Comments on: Book review – Yellowstone Wolves: Science and Discovery in the World’s First National Park

By: Book review – Eat, Poop, Die: How Animals Make Our World | The Inquisitive Biologist

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 14:13:33 +0000

[…] and leading to a restored ecosystem has almost become a meme in ecology. The details, however, are a bit more complicated than the idea that you can just sprinkle wolves over a broken ecosystem like some sort of magical […]

LikeLike

By: Book review – Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication | The Inquisitive Biologist

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 14:58:27 +0000

[…] is rather limited, while that on wolves risks being biased by the preponderance of research done in Yellowstone National Park. Our knowledge of parrots is coloured by their popularity as pets, whereas their communal lives in […]

LikeLike

By: Book review – The Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West | The Inquisitive Biologist

Fri, 27 Jan 2023 15:22:24 +0000

[…] Park in 1995 is widely considered a success story in wildlife conservation and they have since been intensively studied by biologists. Their daily lives have been scrutinized by a small cadre of dedicated wolf watchers, […]

LikeLike

By: Book review – The Alpha Female Wolf: The Fierce Legacy of Yellowstone’s 06 | The Inquisitive Biologist

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 12:41:08 +0000

[…] is that this book contains more references to scientific research than the previous ones. There are observations on chronic wasting disease, contagious to elk, and how wolves are likely limiting its spread by selectively killing sick elk. […]

LikeLike

By: Book review – The Redemption of Wolf 302: From Renegade to Yellowstone Alpha Male | The Inquisitive Biologist

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 10:21:43 +0000

[…] is the outbreak of mange, a mite-caused disease that leads to fur loss. As also discussed in Yellowstone Wolves, research using infrared cameras has shown the substantial loss of body heat this causes, and the […]

LikeLike

By: Book review – Aesop’s Animals: The Science Behind the Fables | The Inquisitive Biologist

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 12:24:57 +0000

[…] regenerating Yellowstone National Park. In a few sentences, she provides the gist of what Yellowstone Wolves detailed in two technical chapters. When discussing horse domestication, she is quick to […]

LikeLike

By: Book review – The Reign of Wolf 21: The Saga of Yellowstone’s Legendary Druid Pack | The Inquisitive Biologist

Fri, 07 May 2021 11:45:41 +0000

[…] as a narrative counterbalance to the hard science described in, for example, the recently published Yellowstone Wolves, these first two books in the trilogy are without equal in their level of intimate […]

LikeLike

By: Book review – The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstone’s Underdog | The Inquisitive Biologist

Fri, 07 May 2021 11:43:48 +0000

[…] Despite the somewhat repetitive writing, what McIntyre reveals here, both from the viewpoint of intergenerational dynasties and of individual wolf personalities, is remarkable. His behavioural descriptions are mostly factual, describing sequences as he observed them, but he does not shy away from interpreting them and clearly indicates where he does so. This involves both attributing emotional states to behaviours and showing that wolves have awareness of certain situations, states of mind, and foresight. Personally, I do not think this crosses over into anthropomorphising wolves. Biologists such as Frans de Waal and Carl Safina, whose book Beyond Words first put me on the track of McIntyre’s work, have hardened my conviction that animals have both intelligence and personalities. McIntyre is the living embodiment of Safina’s admonishment that students of behaviour should get out more and observe animals in the field, and I doubt that there is anyone better positioned to make these interpretations. Many of the unique observations recorded here are invaluable to ethologists, and McIntyre has been a source of unpublished data and personal communications to other wolf researchers (e.g. for Mech et al.‘s books Wolves and Wolves on the Hunt). That said, McIntyre mostly provides anecdotes here and only occasionally links it to some of the other wolf research done in the park. […]

LikeLike

By: Book review – Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel | The Inquisitive Biologist

Fri, 07 May 2021 11:41:47 +0000

[…] The wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park have revealed how the different alpha males and females have their own personalities, some ruling their pack calmly, others tyrannically. These are clever carnivores who outsmart competitors threatening their pups, and cooperate in a complex fashion to bring down large prey. Here, too, human hunters killing wolves causes collateral damage that reverberates down the social hierarchy, breaking up and reshuffling packs, often costing more lives. […]

LikeLike