The Man Who Lives with Wolves
by Shaun Ellis, Penny Junor
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Book Summary Information
Author: Penny Junor, Shaun EllisEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-10-20
ISBN: 0307464539
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Crown
Book Reviews of The Man Who Lives with Wolves
Book Review: Walk with the Wolf
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I'm a sucker for books on wildlife, but had never cared much for wolves. Too similar to dogs and thus boring - or so I thought. In The Man Who Lives with Wolves, Shaun Ellis does tell amazing stories about wolves. For example, wolves can detect injuries or diseases in an animal, a skill they evolved in order to single out the weakest animal in a herd of prey. When tourists visit Ellis' wolves, the wolves immediately head toward any human in the group who has a disease. Ellis rightly predicts that this feature could be used to detect cancer and other ailments in patients (indeed, a few years ago researchers confirmed that some dogs can detect cancer in humans).
What makes The Man Who Lives with Wolves so special - and unlike most other books about animals - is that Shaun Ellis takes you inside the mind of a wolf. As the title suggests, he lived with a pack of wolves in Idaho for 2 years and has spent most of his adult life with other wolves. He didn't just watch the wolves, he tried to become a member of the pack. He ate their food, returned their howls, babysat their pups, and even suffered their disciplinary methods (generally a gentle bite to the neck or throat). After several months, the wolves really do seem to have accepted him. In fact, one wolf even saved Ellis from being attacked by a bear (I won't say how, but it's a pretty amazing story that demonstrates the wolf's intelligence more than his physical strength).
As a result of his hard work, Ellis has a unique and instinctive feel for wolf society. Each member of the pack has his or her own place. For example, some wolves are the "alphas" or "deciders" These are the most intelligent members and decide who, what, where, and when to hunt. The "betas" or "enforcers" actually do the dirty work of hunting - the alpha herself is much to valuable to risk. Then there are "testers" who sound an alarm if they sense danger, and "nannies" who care for the young. The leaders of the pack enforce discipline, but also pull together when they feel threatened - a habit Ellis uses to good effect when trying to teach wolves to stay away from human farms.
The one problem I had with the book is that Ellis seems to have a chip on his shoulder regarding professional biologists. Granted, he was understandably upset by the treatment he received from some scientists. Yet, he always seemed to portray his work as separate from science, as if things would only be better if the scientists listened to him. I believe he misses the point. Science is simply a structured way of asking questions. I got the sense that part of the problem might be that Ellis isn't sure how to communicate with scientists. Ellis asks many fascinating questions about wolf behavior, and collects wonderful anecdotal evidence to support his theories. There is in fact a long tradition of amateur biologists who, because of their willingness to spend time in the field and document data, have become leading experts on their animals of interest (for example Cynthia Moss with elephants and Diane Fossey with gorillas). I would love to see Ellis get his Ph.D. and integrating his work with that of biologists. From where things end in the book though, that doesn't seem likely. This is a shame because Ellis has so much to offer biology and animal psychology.
The Man Who Lives with Wolves is highly recommended for wolf-lovers, dog-lovers, or any animal-lovers. Reading it makes you wonder if perhaps those stories of a she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus weren't true after all...
Summary of The Man Who Lives with Wolves
What would compel a man to place himself in constant danger in order to become a member of a wolf pack? To eat with them, putting his head into a carcass alongside the wolves' gnashing teeth? To play, hunt, and spar with them, suffering bruises and bites? To learn their language so his howl is indistinguishable from theirs? To give up a normal life of relationships and family so that he can devote himself completely to the protection of these wild animals?In The Man Who Lives with Wolves, Shaun Ellis reveals how his life irrevocably changed the first time he set eyes on a wolf. In exhilarating prose, he takes us from his upbringing in the wilds of Norfolk, England, to his survival training with British Army Special Forces to the Nez Percé Indian lands in Idaho, where he first ran with a wolf pack for nearly two years.
Offering an extraordinary look into the lives of these threatened, misunderstood creatures, Ellis shares how he ate raw kill?and little else; washed rarely, and only in plain water; learned to bury his face into the carcasses of prey?and, when necessary, to defend his share of the kill; communicated with the pack by his howls and body language, which over time became seemingly identical to theirs; and observed from this unique vantage point how wolves give birth to and raise their young, and enforce order among the pack.
After years of living in the wild, Shaun Ellis was barely able to recognize the feral face that stared back at him from the mirror. And in The Man Who Lives with Wolves, we discover the life of a rare and fascinating man who abandoned civilization but never lost touch with his humanity.
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