Monday, November 15, 2010

CARNIVORES: Wolf Stories Part IV

Here is another Wolf Story, maybe. It was 1997, and I was driving just outside of Jasper National Park toward Hinton in Alberta, Canada. I was at least 10 miles from a home, ranch, or civilization of any kind.  I saw four "Wolves" or "Wolf-like" animals running along the tree-line. When I pulled off the road, the animals stopped, and looked at me. There were four: one dark brown, two greyish, and one white. Wolves typically come in one of four colors: dark brown, grey, white, and black. Wolves often run in packs of four. There is a fairly large wolf population in this part of Alberta. The brown one stayed at the tree-line. The two grey ones lingered about half way between the tree-line and the road. The white one came toward me in a "creeping" sort of way (like the wolf in the movie Dances With Wolves). Were these wolves? I faxed my photos to a Ranger at Jasper National Park. His response was "maybe." Over the past 13 years I have vacillated back and forth, often being too embarrassed say one way or the other. And, so they have sat in a bin of old photos -- never having been scanned into my computer. Why should I feel this way? After all, I am an "expert." What I have come to realize is that I am not an expert on wolves. I have come across over 400 bears in the wild, and I can with some confidence identify which are Grizzlies and which are Black Bears. But about these "wolves", I am still not sure. You decide. (They are in my computer now, though).






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