My interest in wolves was not so much in their physical details, though those
are amazing (did you know wolves can smell something a mile away and hear
something 6 miles away in the forest or 10 miles away in the open?)
I have always been more interested in details about social structure.
For example, subordinate wolves often try to bring peace to the pack after a
fight between dominants. The more violent the fight, the harder the subordinates
try to diffuse the situation with nose kisses and touching and licking. That's
because a Pack must work together to survive.
When wolves travel, they put the weakest at the front to set the pace, then
sandwich strong and weak wolves, with the Alpha at the back so that he can see
everything.
When writing about Silver, who is at the dead bottom of the hierarchy, I was
curious to read that lower-ranking pack members are often particularly
resourceful because they don't get the pick of the kill and have to use their
ingenuity to get enough to eat.
I also wanted to know where some of the misconceptions about wolves came from.
Like an article in the Journal of Zoology that found a correlation between the
snowpack and wolves killing large numbers of prey, what is sometimes called
surplus killing. This seems at least in part because in a harsh winter, wolves
are opportunistic. Knowing that there may not be good hunting later, they kill
more than they can eat, knowing that the food will keep.
The correlation between the moon and wolves is simply that it offered the most
light for hunting and traveling. Wolves don't howl when they're hunting, they
howl to communicate.
Finally, while I believe strongly that we should have room in the world for
everything, including what doesn't serve our purposes, there is a lot of writing
about wolves importance in nature. Mountains without wolves frequently degrade
as ungulates defoliate trees and shrubs and the plants at water's edge, causing
the banks to erode and the streams to broaden into troughs.
The Legend of All
Wolves
For three days out of thirty, when the moon is full and her law is
iron, the Great North Pack must be wild.
If she returns to her Pack, the stranger will die.
But if she staysβ¦
Silver Nilsdottir is at the bottom of her Pack's social order, with little
chance for a decent mate and a better life. Until the day a stranger stumbles
into their territory, wounded and beaten, and Silver decides to risk everything
on Tiberius Leveraux. But Tiberius isn't all he seems, and in the fragile
balance of the Pack and wild, he may tip the destiny of all wolvesβ¦
Romance Paranormal
[Sourcebooks Casablanca, On Sale: February 6, 2018,
Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781492661870 / eISBN: 9781492661887]
What
happens when a stranger becomes much more.
Maria Vale is a journalist who has worked for Publishers
Weekly, Glamour magazine, Redbook, the Philadelphia Inquirer. She is a logophile
and a bibliovore and a worrier about the world. Trained as a medievalist, she
tries to shoehorn the language of Beowulf into things that don't really need it.
She currently lives in New York with her husband, two sons and a long line of
dead plants. No one will let her have a pet.
I found it interesting to learn that the lower-ranking pack members are particularly resourefull.
(Bonnie H 6:07pm February 26, 2018)
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