Wolf expert and Park Service employee Rick McIntyre recounts the events of Yellowstone National Park’s Wolf Project where, having been hunted to near extinction, wolves needed to be reintroduced to restore balance to the park’s ecosystem. Thirty-one wolves were introduced in the mid-1990s. McIntyre documents the first few years of the wolves’ lives, with specific observations of the offspring of one alpha pair. One of the pups, Wolf 8, becomes a focal point of the author’s observations, as it grows from being the smallest yearling into a courageous alpha male. Observations include detailed information on wolves’ behaviours and activities, such as the formation of wolf packs, hierarchies, fights for rank or territory, hunting and feeding practices, mating rituals, and interactions with other wildlife.

304 pp., 5.5 × 8.5", colour photographs, map • Index

Source: Association of Book Publishers of BC - BC Books for Schools (2021-2022)

Rick McIntyre has spent more than forty-four years watching wolves in America’s national parks, twenty-eight of those years in Yellowstone, and has written several books about the wolves for adult readers. To learn more visit rickmcintyrebooks.com.

Rick McIntyre's profile page

Robert Redford is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival.

Robert Redford's profile page

An Amazon.com Best Science Book of 2019!

Runnerup — 2020 Reading the West Book Awards!

Named a Notable Book by the 2019 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Awards!

“[McIntyre's] greatest strength is the quiet respect and wonder with which he regards his subjects, a quality clearly informed by decades of careful watching."
—Publishers Weekly

“Rick's book [The Rise of Wolf 8] is a goldmine for information on all aspects of wolf behavior and clearly shows they are clever, smart, and emotional beings."
—Psychology Today

“The main attraction of this book, though, is the storytelling about individual wolves, including the powerful origin story of one of Yellowstone’s greatest and most famous wolves."
—Washington Post

“Yellowstone’s resident wolf guru Rick McIntyre has been many things to many people: an expert tracker for the park’s biologists, an indefatigable roadside interpreter for visitors, and an invaluable consultant to countless chronicles of the park’s wolves—including my own. But he is first and foremost a storyteller whose encyclopedic knowledge of Yellowstone’s wolf reintroduction project—now in its 25th year—is unparalleled.”
—Nate Blakeslee, New York Times bestselling author of American Wolf