the compatibility and clash between man and environment, heritage and the future, politics and practice, and seemingly countless nuances that demonstrate the complexity of the West."
—Idaho Statesman

"O-Six is the definition of an alpha—strong, cunning, and a protector through and through. Her life in the wild is constantly challenged by other wolves, cattle ranchers, and hunters. It's a "cultural clash" that will leave you on the edge of your chair."
—Departures

"[A] rich, poignant story of wolf recovery in Yellowstone and its impacts on the surrounding countryside and communities."  
—National Parks Traveler

"Blakeslee crafts a compelling narrative that allows him to explore in a profound and intimate way the cultural, political, social and economic factors that keep the presence of wolves in the West controversial."
—International Wolf

Review Quote

Shortlisted for the 2018 J. Anthony Lukas Prize An Outside Magazine Best Book of 2017 A Science Friday Best Science Book of 2017 "Blakeslee draws O-Six in novelistic... detail, using the conflicting insight and perspective of biologists, politicians, ranchers, environmentalists, lawyers, other animals, and hunters.... Seeing a wolf is exceptionally rare, and this book is as close as most readers will come." -- The New Yorker "A matriarch overthrown in what seems fairly described as a ''putsch,'' marauding gangs running attacks into neighboring territory, an hours-long standoff with a grizzly, a discarded water bottle--a rarity in the wilderness of a national park--tossed around and protected like a prized new toy. The lives of the wolves in Yellowstone are often dramatic, but are full of touching, tender moments too, as Nate Blakeslee vividly writes in American Wolf ." -- Los Angeles Times "The story of one wolf''s struggle to survive in the majestic Yellowstone National Park offers an ambitious look through the eyes of an endangered animal." -- New York Times Book Review " American Wolf takes its place in a long lineage of wolf books.... [T]here are cherished, striking images here...testament to the ever-flowing life force that is the wolf." -- Rick Bass , New York Times Book Review "[ American Wolf ] is a startlingly intimate portrait of the intricate, loving, human-like interrelationships that govern wolves in the wild, as observed in real time by a cadre of dedicated wolf-watchers--in the end, a drama of lupine love, care, and grief." -- Erik Larson , author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake "Wild, poignant, and compelling, American Wolf is an important, beautifully wrought book about animals, about values, and about living on this earth." -- Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief and Rin Tin Tin "A transcendent tale of the American West." -- S. C. Gwynne , author of Empire of the Summer Moon and Rebel Yell "Gripping and fascinating! Wolf versus wolf, wolf versus man, man versus man." -- Margaret Atwood , author of The Handmaid''s Tale and Hag-Seed (via Twitter) "In this vibrant work of nonfiction, a Texas Monthly writer goes into the mind--and heart--of a wolf. He tells the remarkable true story of O-Six, a wolf brought back to the Rockies by conservationists, as she fights hunters, cattle ranchers, and her own species for survival." -- Entertainment Weekly "[ American Wolf ] reads like a novel... a testament to the genius of Blakeslee''s tautly constructed narrative." -- Outside "Blakeslee takes readers into the snowy [Lamar Valley], and deep into a genuinely human tale told with the energy and verve of a bestselling thriller. A tight, dense narrative, American Wolf races along like a predator on the hunt." --Texas Observer "A masterful and elegant tale." -- Associated Press "Beautiful, detailed... [ American Wolf ] centers on the rise, reign, and family life of O-Six, matriarch of the Lamar Canyon pack and so well-known to park visitors that the New York Times gave her an obituary." -- Publisher''s Weekly (starred) "The fight... [over] Yellowstone''s wolves is embodied in O-Six''s story, told with great immediacy and empathy in a tale that reads like fiction. This one will grab readers and impel them into the heart of the conflict." -- Booklist (starred) "Utterly compelling.... Blakeslee''s masterly use of fiction writing techniques to ratchet up the tension will hook a wide swath of readers." -- Library Journal (starred) "A savory blend of hardcore journalism, biodiversity analysis, weather and terrain reporting and good old-fashioned storytelling... American Wolf is the tale of an extraordinary wolf and those absorbed with her storied life." -- Shelf Awareness "Nate Blakeslee has achieved the Jack London-like feat of creating a great story whose main character is an animal." -- Nicholas Lemann , author of The Big Test and Redemption "There are so few wolves in the West that each one can cast a kind of enchantment. This fine book takes one animal, and uses it as a way to understand the vectors that whipsaw the last wild places. It will linger in your mind and heart." -- Bill McKibben , author of The End of Nature and Radio Free Vermont " American Wolf is an intimate and riveting book about America''s most iconic and embattled predator.... A wonderful and welcome addition to the pantheon of nature literature." -- John Vaillant , author of The Tiger and The Golden Spruce "A well-rendered story... evenhanded but clearly and rightly on the side of the wolves." -- Kirkus Reviews "Gorgeously written, and offering stunning insights into both animal and human nature, American Wolf is a masterly feat of science journalism." -- Michael Finkel , author of The Stranger in the Woods "Engaging... a must read for researchers, citizen scientists, and visitors to Yellowstone, where the story of the wolves continues to evolve." -- Science "As in a great novel, we are swept along in a multi-generational saga involving matters of character, courtship, and shifting social relations." --Tom Kizzia , author of Pilgrim''s Wilderness "Heartbreaking front-line coverage of our war on the wild.... Blakeslee hauntingly gives the victims faces, families, and stories. A quietly angry, aching, important book." -- Charles Foster , author of Being a Beast "A compelling environmental drama of the reintroduction of wolves to the Rockies, as clear-sighted on human politics as it is on wolf politics." --Neil Ansell , author of Deep Country "The Game of Thrones story of modern western wolves, [unfolding] in just as riveting a fashion. It is an absolutely mesmerizing read." -- Dan Flores , author of Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History " American Wolf gives us true profiles of wolf lives lived in their actual families. And when humans get involved, the trajectory of their lives forever changes." -- Carl Safina , author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel "Written with heart, but not sentimentality, American Wolf is nothing less than Shakespearean tragedy played out against the backdrop of our troubled relationship with nature." -- J.B. MacKinnon , author of The Once and Future World "[ American Wolf ] is about the compatibility and clash between man and environment, heritage and the future, politics and practice, and seemingly countless nuances that demonstrate the complexity of the West." -- Idaho Statesman "O-Six is the definition of an alpha--strong, cunning, and a protector through and through. Her life in the wild is constantly challenged by other wolves, cattle ranchers, and hunters. It''s a "cultural clash" that will leave you on the edge of your chair." -- Departures "[A] rich, poignant story of wolf recovery in Yellowstone and its impacts on the surrounding countryside and communities." -- National Parks Traveler "Blakeslee crafts a compelling narrative that allows him to explore in a profound and intimate way the cultural, political, social and economic factors that keep the presence of wolves in the West controversial." -- International Wolf

Discussion Question for Reading Group Guide

1. According to the author, why was wolf reintroduction called "the greatest wildlife conservation success story of the last fifty years"? Who were some of its opponents, and do you agree with their points of view? Why or why not? What larger cultural clash is revealed through the retelling of this "success story," and what does each side feel they are fighting for? Has this clash ultimately been resolved? 2. Rick McIntyre considers the Druids to be the "face of the reintroduction" and "American royalty" akin to the Kennedys. What is it about this pack that makes them stand out? What ultimately becomes of this pack, and what does their story reveal about the lives of wolves and the fate of wolf families? What larger story is Blakeslee able to tell through the lives of these particular wolves? 3. Who is O-Six, and why do so many people seem to be especially interested in her? What distinguishes her from the other wolves, and why do you think she becomes so famous? How is she regarded by her own pack and by her peers? What evidence do we have for this? How do we, as readers, become invested in O-Six''s story? What makes her such a compelling figure on the page? 4. What does the book reveal about the role of politics in the delisting or relisting of wolves on the endangered species list? Is the listing or delisting ultimately determined by science or by politics? How, for example, did the question of whether wolves should be protected or hunted impact a crucial senate race in recent history? What does the author suggest is the larger, "real struggle," and how does the Sagebrush Rebellion illuminate this? What are some of the implied dangers of politicians making these conservation decisions? 5. Although American Wolf is a work of nonfiction, the book possesses many qualities of a novel, including the treatment of the wolves as "characters" with their own individual narratives. How does the author create this sense of animal as protagonist? How do you think this rendering affects the way readers respond to the wolves'' stories and the controversial issues contained therein, and how did this characterization affect your own personal response? 6. In contrast, the book reveals that many biologists feel it is "a cardinal sin" to anthropomorphize wolves and other animals. Why? Do you agree with them? What would be some of the dangers inherent in assigning human qualities to animals as we study them and seek to understand them? 7. What does the book reveal about survival--both for the animals of Yellowstone and for the ranchers, guides, hunters, and other people who have made their lives in the West? Does the book reveal any traits or skills that are necessary to survive? What threatens survival for both animals and humans in Yellowstone, and how can these threats be overcome? Are we more sympathetic to another''s actions if they are taken in self-defense? In other words, does survival play a role in what we consider ethical? 8. Evaluate the motif of conflict. What are some of the main sources of conflict in this book? How did you respond to the various animal conflicts versus the human conflicts? Who did you find yourself siding with and why? Did your stance ever change as the story progressed? How does your stance illuminate the ways we respond to conflict and how we choose to offer empathy or support? 9. What is a "trophic cascade," and what impact, if any, did wolves have on their surrounding environment in Yellowstone while they were protected? According to Blakeslee, what role did these facts play in determining whether wolves should be hunted or protected? 10. What does Rick McIntyre observe about the wolf 21 that is considered unusual in the animal world? What does Rick think is the single most important trait for an "alpha" to have, and why does he consider it an "evolutionary imperative"? Do you agree that each of the alphas represented in the book possess this quality? How important is it that human leaders possess this quality as well? Would you say it is also a natural imperative? 11. What is "gameness," and how did O-Six exemplify this trait? Is gameness a good quality for wolves in Yellowstone to have? How about for wolves outside of Yellowstone? In what ways did gameness serve O-Six as an alpha? In what ways did it betray her? 12. Who do you think "the killers" is referencing in the title of Chapter 4? Consider how the book creates a dialogue around those who kill and those who are killed. With whom do you sympathize? How, if at all, does the book distinguish between killing out of necessity and instinct and killing by choice? How would you characterize the author''s overall treatment of the subject of death? 13. How do the local hunters feel about the wolves in and around Yellowstone? Why do some of the hunters in the book choose to hunt, and what rationale do they provide in choosing which animals they hunt? What ethical questions arise within the hunting community? What is fair chase hunting? Do all of the hunters in the book abide by it? 14. The book draws attention to the abundance of cultural myths surrounding wolves. What are some of the popular stories and myths about wolves with which you are familiar? How are wolves depicted in these stories? Are they cast in a positive or negative light? Is this still how wolves are perceived today, or would you say that our views of wolves have evolved over time? 15. Why do you think the author chose to bookend his story with Steven Turnbull? Were you surprised by Turnbull''s action at the end of the story? Does he seem to feel any remorse for what he did? Why or why not? How do others react to what he has done? When the author spends time with Turnbull, how does it affect his view of Turnbull and what Turnbull has done? Would you say that Turnbull is a figure who elicits sympathy? Why or why not? How did you feel after reading the Epilogue? Did any of your own views change after reading about the meeting of Turnbull and the author? 16. What was Rick McIntyre''s dream? Would you say that he achieved it? What impact did Rick''s work have upon the Yellowstone community--and on communities beyond Yellowstone? What story does Rick tell at the gathering to celebrate his career, and what does he feel this story is about? Why does he consider the story a romance? What question does he feel this story should invite about wolves, and what does Rick believe is the answer to this question? 17. American Wolf incorporates many characters and many different points of view that are often in conflict with one another. Would you say that Blakeslee was neutral in his telling of these stories, or do you feel that he was more loyal to one point of view in particular? 18. What does Blakeslee''s book reveal about the art of storytelling? What makes a good story and where do we find evidence of this in the tales of O-Six and other inhabitants of the American West? Although many of the main characters of American Wolf are animals, what common themes, plots, and devices from the world of literature do we find in the stories found in Blakeslee''s book? What does the author say is ultimately "as good a reason as any" for telling a story?

Excerpt from Book

1 Return of the Wolf The wolves drove an elk down the side of a steep, snow-covered butte under a sky close and gray. There were three wolves. The one in the lead was almost pure white. She was followed closely by her sister, a good-size gray. Several yards back and struggling to keep up was a mature black male, his snout and withers gone silver with age. The elk had been one of many cows atop the butte; now she was alone, hurtling pell-mell toward the broad valley below, dodging the lichen-covered glacial erratics--some the size of small cabins--that dotted the hillside, leaping over what she could, and exploding straight through the sage and juniper. It was early winter, and the snow was not yet deep, offering the kind of footing that favored the elk. For such an enormous animal--at least five times heavier than any of her pursuers--she was surprisingly fast and nimble. Her chocolate ears laid back against her head, her bouncing, ovoid rump the same shade of buff as the sedge poking up through the snow, she seemed an impossible quarry. The cow headed for the river, as her kind often did when the wolves came. The deep water offered long-legged animals an advantage: a swimming wolf has no leverage for biting and pulling. Chases often ended in stalemate this way, with an elk standing in hip-deep water, warily eyeing a pack of wolves lounging on the nearby bank as they patiently waited to see if the frigid water would force the elk back onto dry land. The refuge the cow sought was the Lamar River, not far from where it joined the Yellowstone, and on this winter morning it was frozen solid. Perhaps she didn''t know that, or perhaps in her panic she could think of nowhere else to go. It was only five hundred yards or so from the base of the butte to the river, but once the chase reached level ground, the wolves began to close the gap. The four animals were now in single file, running flat out, pounding the snow into a fine powdery spray, like the dust under a racehorse''s hooves. The contest had become purely a matter of speed, and the canines--the primordial ancestors of the greyhound, unsullied by the inbreeding that stripped away the tiger-muscled shoulders, the massive head, the powerful jaws--ran with a raw and joyous energy that the ungulate could not match. As the race neared its climax, it was the gray who stood out. Her body seemed to stretch and elongate as the ground swept beneath her. Her legs were long--much longer than a dog''s--and her hips narrow, like a cheetah''s. She held her tail straight out, and her head was a flattened triangle. She was an arrow, and by comparison the elk suddenly seemed not only clumsy but also excessively--sadly, fatally--upright. Every time the cow missed a step, stumbling slightly in a pocket of deep snow, she had less time to recover, until finally there was no time at all. The wolves pulled her down in a frozen marsh between two icy ponds. About a quarter of a mile away, a man stood on the side of a road watching the wolves eat. His name was Rick McIntyre, and he worked for the National Park Service. Bundled in a heavy black down coat that extended past his waist, only the familiar forest green of his pants marked him as a park employee. He was in an area of Yellowstone known as Little America, where the Lamar River swept through a series of low hills and rocky knolls in the park''s mountainous Northern Range. Rick was sixty years old, though with his ramrod posture and tall, lean frame, his age was hard to guess, especially with a stocking cap covering his thinning red hair. He was surveying the scene through a spotting scope, a kind of tripod-mounted telescope used for watching wildlife. Every so often he reached inside his coat and pulled a microcassette recorder from the breast pocket of his uniform and described what he was seeing. Just a few words, economical and to the point. Then the recorder disappeared back into the coat. For the most part, he stood motionless behind his scope, silently watching. It was nine a.m. on December 12, 2009, and it was the 3,467th day in a row that he had spent in the park, looking for wolves. It was getting close to lunchtime for Rick, who had been awake since about four that morning. The wolves were often active at dawn, and he liked to be in place when the landscape first became visible, about a half hour before actual sunrise. Both the male and the white female in his scope, a mated pair, wore thick leather collars with radio transmitters attached, which was how he''d found them. Every pack in Yellowstone had at least one wolf that had been darted from a helicopter, collared, and assigned a number by the park''s small team of wolf biologists. Each morning Rick drove until the antenna on the roof of his yellow Nissan SUV picked up a wolf''s unique signal, and then he stepped out into the darkness to scan the nearby landscape with his handheld receiver. As he watched the trio of wolves tugging at the elk carcass, Rick found his eye drawn back to the gray female. She had no collar, which meant she had not been given a number, but she did have a nickname: O-Six, for the year in which she had been born. At this range, his scope revealed every detail; she might as well have been sitting at his feet. She was a wonderful specimen, with a dense coat and a heavier physique than most females, who averaged around ninety pounds. Not much usually distinguished one black wolf from another, but every gray was different. O-Six had unusually attractive markings--a faint black oval around each eye, offset by twin wedges of white along the bridge of her nose. Her cheeks were also white, and an unbroken streak of gray ran from the tip of her head to the end of her nose, tapering off into buff along the sides of her snout. The overall effect was of a vaguely owl-like mask, which gave her a look of quiet concentration. She had been born a member of the Agate Creek Pack, in a den about five miles to the south, not far from where Agate Creek spilled into the chossy, sulfurous canyon that held the Yellowstone River. After leaving her pack as a yearling, she had been more or less on the run for the last two years, looking for a mate and a territory of her own. So far she had been unsuccessful. Rick had observed her mating with five different males the previous winter without settling down with any of them, which was unusual behavior for a lone female. It was also hazardous. Young wolves had to leave their natal packs in order to find a mate, but outside their home territory, alone, they were in constant danger. Almost every part of Yellowstone''s landscape belonged to one pack or another, and the various tribes patrolled their holdings relentlessly. Lone wolves caught trespassing could count on being chased, and entire packs occasionally clashed with one another, especially along the borders of adjoining territories. Territorial conflict was the most common cause of death for the park''s wolves, most of whom didn''t live beyond four or five years. Life for wolves was an adventure, but it was usually not a long one. At three and a half, O-Six had already reached middle age. Unless she found a mate soon, her prospects for survival were not good. Had she been a male, it might have been different; young males unable to find a mate were sometimes accepted into other packs. Such subordinate males were generally not allowed to breed--only the alpha male had that privilege--but they at least had a chance to take over from an aging alpha one day. Packs usually had just a single breeding female, the alpha, who tended to reject any newcomer who might bear pups of her own. Few lone wolves of either gender ever found what they were seeking: they either returned to their natal pack or died alone far from home. Yet O-Six had a knack for not getting caught, and her moxie had made her one of Rick''s favorites. In recent months, she''d been tagging along with the collared pair in his scope--one of whom was her older sister and the other an unrelated male--as they hunted the outer reaches of Agate territory, pushing farther and farther north in search of unclaimed habitat. It was an arrangement unlikely to last. O-Six was an outstanding hunter, which made her an asset to her companions, but there wasn''t much in the deal for her. Once her sister had pups with her new mate in the spring, she would be the alpha female of their new pack. O-Six would have to defer to her in every regard for as long as she remained healthy and fit to breed. Rick couldn''t imagine it. O-Six simply didn''t fit the mold of the beta female, content to wait her turn for a chance to lead and to have pups of her own. She didn''t have the temperament for it. O-Six''s great-grandmother had been one of the first wolves reintroduced to the park, captured on the plains of western Canada, eight hundred miles to the north, and ferried south by plane and truck in the winter of 1995. By that time, Yellowstone had been essentially devoid of wolves for almost seven decades. Once found in virtually every habitat between the Arctic Circle and present-day Mexico City, gray wolves had been the target of a centuries-long campaign of trapping and poisoning--a war waged both for their valuable pelts and to protect livestock. They were all but eliminated by the 1920s across the vast majority of the Lower 48. The last wolves believed to have been born in Yellowstone--a pair of pups discovered near Soda Butte Creek, about fifteen miles east of where Rick was now standing--were shot in 1926. They were killed not by poachers, but by park rangers. Almost from the time the park was created, in 1872, early superintendents had pursued a rigorous predator-control program, aimed chiefly

Details ISBN1101902809 Author Nate Blakeslee Pages 320 Language English Year 2018 ISBN-10 1101902809 ISBN-13 9781101902806 Format Paperback Short Title American Wolf Subtitle A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2018-07-31 NZ Release Date 2018-07-31 US Release Date 2018-07-31 Illustrations WOLF FAMILY TREE, 2 MAPS UK Release Date 1900-01-01 Publisher Crown Publishing Group (NY) Publication Date 2018-07-31 Imprint Crown Publishing Group DEWEY 599.77309787 Audience General

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