Research Catalog

Title

The wolf: the ecology and behavior of an endangered species, by L. David Mech.

Author

Mech, L. David.

Publication

Garden City, N.Y., Published for the American Museum of Natural History by the Natural History Press [1970]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

American Museum of Natural History.

Description

xx, 384 pages illustrations, maps; 24 cm

Summary

• "Since the dawn of history, no other living thing (save, possibly, the snake) has been as reviled by humankind as the wolf. Still, wolves and people have been drawn to each other since the beginning. Canis lupus bounds through our folklore, howls in our dreams, and--occasionally--competes with us on the hunt. As one zoologist imagines it: "Through the cold of winter the wolf made music in the mysterious darkness and sometimes, in curiosity, sat just beyond the dwindling circle of firelight and watched." The curiosity was mutual; this is the feared animal, ironically, that gave rise to man's best friend. Yet only recently has science begun to understand these complex social mammals. Enter biologist L. David Mech.
• Years of research during the 1960s in Michigan's Isle Royale National Park provided Mech with a level of firsthand knowledge shared by few in the field. In 1970 he compiled his findings (updated in 1980) into the preeminent document of its kind. Thomas McNamee, author of The Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone, calls the book the "best single source of information on wolf biology," and refers to its author as "the undisputed king of wolf research." When government officials in the early 1990s decided to embark on an ambitious project to reintroduce wolves into their former range of Yellowstone National Park, they called on Mech's expertise. All this is to say that, if you want to learn about wolves, you cannot ignore this seminal work or its author. Chapters cover wolf evolution, range, and physiology; society and pack behavior; reproduction; hunting and predator-prey relationships; and the species' uncertain future. Like any self-respecting scientist, Mech includes all the hard data, but he presents his work in an engaging manner that is accessible to a broader audience, drawing heavily on anecdotes and personal experience."--Amazon.ca (book desc. 1981 ed.).

Subject

• Eastern wolf
• Wolves
• Wolves
• Eastern wolf

Bibliography (note)

• Bibliogaphy: p. [364]-374.

Contents

Foreword / Ian McTaggart Cowan -- Preface -- The wolf itself: A preview; Wolf personality; Intelligence; Wildness and fear; Physical characteristics; Sensory abilities; Pelage; Evolution; Classification and genetics; Distribution; Ecological niche -- Wolf society -- packs and populations: Pack size; Pack composition and formation; Wolf populations -- Social order, expression, and communication: Order in the pack; Expression and communication in the pack; Territoriality; Communication among packs -- Reproduction and family life: Courtship and mating; Reproductive physiology; Denning; Birth, growth, and development of pups Parental and pack care of the young; Rendezvous sites -- The wolf's wanderings: Summer movements and activity; Winter movements and activity; Size of home range; Long-range movements -- Food habits: Digestive system; Prey species; Food requirements and consumption; Feeding routine and use of prey -- Hunting habits: General hunting behavior; Hamstringing; the wolf versus various prey -- Selection of prey: Hunting success rate; Age, sex, and condition of wolf kills; The mechanics of selection -- Effects of wolf predation: The "sanitation effect"; Control of prey populations; Stimulation of productivity in prey; Supplying food for scavengers -- Relations with nonprey species: The bear; The wolverine; The coyote; The fox; The raven; The lynx; The human being -- Factors harmful to the wolf: Parasitism; Diseases and physical disorders; Injuries; Malnutrition; Social stress; Persecution and exploitation by man -- Future of the wolf: Value of the wolf; Present status of the wolf; Future outlook for the wolf; A plea for the wolf -- Appendix A: Subspecies of wolves: North American; Eurasian -- Appendix B: Manner of calculating the apparent survival rates given in Table 6 -- Appendix C: Scientific names of organisms referred to in text -- Author biography.

ISBN

• 0385086601
• 9780385086608

LCCN

73100043

OCLC

• ocm00077297
• 77297
• SCSB-318762

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library