To avoid bias, it’s probably best to say that I’ve been reading Mech’s work for a long time. If you aren’t a scientist but want to catch a glimpse of these amazing creatures, the pages of his books are a good starting place. This book has become my favorite of his, however, because it allows readers who are not scientists to witness how a study is set up (the Isle Royale predator-prey study) and how we learn from it. Those outside the field often imagine science as clean and authoritative, but Mech shows that it can be full of wonder, true - but labor intensive, difficult, dirty, and surprising.

This is a must-read for anyone interested in conservation and ecology. Wolves have long been a pet-project of mine and I follow the developments, as well as the arguments, for their reintegration into various states around the US. Mech has written a wonderful title explaining everything you thought you already knew about these predators so greatly needed by our ecosystem. A wonderful read.

This book is about a biologist doing research on a pack of wolves living on an empty remote island in Michigan. The book describes the research in different years of the study. Before this study not much is known about how wolves lived in the wild. I was truly excited to see this book and immediately requested it. I have always been incredibly fascinated by wolves and it is an animal near and dear to my heart because wolves were her favorite animal and she even adopted wolves through a charity for several years before her death.

I loved reading about the study and this in my opinion is a must have book for anyone interested in this beautiful and majestic animal. The pictures in this book are great and I loved looking at them.

I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

In the early 1960s, and just starting postgraduate work, David Mech was picked to do field work on the wolves and moose on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Wolf Island tells the story of those first three years, both summer and winter, where young Mech combed the island on foot, by boat, and from the air, building an understanding of the deeply interwoven lives of the wolves and moose on the island. His work was the beginning of a study closely observing this habitat that continues to this day.

Written in first person in very accessible language, Wolf Island reads as a memoir though it was written by Breining based on extensive interviews with Mech and reference to his notes and journals. I especially enjoyed the early parts of the book as he describes his arrival and initial explorations of the island. Toward the end of the book, there were perhaps more observations of wolves and moose than I needed but they show the depth of knowledge that Mech developed in that time which ultimately led him to be one of the leading experts on wolves. (Also, content warning for some, ahem, detailed description of successful wolf hunts and subsequent feeding.)

If you’re interested in reading about field work in remote places, or you love wolves, this is a great book. Thanks to NetGalley and University of Minnesota Press for this eARC in exchange for an honest (and overdue) review.

Dr. L. David Mech is one of the first biologists to study wolves on Isle Royale. In this book, he details the first years of the study, from 1958 to 1961. This ground-breaking study is still ongoing today, making it the longest running study in all of the scientific community.

This study took place in Isle Royale, which is part of the Isle Royale National Park. Located in Lake Superior, this park experiences some climate extremes that make fieldwork outdoors a challenge. Dr. Mech’s study used aircraft to fly over the snow-covered island in winter to track wolves from the air. The pilots were able to land the plane so that Mech could hike into any sites that needed closer examination from the ground. Mech obtained photos of wolves and moose from the air and these provided some of the first glimpses into the lives of these two species on the island. During summers, Mech and his wife lived on the island in an old fishing cabin and he hiked the trails to study wolves and moose from the ground.

This study has been continuously operated since those early days, providing incredible amounts of data to the scientific community. I first read about this study 25 years ago in college and was fascinated by it. This is the first account I have read that was written by Mech, who is a conservation hero of mine. It is am amazing firsthand look into the challenges and rewards of his amazing fieldwork. I really enjoyed how he was able to recognize wolf and moose tracks from the air and follow those to find the interactions that made up the details of the lives of these animals.

The writing style is very easy to read. The author has a very personable, welcoming style. The stories he tells are engaging and have plenty of details that will appeal to biologists and wolf fans alike. He makes the story accessible to all audiences. The appeal of wolves can’t be denied. They are the most amazing, secretive, and elusive animals that many of us can only dream of seeing in the wild. This book provides and look at their lives from the perspective of a man who spent decades studying them. I highly recommend this book.

I've been a fan of wolves since the movie "Never Cry Wolf"! I had no idea there were wolves in Michigan! That alone is pretty exciting as I live pretty nearby in Ohio! I enjoyed this book for all the research being done on the wolves there. I always found it lamentable that wolves were so often blamed for killing farm animals. Mostly not true as I understand it. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the creatures that live around us. Good, solid book.

I'm from Michigan and I love wolves, yet I've never been to Isle Royale, America's least-visited national park (it's kind of hard to get there) (and I hate camping). But reading this book was the next best thing to being there. A biologist's memoir may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it moves quickly and analyzes the predators and prey with interesting insight.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review

Stories about a biologist doing research on a pack of wolves on an empty deserted island somewhere in the North. These are a few chapters describing the research in different years. There isn't a lot known about how wolves live, so it's great that someone focuses on them and invests so much time in them in order to learn more. Also has some great photos. Great read for biologists or people interested in wolves.

“𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝘂𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗶𝘁, 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻.”

In 1963, National Geographic published David Mech’s photographs shot from aircraft and millions of readers learned about Isle Royale for the first time. His research established field methods and a foundation that continues to frame research six decades later. He was instrumental in creating a sea change in public attitudes about wolves, from evil vermin to respectable fellow travelers.

Isle Royale is a 45-mile-long island located in the northwest of Lake Superior. It is part of the U.S. state of Michigan. The island and the 450 surrounding smaller islands and waters make up Isle Royale National Park.

It is the story of the first three years, between 1958 and 1961, of Dr. Mech’s wolf–moose fieldwork in Isle Royale National Park. Of his time spent on the island, hiking hundreds of miles on trails in summer as well as flying hundreds of hours over the island in winter, learning all he could about the habits of wolves and the island’s only significant wolf prey, the moose.

The Isle Royale study has been the longest continuous predator–prey study in all of science. And it has been one of the most successful, adding immensely to knowledge of wolves and moose and their habits and interactions.By the time Dr. Mech left, he had set in motion a research program that continues today, more than sixty years later.

It was also a story of others who worked and lived on the island including commercial fishermen who had been inhibited the wilderness for a long time. Dave and his wife stayed there for three summers too.

The writing style is easy to follow and the narrative is smooth. Mech does a wonderful job of telling of his experiences. You don’t have to be a biologist to understand the research and methods undertaken by Dr. Mech on day-to-day basis. I really enjoyed the book and looking forward to his other books. Highly recommended.

** 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙇. 𝘿𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙙 𝙈𝙚𝙘𝙝, 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙩𝙖 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝘼𝙧𝙘 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬.

In Wolf Island, wolf expert L. David Mech reminisces back to his first time studying the wolves residing in Isle Royale in Lake Superior as a young researcher in the late 50’s. The author was lucky enough to be offered a researcher position right after his undergraduate studies in the field in Isle Royale where moose and wolves seemed to coexist in relative balance.

The author begins his memoir with a scene of chasing the wolf pack from the air while they were making a moose kill. Mech cannot help himself and wants to approach the carcass to gain more information even though the wolves were still feeding off it. Spotting the wolf pack during a chase from the air, especially a successful one was not common, given that the plane regularly ran low on gas and that the researchers had to become experts at discerning and following wolf and moose tracks.

The project sounds fascinating: an island cut off from the mainland provides the perfect isolated environment to study predator and prey relationships and their effect on the environment. Still back in the late 50’s wolves were considered pests and were hunted and killed at every opportunity. Why would anyone want to study them? Mech spent his first year of research gathering wolf scat to analyse their diet and collecting moose mandibles to determine their health status and age. The researcher jokingly recalls that he built a large collection of frozen wolf poop. As time went by, Mech was getting closer and closer to his subjects and had a few encounters with some wolves who seemed both comprehensive and curious about him.

The author figures that there are 19 wolves on the island who regularly hunt and kill moose. There seemed to exist a big pack of about 15 wolves with one wolf trailing them but never coming too close. They named the wolf Homer and for years the researchers followed him and the bigger pack. Some interesting research questions that arose included how the wolves and the moose made it to the island. The author hypothesised that the wolves likely walked over the frozen Lake Superior from the mainland while the moose probably swam. Were the wolves the perfect predator and if so how did the moose and the wolves coexist in Isle Royale without one of them dying out?

Reading about the summers and winters in Isle Royale and finding out about the first big study on wolves was interesting for someone like me who enjoys anything wolf related. It is also a great perspective in the early field studies and how they were conducted 60 years ago when the equipment was severely lacking and tracking methods were not as evolved. It’s a short, easy to follow memoir of adventures following wolves on an island, great for fans of nature or wolves.

Oh my...this was amazing! I never knew about these early studies happened. This book is so well-written, and Mech does a wonderful job of telling of his experiences. I would like to write something more wonderful, but I have no skills to do so. He made me feel as I was right there, alongside for the adventure.

I think you would enjoy this if you love biology, the wilderness, wolves and scientific documentaries. This is not only about wolves, this is not romanticizing wolves or any other creatures. This is the journey of men, more precisely David Mech, getting to know the wolves, getting closer to them and trying to understand them over many many years. Wolves are not beasts, or let's say no more than humans are.

Wolves fail killing moose more times than they succeed. But they keep trying... Because that's how they survive... But nature is more complex than that, and rules are sometimes rules just for a time...

The beginning of the book is slow as all studies are. It allows us to know the biologists's goals, their motivations, who they are and what they are ready to do. I really appreciate that as we usually just see the best moments in documentaries with amazing pictures of wolves playing around or precious movies showing the pups growing up.

The process is long but rewarding. Studying wolves is not about seeing wolves all day-long playing around, but it's a lot of hiking in their territories trying to understand their world, it's a lot of picking up their scat for analysis, yes like a dog owner would or at least should do, it's about seeing a moose getting killed by the pack and study moose's mandibles,...

I loved that book a lot and how realistic it felt. It's not a story, it's a study.

I love how we got a true beginning and an ending. I mean there is not ending here, but only new things to study but still...

And no you don't need to be a biologist, to love and understand that book.

So thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC of the book!

"The wolf is neither a saint nor a sinner except for those who want to make it so."

- Posted on GoodReads: done
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This was a great account of a truly momentous project. It was fascinating to read not only about the results of the study but the work and lifestyle that went into it. The last few chapters were great to answer some of the questions that had been posited so many decades earlier. It makes the reader appreciate the hard work and dedication of scientists in the field.

4 STARS ★★★★✩
This book is for you if… you would love to know what the observations of a scientist look like who spends practically decades observing one of the most resilient canine predators on earth.

⤐ Preface.
Although entirely irrelevant to this review, I thought it might be nice to take a quick look at the origins of my love for wolves. It's quite ridiculous if you think of it. Patriarchy from an early age on manipulated me into thinking that I have to be different and not like the other girls. Consequently, when I transitioned from primary school to middle school it came as quite a shock to me that almost all the girls liked horses. So I thought 'Meh, booooring, imma pick a new favourite animal'. You think I'm kidding? Nope, am not. I looked around and there they were in a documentary. Fierce, determined and at times goofy. Lots of fluff. What's not to love? Exactly.

⤐ Overall.
I couldn't believe my luck when NetGalley notified me that I was approved to read this precious book in advance. I barely managed to stop the giggling.

Post-reading I must say I'm a bit disappointed by Wolf Island. I definitely expected more wolf and less The private life of L. David Mech. Possible alternative title: Mech Island. It wasn't a terrible book per se, it's just that I had different expectations going into it and them not being fulfilled definitely had a negative impact on my reading experience.

Nonetheless, I loved the thoughtfulness and reverence Dave came to develop for the wolf, an animal that has admirers just it has enemies.

‘The wolf is neither a saint nor a sinner, except to those who want to make it so.’

I think their determination is often underestimated. In fact,
‘Wolves, even my big pack of fifteen, fail in their efforts to kill a moose far more often than they succeed. Once, I had figured out I could watch these wolves hunt, I began to realize how often they failed or even neglected to take up the chase. The wolves detected many moose but confronted or chased barely more than half.’

This quote resonated with me on some level which I find quite strange, considering I neither have to hunt my food personally, nor does the food I consume have legs. Or tails, for that matter.

And yet there is this resemblance of not letting your failure determine your success. David's observations - strangely enough - made me appreciate and value my own resilience a lot more.
_____________________
4 STARS. Would stay up beyond my typical hours to finish it. I found some minor details I didn't like, agree with or lacked in some kind but overall, this was enjoyable and extraordinary.

I enjoyed reading Wolf Island by L. David Mech. As an Inquiry Biologist, I am fascinated by stories that so thoroughly illustrate how we come to understand the nuances of a particular species, habitat, and the predator-prey balance. Mech's memoir begins in 1958 with the task of discovering the truth about the ability of wolves to kill prey; were they ruthless killing machines as often described or necessary predators keeping another species healthy and in check?

One of the things I enjoyed the most about this book was getting a glimpse into not only how one conducts true inquiry, but to experience the wonders of Isle Royale through Mech's eyes. The wolves and moose were the main characters, along with the other fauna that had made their way to this secluded outpost of an island, In addition, we experience the challenges that the the bush pilots, David's family, and the resident fisherman and rangers endured.

The wolf research that Mech established continues to be the foundation of wolf research today. I appreciated the bird's eye view into the first three years of the Isle Royale wolves, especially in light of the recent efforts to transplant wolves after they had died out due to inbreeding after the island was hit with canine parvovirus.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in nature, memoir, and scientific adventures.

An interesting story of young graduate student David Mech studying wolves on the island of Isle Royale during three years in the 1950-1960s. This is a short, but good true story about how wolves were studied in the beginning, and what a life in the wilderness as a biologist can be like.

Things were naturally different back then, but life on the island in the wilderness has probably still its challenges despite all our technical gadgets. It is not a book filled will science, but an overview of what happened, his life during those years, and starting an amazing journey off getting to know wolves, as well as getting to know how to study them. Not to forget the moose on the island.

I really enjoyed the part at the end when he sped through his studies of wolves ha e changed and gone forward, and that the project is still going strong after 60 years. I bet I could listen to David’s stories for many hours. Extremely interesting, although I would have liked to read a lot more about the wolves. I guess I have to read his other books to find out more about all the other things he has done. I think we can thank this man for a lot of people changing their minds from being wolf haters to people who understand that wolves are important to the ecosystem.

Wolves are fascinating creatures. I fell in love with them as a teenager, after reading "Never Cry Wolf" by Farley Mowat, and as an adult had the pleasure of seeing them in real life, so I was very interested in this account from a world's leading authority on this species. To be fair, this is not great literature, the language of this book is very plain and matter-of-factly - after all, this is a kind of field notes. But the stories are very engaging and informative.

I have to warn that this not a good choice for the faint-hearted, because of many gruesome details of wolves' hunts. But for me, it was in a way refreshing, that the author has a very pragmatic and realistic attitude, in contrast to many naive, tree-hugging naturalists. Maybe it's hard for me to understand his passion for fur trapping, but it is obvious that he saved countless lives of animals thanks to his work. I can even forgive him that he described the aforementioned Mowat's book as "a great read - as fiction"... I guess he knows best.

Thanks to the publisher, University of Minnesota Press, and Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

WOLF ISLAND – DISCOVERING THE SECRETS OF A MYTHIC ANIMAL by L. David Mech in conjunction with Greg Breining is categorized under both biographies and memoirs and outdoors and nature. It follows Dr. Mech’s scientific research on the predator-prey relationships between wolves and moose on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. This book focuses on his research at the end of the 1950’s and beginning of the 1960’s. In the acknowledgements section of the book, it tells the reader that Greg Breining consulted Dr. Mech’s journals, field notes, books, data forms, etc. while Dr. Mech checked and approved the material, edited it, and added anecdotes, etc.

This book tells details of Mech’s summers which were spent hiking, boating, collecting wolf scats and moose mandibles, and observing these two animals. The winter seasons were spent largely flying over the land looking for, observing and counting both wolves and moose. These aerial surveys also helped to identify patterns. While much of this early scientific research has been confirmed, some conclusions have been revised as research techniques have progressed over the years. Today, there are six decades of data on wolves and moose on Isle Royale. Others continued Dr. Mech’s research there as he moved on to other areas after completing his doctorate.

The writing style is an easy to read and smooth flowing prose. You don’t have to be a biologist or scientist to understand the research that was undertaken and experience the day to day rigor that Dr. Mech’s study required of him. At the end of the book is information on what Dr. Mech did after this study as well as those that continued his work on Isle Royale and those that researched other animals there such as beaver and red fox. My only disappointment was the shortage of photographs. There are a few, but not many.

If you are interested in early scientific research on predator-prey relationships, enjoy nature, and/or enjoy memoirs, then I highly recommend that you check out this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

University of Minnesota Press and L. David Mech provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

I had never heard of Isle Royale until I read this book. I loved how the author showed how important the wolf is to the balance of nature. I loved this book and highly recommend it. Thank you University of Minnesota Press via NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Wolf Island is a fascinating account of David Mech's study of wolves in their natural habitat which spanned over several years. The uniqueness of this project lies in the fact that the research was done in a naturally quasi-contained area (Isle Royale in Lake Superior), allowing Mech and his colleagues to monitor the predator-prey relationship between wolves and moose.
All in all Wolf Island is a highly interesting narration of three winters and summers spent studying a fascinating animal.