Jim And Jamie Dutcher: "The Hidden Life of Wolves"

This is a cool segment from the Diane Rehm Show yesterday morning - an interview with Jim And Jamie Dutcher who have spent years of their lives living with and studying wolves. Their new book is The Hidden Life of Wolves. Here is a description of the book:

The photography is stunningly beautiful and the insights that Jim and Jamie Dutcher share with us opens a world of understanding into wolf behavior." –Apogee Photo Magazine 

Delve into amazingly intimate wolf photography by Jim and Jamie Dutcher, a couple who spent many years living with a pack of wolves at the edge of Idaho's Sawtooth Wilderness, observing their complex social hierarchy. Here is the alpha pair, leaders of the pack, often the only couple that mate. Here are the pups, born with eyes shut in the spring, tousled by their mother through the first six weeks of life. Here is the omega wolf, lowest ranking wolf in the pack, whose subservience, often playful, alleviates pack tension. Here are moments of cooperation and moments of snarling dominance, moments of communication and affection. Here, too, are heartwarming moments of connection between the Dutchers and the wolves, caught in pictures that remind us how close the links are between wolves in the wild and the beloved family dog.

Short chapters introduce the wolves as individuals, describe the Dutchers' years of coming to know them, and address the complex conservation issues surrounding the near-extinction and now replenishment of the species in the wild. Sidebars explore myths about wolves, including Native American spirit stories, European fairy tales, and modern ranching hearsay. 

For animal lovers, nature lovers, environmentalists, and especially dog lovers, this book shares the new understanding gained by six years of the authors' living intimately with wild wolves. Created to complement a traveling exhibition that makes its debut at Chicago's Field Museum in March 2013, it will also appeal to those unable to see the show.

Enjoy the discussion.

Jim And Jamie Dutcher: "The Hidden Life of Wolves"

Puppies maintain and develop their own pup hierarchy for their first few years of life, and their ranks are established early. (Photo by Jim and Jamie Dutcher/National Geographic Stock p. 85)

LISTEN

From 1990 to 1996, Jim and Jamie Dutcher lived among a pack of gray wolves just outside Idaho's Sawtooth Wilderness. During these years of observation, the Dutchers say they found these often misunderstood animals to be highly social, communicating and bonding with family in a way humans could easily understand. Their new book, accompanied by Jim's photography, documents their findings and argues that the gray wolf should not have been removed from the endangered species list.

Guests

• Jim Dutcher, author and photographer, "The Hidden Life of Wolves." Jim is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and cinematographer.
• Jamie Dutcher, co-author and co-producer, "The Hidden Life of Wolves." Jamie worked in the animal hospital of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

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The Hidden Life of Wolves

Jim And Jamie Dutcher's Wolf Photography

Published with permission of the National Geographic Society from the book The Hidden Life of Wolves by Jim and Jamie Dutcher. Copyright ©2013 Jim Dutcher and Jamie Dutcher. All rights reserved. 

Watch The Hidden Life Of Wolves

Read An Excerpt

Published with permission of the National Geographic Society from the book The Hidden Life of Wolves by Jim and Jamie Dutcher. Copyright ©2013 Jim Dutcher and Jamie Dutcher. All rights reserved.