91色情片

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I loved everything about dinosaurs, so I wanted to be a vertebrate palaeontologist.

Were you good at science at school?

I did well enough. Reading Walden; or, A Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau inspired me to work in a nature-related career.

What is it about wolves that you find so interesting?

I worked at Denali National Park in Alaska for 15 summers after college and originally was most interested in grizzly bears. I saw them nearly every day. But I found that wolves had much more interesting behaviour, such as how they live in extended family groups and work together to hunt, raise their pups and defend their territory from rival packs.

What is the most exciting thing you鈥檝e worked on in your career?

Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995. I would set up a spotting scope, find the local pack and invite visitors to have a look. It was a very emotional experience to watch a wolf pack travelling, hunting and playing in Yellowstone after being absent for 69 years. People would cry and hug me in thanks for showing them.

What achievement are you most proud of?

I have helped many thousands of people have the experience of seeing wild wolves for the first time.

Do you have to overcome any particular challenges in your work?

I still go out every day well before dawn to observe the wolves in Yellowstone, regardless of snowfall or subzero temperatures. It gets harder and harder to deal with cold weather.

Has your field of study changed in the time you have been working in it?

In past decades, most studies on wolf behaviour were done with captive packs due to the challenges of observing free-roaming wolves. Restoring wolves to Yellowstone enabled me and others to see many generations of wolves live out their lives in the wild.

If you could have a conversation with any scientist, living or dead, who would it be?

Charles Darwin. In his 1871 book The Descent of Man, he wrote: 鈥淗appiness is never better exhibited than by young animals, such as puppies鈥� when playing together, like our own children.鈥� I would like to discuss what I have learned about similarities in social behaviour in wolves and humans and get his insight.

鈥淲olf 21 was invincible in battle, but always let his rival go, just as the wolf that raised him used to do鈥�

What is the best thing you have read or seen in the past 12 months?

I have been reading books by primatologist Frans de Waal and found his writing about the social behaviour and intellectual abilities of primates relevant to wolves. For example, I would say that wolves have a theory of mind, as do primates.

Can you tell us about Wolf 8, the subject of your new book?

Wolf 8 was one of the smallest wolves introduced to Yellowstone and didn鈥檛 seem to have much potential. But after an alpha male was killed on the day his mate gave birth, 8 befriended the pups. The mother wolf wanted help, so she let 8 into her pack, despite his inexperience. He became a great alpha male and raised the pups as his own. He also defeated another alpha male despite his larger size and unexpectedly let the wolf go rather than kill him.

One of the pups 8 raised was wolf 21. He was invincible in battle but, as he had seen 8 do, he always let the other wolf go. 21 was attentive to his pups and spent a lot of time playing with them. He even appeared to have a sense of humour and would do things like fall over for no reason, like a comedian doing a pratfall.

How useful will your skills be after the apocalypse?

If people have to go back to living in small groups and cooperating to survive, I think I could apply a lot of what I learned from wolves to that situation.

Rick McIntyre鈥檚 book is out now (Greystone Books)