Two Wolf Men Go Wild in The High Arctic

By EUGENE LINDEN

Ellesmere, a Canadian island just 500 miles south of the North Pole, is a beautiful but forbidding world where the summer sun is candlelight soft and few living things can survive. It is also one of the last places on earth where the wolf roams unthreatened by man. In 1986 two men, biologist L. David Mech and photographer Jim Brandenburg, set out for Ellesmere to do what no one had ever done: live with a wild-wolf pack. Achieving all they had hoped for and more, Mech and Brandenburg managed to set up camp next to a wolf den and, most astonishingly, accompany the pack during hunts. Sponsored by the National Geographic Society, Mech and Brandenburg went back the next year with a film crew to give the world its first close-up view of life among the Arctic wolves.

The story of those remarkable summers is told in a pair of picture-filled books to be published this month: Mech's The Arctic Wolf: Living with the Pack (Voyageur Press; $24.95) and Brandenburg's White Wolf: Living with an Arctic Legend (NorthWord Press; $40). Later this fall Brandenburg's film documentary of the second expedition will air as a National Geographic TV special. These portraits of the Arctic wolf will surprise many readers and viewers. For all its vaunted prowess as a fierce predator, the wolf leads a tough life and relies on complex social behavior to survive.

Despite the unforgiving conditions of the High Arctic, Mech and Brandenburg discovered that the Ellesmere wolves are secure, unlike their brethren elsewhere. Except for parts of Canada, Alaska and Minnesota, Canis lupus has all but vanished from North America. Wolves have been killed as a result of their exaggerated reputation as plunderers of livestock or just because people hate and fear them.

In recent years, however, a growing body of literature, notably Barry Lopez's Of Wolves and Men and R.D. Lawrence's In Praise of Wolves, has tried to rehabilitate the wolf's reputation. But specialists have been forced to study shy wild animals from a distance. No one actually lived with a wild-wolf pack and returned with photographs to prove it until Mech and Brandenburg traveled to Ellesmere.

Soon after establishing a base on the Kansas-size island, the men approached a pack. Mech immediately dropped flat on his belly and began whining loudly, both to get the wolves' attention and to convince them that he was no threat. For the next few days Mech and Brandenburg spent much of their time groveling, trying to win the wolves' acceptance. Eventually, the pack allowed the men to set up tents within 200 ft. of its den.

As Mech and Brandenburg got to know the pack, they gave each wolf a name. Among them were Scruffy, a playful yearling who was picked on by his elders, and Mom, an easygoing female. At one point, Mom calmly watched as her puffball pups scrambled over Mech's feet, untying his shoelaces. Later, Brandenburg entered the den and photographed the babies while Mom waited outside.

Wolf experts have long known that a pack has a social structure, but Mech and Brandenburg got to observe it intimately. The pack is led by a dominant, "alpha," male and female, and every other wolf knows its place in the chain of command. Much of wolf home life is focused on teaching the pups to be competitive, while at the same time schooling them in the social graces of the hierarchy.

For Mech and Brandenburg, the most enthralling moments came when the pack was on the prowl. Despite their hunting skills, wolves can go hungry during days and even weeks of unsuccessful chases. Even when wolves do catch up with musk oxen or caribou, they sometimes get only kicked or gored for their trouble.

On one memorable evening, Mech and Brandenburg boarded their Suzuki all- terrain vehicles and followed the pack on a hunt. Conserving their energy, the predators picked their targets carefully. When the wolves came across a herd of musk oxen that seemed healthy, they made only cursory charges before resting and moving on. This pattern continued for hours until one herd bolted for higher ground. Immediately, the wolves wheeled and raced into the group, successfully isolating one unfortunate calf, and then two others. The pack quickly tore apart the bleating oxen. On a later hunt, Mech saw something never before witnessed: after each wolf ate his initial share, the subordinate males adopted submissive postures and almost seemed to beg the alpha wolf to be allowed another portion.

Friends for 18 years, Mech and Brandenburg endured the rigors of Ellesmere together only to have a falling-out after returning to the U.S. The two had originally planned to collaborate on a book but could not agree on how to split royalties. The result: two books that deal with the same animals and anecdotes but only grudgingly mention the other man's presence in the expeditions.

With reporting by Clare Meade Rosen/Minneapolis