Shaun Ellis is an British animal researcher whose main
passion is wolves. He spent a two years living with a wild pack and has adopted
a pack of abandoned North American timber wolf pups! Ellis spent a lot of time
infiltrating captive packs to learn their language and behavior at Dartmoor
Wildlife Park in England and at a wolf research center in Idaho. He has learned
all about wolves and tried to get as much hands on experience as possible.
After learning that a wild wolf pack had moved into an area
between Idaho and Canada Ellis set out to live in the wild in the hopes of
befriending a wild wolf pack with little previous human experience. After
months of living alone he finally met the wolves and slowly (and painfully)
worked his way into their good graces. Ellis became a full pack member, living
and eating with the wolves, and was even allowed to guard the newborn pups.
Once, one of his pack brothers even saved his life from a grizzly bear! After
two years with the pack, Ellis was forced to return home due to malnourishment
from living the diet of wolves. Back home, he used all of the knowledge he
gained to improve the lives of captive wolves and help increase our understand
(or lack thereof) of wolves an their behavior.
After finding three abandoned North American timber wolf
pups at near the Combe Martin Wildlife Park Ellis decided to raise them for the
wild, but he decided to do this in an unconventional way – by living with the
pups and pretending to be one of them! Ellis lived with his wolf pups for 18
months, teaching them all they needed to know about being a wolf and surviving
in the wild. The pups names are Yana, Tamaska and Matsi and as far as I can
tell Ellis was successful at raising them for the wild and they have been
released.
The video below shows Shaun Ellis teaching one of his pups to howl
for the first time!
Sources:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1243709/My-life-wolf-British-naturalist-dared-infiltrate-pack-wilderness.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_Ellis_(wolf_researcher)
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/newsforyou/pdfs/newsforyou066-download.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1gxa-Dij3k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1gxa-Dij3k
WOW!! I have never heard of him, i did not now that this was possible, think about how dangerous it is! and to eat wolf food like raw meat too, he must really love wolves!! I wonder how he had to become socialized into the pack and where he stands hierarchically?
ReplyDeleteThis is super cool! I read a book that touched on this subject. It had to do with a girl being adopted by wolves and learning their ways. She became a pack mother as well - teaching the wolves how to hunt and howl. I wonder if there are any other people that have done this naturally? Also, it would be really interesting to know where he stood in terms of hierarchy. I wonder if it would have been different if he were a female as well. Also, how would he keep up with them when they hunted or ran? Did he run on two legs or four?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting for me to see someone so dedicated to a species. I wonder how long it took him until he became an official member of the wolf pack? Does Ellis stay in contact with the wolf pack now? It amazes me to see what people do and how much time they spend on doing something good for the environment-like raising the timber wolf pups and teaching them--so that when they grow up they will be independent.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting post! It amazes me that he can interact with such a dangerous species! He is very brave. How would you even begin to become part of the wolf pack? Its impressive that he was able to release them and they were independent enough to live on their own. I wonder if he went back into the wild, if they would be able to recognize him? This reminds me of Christian the Lion, and he was able to recognize his human 'parents' after they had been apart for quite some time.
ReplyDelete