The Wolves of Mount McKinley

by Adolph Murie

Book Overview

In the time of Lewis and Clark, wolves were abundant throughout North America from the Arctic regions to Mexico. But man declared war on this cunning and powerful animal when cattle replaced the buffalo on the western plains, reducing the wolf's range to those few areas in the Far North where economic necessity did not call for its extinction.

Between 1939 and 1941, Adolph Murie, one of North America's greatest naturalists, made a field...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0295962038
• ISBN13: 9780295962030
• Release Date: April 1985
• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Length: 259 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.7" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Very satisfied

This is just what I wanted, in the condition stated, and delivered in a timely manner. I would recommend this vendor.

An excellent field biologist's account of Mt. McKinley National Park's wildlife.

This book give an accurate, though sometimes "dry", account of wildlife which inhabits what we call today Denali National Park. The records may be dated, but they are factual and more-than-likely still true to fact. It presents a real picture of the interaction of the Park's wildlife species and how each copes with enviornmental and predatory conditions of everyday life.

More Than the Title Suggests

The title of Murie's book is far too restrictive to represent the full range of its contents. While the longest single chapter of the book is, indeed, devoted to the habits and ranges of wolves, including their interrelationships with other species inhabiting the huge national park surrounding Mt. McKinley (or Denali, as it is more popularly known in Alaska), other chapters deal with many other animals native to the region. Among those studied rather intensively are Dall sheep, caribou, moose and fox. Two rather brief chapters give sketches of grizzly bear and golden eagle as well. A more inclusive title for this study might have been "The Fauna of Mount McKinley." First published in 1944, this book is a record of observations made by an astute naturalist bent upon discovering how the animals live, what they eat, where they range, when they give birth, and, most importantly, how they feed upon one another to maintain a healthy and natural population balance. Not a few myths about prey and predator are dispelled by Murie's objective observations, which include examining the contents of scats and stomachs. Murie does not preach environmentalism, but a careful reading of this book should leave the reader with new insights into the natural world and may make him or her just a little more hesitant to intrude destructively into what is actually a highly complex interrelationship among many species inhabiting the few wild spaces left to them. Murie's approach to his study is highly objective and non-judgmental, however, and another reader could probably come away with insights different from mine. Still, I can scarcely conceive of any reader's coming away from this book with no new insight of some sort! If one is particularly intrigued by the great grizzly bear, I recommend that he also read Murie's work entitled "The Grizzlies of Mount McKinley," for it goes into far more detail than does the single chapter on grizzlies in this book. Before investing the purchase price and the reading time in either book, do understand that these are not "story books" and that they are in no way sentimental or emotive approaches to their subjects. They are highly descriptive, scantily illustrated with old black and white photos from the early 1940's, and, at times, recite fairly dry statistical observations. Overall, however, they are well worth the investment by anyone who has an interest in the wild creatures that still inhabit the less-traveled areas of North America.