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From the renowned wolf researcher and author of The Rise of Wolf 8 and The Reign of Wolf 21 comes a stunning account of an unconventional alpha male. A lover, not a fighter. That was wolf 302. A renegade with an eye for the ladies, 302 was anything but Yellowstone's perfect alpha male. For starters, he fled from danger. He begged for food from other wolves, ditched females he'd gotten pregnant, and even napped during a heated battle with a rival pack!But this is not the story of 302's failures. This is the story of his dramatic transformation. And legendary wolf writer Rick McIntyre witnessed it all from the sidelines. As McIntyre closely observed with his spotting scope, wolf 302 began to mature, and, much to McIntyre's surprise, became the leader of a new pack in his old age. But in a year when game was scarce, could the aging wolf provide for his family? Had he changed enough to live up to the legacies of the great alpha males before him?Recounted in McIntyre's captivating storytelling voice and peppered with fascinating insights into wolf behavior, The Redemption of Wolf 302 is a powerful coming-of-age tale that will strike a chord with anyone who has struggled to make a change, big or small. "With this third installment of Rick McIntyre's magnum opus, the scope and ambition of the project becomes clear: nothing less than a grand serialization of the first twenty years of wolves in Yellowstone, a kind of lupine Great Expectations."-Nate Blakeslee, New York Times-bestselling author of American Wolf
List of contents
Map of Northeast Yellowstone National Park
Select Yellowstone Wolf Pack Territories 2004–2009
Principal Wolves
Prologue
Previously in Lamar Valley
Part 1: 2004
1 To Be the Alpha You Have to Beat the Alpha
2 The New World Order
3 480’s Trial by Combat
Part 2: 2005
4 Outnumbered
5 Hard Times in Lamar Valley
6 Four Mothers at Slough Creek
7 The Fate of the Slough Pups
8 The Sloughs Expand Their Territory
Part 3: 2006
9 The Mating Season
10 The Den Siege
11 Resurgence
12 Summer
Part 4: 2007
13 302’s Walkabout
14 The Battle of Mount Norris
15 The Druids and the Sloughs
16 The Oxbow, Agate, and Leopold Packs
17 Conflict Among the Packs
Part 5: 2008
18 The Two Interlopers
19 The Tragedy of Light Gray
20 Occupational Injuries
21 A New Pack Forms
Part 6: 2009
22 The 06 Female
23 302 and His Pups
24 No Country for an Old Wolf
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
References and Suggested Reading
Index
About the author
No one has spent more time observing and documenting wild wolves than retired National Park ranger Rick McIntyre, who has watched wolves in America's national parks for more than 40 years, 25 of those years in Yellowstone, where he has accumulated over 100,000 sightings. McIntyre's other books include The Rise of Wolf 8 and The Reign of Wolf 21, and he is at work on a fourth book about Wolf 06 and other Yellowstone alpha females. He lives in Silver Gate, Montana.
Summary
From the renowned wolf researcher and author of The Rise of Wolf 8 and The Reign of Wolf 21 comes a stunning account of an unconventional alpha male.
A lover, not a fighter. That was wolf 302. A renegade with an eye for the ladies, 302 was anything but Yellowstone’s perfect alpha male. For starters, he fled from danger. He begged for food from other wolves, ditched females he’d gotten pregnant, and even napped during a heated battle with a rival pack!
But this is not the story of 302’s failures. This is the story of his dramatic transformation. And legendary wolf writer Rick McIntyre witnessed it all from the sidelines.
As McIntyre closely observed with his spotting scope, wolf 302 began to mature, and, much to McIntyre’s surprise, became the leader of a new pack in his old age.
But in a year when game was scarce, could the aging wolf provide for his family? Had he changed enough to live up to the legacies of the great alpha males before him?
Recounted in McIntyre’s captivating storytelling voice and peppered with fascinating insights into wolf behavior, The Redemption of Wolf 302 is a powerful coming-of-age tale that will strike a chord with anyone who has struggled to make a change, big or small.
“With this third installment of Rick McIntyre’s magnum opus, the scope and ambition of the project becomes clear: nothing less than a grand serialization of the first twenty years of wolves in Yellowstone, a kind of lupine Great Expectations.”—Nate Blakeslee, New York Times-bestselling author of American Wolf
