The Wisdom of Wolves

Lessons from the Sawtooth Pack

By: Jim Dutcher, Jamie Dutcher, James Manfull - contributor, Marc Bekoff - foreword PhD

Narrated by: Traber Burns, Kate Mulligan, Kevin Kenerly

Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the world-famous couple who lived alongside a three-generation wolf pack, this book of inspiration, drawn from the wild, will fascinate animal and nature lovers alike.

For six years Jim and Jamie Dutcher lived intimately with a pack of wolves, gaining their trust as no one has before. In this book the Dutchers reflect on the virtues they observed in wolf society and behavior. Each chapter exemplifies a principle, such as kindness, teamwork, playfulness, respect, curiosity, and compassion. Their heartfelt stories combine into a thought-provoking meditation on the values shared between the human and the animal world.

An Esquire pick of best nonfiction books of 2018 (So Far).

©2018 Jim and Jamie Dutcher (P)2018 Blackstone Publishing

Good listen

The foreward is a little preachy and condescending, but once the actual story begins it's very good. The performances were good with Kate Mulligan being the best.

Amazing heartfelt story!

Amazing story about wolf life and their complex social structure. The story told here, of the Sawtooth pack, exhibits these creatures as compassionate, loyal, loving, grieving at times and intelligent sentient beings enjoying being what they are - wolves.

Reframing our relationship

I struggled a bit with the premise of this book, but overall enjoyed its observations. I felt like they were trying to balance two worlds that have a possibility to overlap--that of cold, hard facts and the intuitive understanding of animals--and that it would have been a more effortless writing if they had been able to just write what they honestly felt. I especially liked Jaime's more poetic chapters because she seemed more unapologetically attached to the wolves. And wouldn't you have been, too?

Here's the rub and why this book made me think: our relationship with non-domesticated animals is complex and kind of weird. On the one hand we have the more scientific approach where people can critique every aspect of how human interaction might taint the subject's behavior and the inevitable bias we might have of anthropomorphizing an animal. On the other hand, though, I think this view comes with some faulty logic. Our human ancestors likely interacting and even potentially co-habitated with wild beasts like these wolves. We are learning more and more that people and animals even had relationships of hunting cooperatively. So the idea that human influence "ruins" the integrity of their observations is almost kind of asinine. And, I mean, anthropomorphizing as a concept means that we don't consider ourselves animals and I think that's something maybe we should humble ourselves to more often, but anyway...

This book is an enjoyable and earnest account of two peoples' experience with a wolf pack in a controlled, semi-wild environment. Their observations and interactions with the animals are sweet, gentle, and well-intentioned. They attempt to balance the scientific approach with human heart and it does give some beautiful details of unprompted behaviors from the wolves. If we really think that wild wolves wouldn't act this way, given the opportunity, we aren't admitting our cooperative experience as inhabits on this planet. Their world is not that far from ours and this book shows where that line we've created starts to blur.

If you don't want a book on wolves interacting with humans, then don't read this. But why not? Ultimately we all share this world and interacting may give us a view into their world that makes us less at odds and, given the statistics of wolf hunting and the animosity toward such a beautiful creature, maybe some understanding could go a long way to reframing our relationship with wild things.

Not much educational content

This book was not interesting at all. It didnt feel like a true research project. A few anecdotes of what they observed or even "orchestrated" from a certain pack of wolves. These were not even "wild" wolves. Very dry, "elementary delivery from 3-4 different narrators. As a vet. tech,I absolutely love most anything regarding animals, it's gotta be pretty bad to not even finish.

I got more out of it than I expected!

I downloaded this book due to my great interest in Wolves with a desire to learn more about them. I did that. What I did not expect however, is the emotion I felt from listening to the stories of these wolves. There undoubtedly are lessons we can learn from these fascinating creatures. They have shown to be selfless, caring, clever, forgiving and creatures of greater depth than we give them credit for. Listening to this great insight into wolves has caused me to reflect on my own life in becoming more pure in my intentions and actions. I also feel a greater appreciation for my own canine companion. I would recommend this book to any prospective listeners.

Captive wolves are not wild wolves

This is about two non-biologists who decided to build a fence and bring in individual wolves from different packs -And then watch and record their movements in an unnatural environment where the wolves could not hunt. Was this worth doing? Were the wolves better off? Debatable.

I felt misled

Ok, I can see how the video of these wolves could make for an amazing documentary. However, I can not consider these to be wild wolves. They were taught from their "infancy" to trust humans (specifically the author and his partner). The wolves were keep inside a chain link fence -granted it was a large one, but not as large as a wild pack's range. Elk and other food on the hoof (road kill) were provided for them by humans - and actually hauled into the compound. Yes, you can still study their dining hierarchy, but somehow it did not seem to grant them the title of a wolf pack.

I guess the final blow for me was when the author/videographer was able to crawl into the alpha female's underground den to investigate and examine her new born pups - and he explained that she would not even allow the other wolves in. Ok, I raise German Shepherds, and I know a human has to be really trusted by this domesticated dog mom for her to relax enough to allow a human to touch a newborn pup- it would, I imagine, have to be a really, really, trusting relationship to do so with a half wild wolf.

In short the story somehow lost credibility for me.

amazing story

this is the best and most tear jerking book I have listened to on audible by far

R E S P E C T

After going on and on about respecting the wolves, they take the newborn pups away from the pack to handrear them. That’s when I gave up Most of the time reading this I was thinking either “duh!” Or “what drugs are you guys on?”

Very Idealist View Of Wolves

One thing that I could take from this book was the fact the the two wolf enthusiasts were over zealous in their perceptions of why wolves acted certain ways. One instance, they claimed that wolves and ravens were playmates. That the wolves didn’t eat the ravens because they were friends. I seriously doubt that wolves have and conception notions about anything other than natural instinct and the law of the wild, the strongest survive. Many animals have pack instincts, hyenas, penguins, lions, apes, mice, kangaroos, zebras, antelope, deer, rabbits, buffalo, hippopotamuses, unicorns, big foots, swamp monsters, vampires, aliens and planets. Other instance, the alpha wolf could show empathy for the omega wolf because he could imagine how it would be to be treated as the omega wolf. Hogwash. The alpha wolf understands how to be the dominate wolf even it is show by dominating another wolf that is trying to dominate the omega wolf. Pack structure. That is what ever action that the wolves try to preserve the hierarchy of the pack. Crawling into the alpha female wolf’s den to see her new born puppies just so like an invitation to be attacked. Wolves are wonderful magnificent creatures that is very interesting subject to explorer. The book was not bad. I am glad I read it, but would have liked a book based on realism than fantasies about the nature of the beast.

wow loved it .. what amazing animals

so much info .. a really lovely read ... Nice to learn new stuff and this was all new stuff... how smart, how loving , wonderful animals, and now sad we have almost destroyed them, its humans that are the stupid ones !!

Not what I was expecting

I was fairly surprised that when the first wolf litter was born to this pack, that it was thought appropriate to crawl into the den to see them. When I heard that the pups were then removed to be hand reared, I stopped listening.

Cool info about Wolves

A very interesting take on the nature of wolves, I would fully recommend it, you won't be disappointed.

Wonderful book!

So honest, raw and moving. I filled up with tears more than once. A beautiful insight into the lives of wolves and I hope we can all learn something from the natural world about how to treat each other better.

Beautiful

Everyone needs to read this book - whether a fan of wolves already or someone just curious about their lives, it’s just such a fascinating & emotional read. Absolutely loved it. Made me incredibly angry that so many ignorant people still exist who believe that the brutal murder of these creatures (or any creature for that matter) is acceptable.

Such a good book!

Wolves have always fascinated me and hearing their stories was entertaining, it made me smile and moved me to tears. An absolute must-listen!

Beautiful insight into the mind of a wolf

Great insight into the beautiful mind of a wolf, a pleasure to listen to. I thought the ending chapter was a little biased but otherwise it was a beautiful, and i believe real portrayal of these lovely animals.

Team wolf

I enjoyed this book , as a dog trainer it was educational in the sense of comparison in dog behaviour and wolf history

Different point of view about life

There are some questions that one can ask himself during and after listening this book.

wonderful

This is a brilliant book. There are some sad moments which I guess is inevitable when you're detailing the lives of any animal in the modern world. Lots of amazing insights.