The Year I Lived With Wolves

Wolf: man’s best friend? Researcher Shaun Ellis describes how he lived with wolves for a year in an essay in England’s Guardian. Working at an Idaho research center, Ellis ventured out in the wild little by little, eventually earning the trust of a pack. He then stayed with the wolves day and night. "I ate what they ate, mostly raw deer and elk, which they would often bring back for me, or fruit and berries," Ellis writes. "I never fell ill and my body adapted quickly to its new diet." During the entire year he spent with the pack, without any communication with humans, Ellis earned his keep by watching over the wolf cubs. He had a couple close calls, like when he ate the wrong piece of meat and was reprimanded by a dominant male wolf. Ultimately, he returned gaunt and exhausted, but with a spellbinding story and a new center in Devon, England, that educates people about wolves.