The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowsto… (2024)

There are so many books about wolves, but somehow this one's different. Rick McIntyre sees each wolf as an individual, and, perhaps most importantly, lets his human voice fade when devoting the pages to these wolves' lives. And it's a full-on Game of Thrones out there. An unlikely young hero. Murder. Battle for the throne. Family feuds. Two lovers who cannot be together because of their social status. A father and his adopted son facing each other in the final battle.

More's to come in the next two books - and I honestly cannot wait, even though I've seen parts of this story in various documentaries. The Rise of Wolf 8, despite its title, is not only about wolf 8. It's the story of the first wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone and their descendants. Each wolf is unique. Each has a great story to tell. But since we can't hear it from the wolves themselves, Rick McIntyre's book is the next best thing. 4.5★

Further reading

The book covers the basics of the wolf reintroduction, but for more in-depth accounts, see The Killing of Wolf Number Ten and Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to Yellowstone. To read about one of the most famous wolves in recent Yellowstone history (one that Rick McIntyre mentions in the text), go for American Wolf. Seriously, it's a great book.

I'm hovering around 2 and 3 stars on this one, and here's why. The topic of wild wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park is a worthy one. The first-hand observations of the wolves, their behaviors, and the effects they have within the park ecosystems are fascinating. I even came to care about individual wolves as I read about them throughout their life. For these reasons I kept reading, but let's just say Rick McIntyre doesn't have the most graceful writer's touch.

What didn't work: Very early on, I noticed McIntyre had a tendency to dramatize and romanticize the wolves' lives and their characters, telling Shakespeare-esque prophesies about their fates and comparing them to different notable humans at every turn. While a little bit of this anthropomorphizing tendency can have the effect of making us care about or perhaps better understand these nonhuman creatures, it quickly began to feel gratuitous and even reductionist and tone deaf at times, both for the wolves whose behaviors and characters are reduced to human stereotypes and the people McIntyre uses for comparison. It seems like McIntyre doesn't mean to offend, but it was way unnecessary to compare a courageous wolf to a Native American warrior, or a confident wolf to an NBA player walking through dangerous streets, or a loyal wolf to an honor-bound samurai. I swear I didn't make any of those up.

Aside from the weird anthropomorphizing, I think the general storytelling could have used some workshopping. There were tons of abrupt (read nonexistent) transitions, passages that lacked conclusion, and tedious portions of play-by-play descriptions whose main points were often obscured by, say, lacking a conclusion and including every detail observed in an afternoon. It would read like: Wolf a played with wolf b, then wolf a ran over by wolf c, then wolf d came to play with wolf b, etc etc. Wolf a was the most playful wolf we've observed in the park. These lists of observations would be juxtaposed with the aforementioned dramatizations to the overall effect of very awkward storytelling. I think this book could have easily been edited down by 20 or so pages, which feels all the more dissatisfying since I discovered in the epilogue that Rise of Wolf 8 is only the first in a trilogy, and I'd have to read another book entirely to know what happens to Wolf 21.

What did work: McIntyre made sure the reader could follow and remember individual wolves, which is somewhat of a feat considering they are referred to by number, and we follow several family packs with combined dozens of wolves we meet along the way. Remembering individual wolves extends to their personalities and often their family trees and relationships. This intimate knowledge of the individuals and packs is one of McIntyre's and this book's particular assets.

There were strong anecdotal moments when McIntyre would demonstrate a wolf behavior or skill through anecdote, then compare it to a familiar behavior we know in our dogs. I especially enjoyed learning about the wolves' emotional intelligence and contemplating how that translates in dogs.

I was also fascinated by the wolves' overall ecosystem effects, such as forest resurgence and the "food for the masses" theory, which discuss how the wolves' kills would help limit elk grazing, as well as feed and boost scavenger species, respectively.

Though the reading was tedious at times, having read this book, I feel more knowledgeable about Yellowstone ecosystem history and much more knowledgeable about canine behavior. I feel net positive about this read and happy to have gained the knowledge. It's nice also that the author is donating a portion of his book sales to Make-A-Wish Foundation, wolf research, and public education on wolves. 2.5 stars.

Part of a trilogy detailing the life of wolves in Yellowstone and while not the absolute best book I have read about wolves, it is within my plan to read all three. The book reads like field notes most of the time which is appropriate because that was/is his primary role. He details the life events of three main packs and although the family structure is detailed in the front of the book, the pack members change so often that is is easy to get #104 confused with #163. It would have made more sense to rewrite those family trees for the reader every so often for clarity (at least for me). There isn’t a lot of sited research “facts” but many “scenes from the ordinary life of a wolf”. Certainly you get a delightful picture of the softer side of wolves who are devoted to their family and show many displays of compassion and that predominates the narrative. Of course there are also many stories of hunting and aggression but even the seemingly incomprehensible ones are explained well by the author. From the title of the book, I expected most of the story to center on Wolf 8, however there are long sections where he is not mentioned although the story does come full circle in the end.

4.5 stars

Great book about the Yellowstone Wolf Reintroduction Project of the 1990s. I don't remember much about it myself as I didn't pay attention to the news as a kid, but I did have a period of being very obsessed with wolves, which has now come roaring back to life. A bit repetitive in places as Rick essentially typed up his field notes for the day, but when he wove narratives they were beautiful, thoughtful pieces that took in so much of the wolves' lives. His work is really incredible and these animals come alive on the page. This book deals with so much more than Wolf 8, but the way Rick brought things full circle in the end was fantastic. Excited for the 21 book, up next!

McIntyre has spent decades observing wolves in the wilderness. He started observing Yellowstone's wolves from the beginning of their wolf reintroduction program in 1995. Drawn from his detailed journals, this fascinating book follows the daily lives of Yellowstone's wolf packs for their first few years. It was neat to get a picture of how wolves act among themselves when they're out in the wild. This definitely increased my appreciation for wolves.

This is the first of a planned trilogy of the true stories of the wolves descended from wolf 8 (the wolves are collared and numbered when they can be). I'm looking forward to reading more about wolf 8's descendants, especially more about his adopted son wolf 21. I'm also going to track down some of the video footage mentioned in this book.

Rick has spent more time than any other person on Earth watching wolves and recording their behavior. This book is the narrative form of his meticulous notes on Wolf 8, and the other wolves that lived in Yellowstone just after wolves were reintroduced in the park in the mid 1990s. In this volume, we also learn a lot about wolves 21, 40, and 42, and I look forward to reading more about that love triangle in the next installment in this series, The Reign of Wolf 21.

Dogs, in all their varieties, both wild and domestic, are endlessly fascinating to me. Their ability to adapt to new situations and to quickly evolve new behaviors and physical characteristics have intrigued me my whole life. Likewise, mankind as a whole has been intrigued by dogs for thousands of years as we have benefited from their unique qualities.

It is widely accepted that our docile, loving, and loyal canine friends evolved originally from wild wolves. It is the inherent wildness of wolves that especially draws my interest to them.

In the early 1990's I followed news stories relating to the controversial efforts to reintroduce wolves to the nearly intact wild ecosystems found around Yellowstone National Park and within the large central Idaho wilderness. I longed for those beautiful natural areas to be as wild and "natural" as possible in this highly human-altered world. But I also sympathized with the many people whose livelihoods would be negatively affected by the reintroduction — some of my own close family members earned their livelihoods by grazing cattle on public land immediately adjacent to Idaho's wilderness boundary. Naturally, they were adamantly opposed to wolves interfering with their enterprise.

In the summer of 1995, after the initial reintroduction of wolves the previous winter, I went on a backpacking trip into the heart of Idaho's wilderness area with three friends. We were flown into a remote landing strip – more than 20 miles from the nearest primitive road and at least 40 miles from the nearest paved road – to enjoy four days and three nights of hiking, fishing, and creating and reaping memories. On the first night, just before I fell asleep, a nearby long and ominous howl pierced the otherwise silent, clear, and tranquil night. There was no doubt in my mind that it was one of the newly introduced wolves.

I have never forgotten that moment. Its impact on me has never diminished. Since then I have heard wolves on at least three other occasions while backpacking. One night in July 2001, while camped at Yellowstone's Heart Lake, a small pack of wolves pranced around my campsite for 15-20 minutes as they made various yipping, barking, and howling noises. These experiences, in addition to my reading and learning about wolves and their impact on ecosystems, have further strengthened my resolve to be defenders of their species.

So, of course, I love reading about wolves and especially about the ones in my neighborhood of Idaho and Wyoming. When my son recommended a wolf-related podcast to me, I eagerly listened to it. The podcast told a small part of the story of a wolf called Wolf 8 in Yellowstone. Shortly after hearing the podcast I bought this book, The Rise of Wolf 8.

The book's author, Rick McIntyre, was instrumental in the reintroduction effort from its beginning. For many years he monitored and studied the wolves for countless hours. The story he tells about the wolf communities in Yellowstone is fascinating by itself, but nothing compares to the story he tells of Wolf 8 and his impact on the wolf packs and other individual wolves – especially his own adopted and sired offspring.

Wolf 8 was one of four sibling pups relocated to Yellowstone in the very first installment. He was the runt of the litter and, being grayish, he was the only one without a shiny black coat. His larger brothers constantly bullied him, but 8 seemed to take it all in stride. On several occasions, 8 was seen displaying more courage and tenacity in defending his family and procuring prey than his larger brothers.

8 left his family at a relatively early age and took up with a neighboring pack that had a large litter of new pups and which had recently lost its alpha male to an illegal shooting. 8 quickly took on the role of alpha male in the new pack. And even though he was only one year older than the pups, he became their adoptive father. In contrast to many other adult wolves, 8 treated his family members tenderly and lovingly. He taught them to be good providers, good parents, and how to enjoy life and to live with dignity.

8 was five years old when he died from a well-placed kick to the head by an adult elk many times his size. He was older than the life expectancy for a wild wolf. A necropsy later showed that he had suffered numerous previous injuries and was missing several teeth including three of his four canines. Despite the pain and weariness he must have been suffering, he battled on – he had no other option. The author writes:

Considering that most wolves are killed by other packs or are shot or trapped by humans, 8 had a good death. Dying in combat was an honorable ending to his life. To his last breath he was serving his family.

I thought about what 8's last few moments might have been like. Once he realized he was not going to survive, maybe he stopped struggling and prepared to die, the way dogs very often relax at the very end of their time. I would like to think that as all his terrible pain was fading away, his last thought was one of gratitude for the life that was given him.

Reading The Rise of Wolf 8 made me feel like I was right there in the park observing the wolves, but without having to get up early, go out in the freezing cold, or spend hours watching only to not see any wolves at all or see them lying around not doing anything interesting. Even better, I have an expert with me to explain what I'm seeing and interpret the wolves' behavior. Highly recommended for anyone who likes reading about wolves in the wild.

Audio was not the best way to go for this, even though I generally have a better time with audio nonfiction than print nonfiction. The narrator didn't really appeal to me (I even sped the narration up a bit), and I had trouble keeping some of the wolves straight in my mind, partly because they were all referred to by numbers. Looking at the Amazon sample, I see that the print version has family trees that I'd probably have found useful and flipped to occasionally if I hadn't tackled this via audio.

This reads a lot like a family saga, especially near the end, as the author ties in years worth of interactions in an effort to explain the final showdown between Wolf 8 and his adopted son Wolf 21. At times I wondered if he was perhaps anthropomorphizing too much, while at other times I wished he'd gone full "creative nonfiction" and leaned on the wolf family saga stuff even more.

I may continue with the trilogy to see how things go for Wolf 21, but I should probably do it in print rather than audio.

Buy.

Observational learning/behaviourism at its finest. Compelling and enthralling. McIntrye let's you see the world of the wolves through his unbelievably dedicated eyes and all consuming passion.

Lacking the scientific lens that authors like Frans de Waal bring, this is nonetheless a huge accomplishment.

So good I had to write him to tell him so.

Okay, 2.5 stars rounded up to 3

My rating is based more on my personal enjoyment of this book rather than the quality. I think it is a remarkable piece of nature writing, and an incredible amount of time and effort went into it. The author is likely leagues above anyone else when it comes to the study of wolves.

However the book was (probably) written from decades-old field notes and that made the writing less engaging for me. The use of a numbered system instead of names to refer to each wolf made some chapters dull and confusing as I struggled to keep track of each wolf.

Overall, still a worthwhile read for those interested in the natural world but I won't be continuing with any other works in this series.

I heard a story of Wolf 8 on This is Love podcast and immediately bought the book. Sadly, the book didn’t live up to expectations. I did learn a lot about wolves but I also learned a lot about Rick the author: how many talks he gave, which cabins he hired, hours he spent observing the wolves - all of that could have been condensed into half a page introduction and the book could have been cut in half. It badly needed an editor! I couldn’t believe it but there was one... If you are a fast reader, by all means race through the book and you’ll learn a lot about wolves, but if you are allergic to bad writing - steer clear.

I read this because I had read "American Wolf" by Nate Blakeslee for my book club and wanted to learn more about the wolves in Yellowstone. Rick McIntyre was featured in the book and I wondered what a book written by him would look like. It was like reading his field notes after he had time to think about them and was able to add some stories to them to help you understand what you were reading. A very interesting read.

The stories contained in this book are remarkable, particularly after having read How Dogs Love Us by Gregory Berns, and visiting Yellowstone in June. The narrative sheds light on how complex and human-like are the lives of wolves, but also how very different they are as well. While the writing was not the most impressive in my opinion, what I learned was fascinating and will stick with me.

A fascinating look at wolf behavior- I learned a lot! The book title is a little misleading as I didn’t think it focused on wolf 8 as much as I thought it would. It tells the story of many wolves of Yellowstone. I really enjoyed this book.

The careful descriptions of animal behavior merit the high rating. It wasn't easy to keep track of specific wolves because there are so many of them and each has a number. (And apparently numbers are harder for me to remember then names.) It also helped to be familiar with the sites the wolves were using.

Reading these pages was relaxing. They transported me out of the city and into the wild. For that reason, I found myself picking it up several times a day and only reading a few pages, enough to read about one of McIntyre's observations.

There are quite a few references to ecosystem dynamics.

p 24 That evening I saw three species that were on the endangered species list at that time: grizzly bear, bald eagle, and wolf. Neither the bear nor the eagle paid any attention to the wolf, but I would later see both species greatly benefit by having wolves back in the park. Both are scavengers, and we eventually realized that the increase in Yellowstone grizzlies in the coming years was due partly to the free meat they got from wolf kills.

p 43 Within a few years [of wolf releases] the aspen trees near the pen site were producing tens of thousands of surviving shoots each spring, which formed a forest nearly as dense as a bamboo thicket. Willows also began to flourish along Crystal Creek, and beaver, which need aspen trees and willows for food and building materials, moved in and colonized the area.

p 129: Then the pack saw a herd of elk and chased them. The bear trailed them once again. The pups ran back and surrounded the bear. At this point, the grizzly sat up and calmly watched the pups, looking like a librarian waiting for a group of children to settle down at story time.

Many descriptions of play and hunting. And here's a number I should store away somewhere in my mind: "an adult wolf needs 1.4 to 2.2 adult elk carcasses per month in the winter to stay in good health."

Interesting that there is minimal mention of raven-wolf interaction. Ravens aren't in the index, but in two places, McIntyre writes that the wolves may bury scraps from their kill so the ravens won't steal them.

not a book i would normally choose as a strong fiction/memoir fan however i am so happy i got to read this! hearing about someone so passionate about animals makes me so excited for my future career path. i’m kinda bad at following the number labeling of the wolves so i probably would have liked names more but that’s just me. yay wolves in yellowstone! (also was hoping for a toxoplasma gondii mention for personal reasons but that’s okay :/)

An excellent read! McIntyre's wolf knowledge is insane and his ability to tell a story while imparting that knowledge is just beautiful. Andrew and I listened to this together on our road trip and loved every moment.

I liked this book more than I thought I would, which factors into the 4 stars. It was a little difficult following all the lineages of the different wolves at times. I also thought that much more time was spent on wolf 21 compared to 8, but I believe that makes sense in the end. I enjoyed thinking about the author’s journey with these wolves, his dedication and attention to detail. Overall there are some interesting life lessons one can take away from the wolves story - their grit in overcoming different situations and varying leadership styles are what will stick with me.

"For 21, the greatest of all wolves was 8."

One of the most beautiful books I've ever read, despite being non-fiction. There's something about Rick McIntyre's storytelling that makes you feel that he knows the wolves personally - and he does - and he helps you to understand them, and love them, too. I have endless words for this book and Rick McIntyre but I just want to say, thank you. :)

My least favorite of the series. It has more humans, especially McIntyre himself, than the sequels. It still provides good background and context, but the other books stand out better with their complete focus on the wolves.

In 1995, gray wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park. From an ecological perspective, this has been a complete success. Wolves started a cascade. They ate the elk who had been overpopulating and degrading stream areas, which allowed willow and other vegetation to recover, which allowed beaver to spread and build dams, which stabilized streams by storing water for recharging water tables. The willows provided habitat for songbirds. The dams meant cold shaded water for fish. Importantly, wolf kills mean regular meals for scavengers, who once relied on the more seasonal deaths of elk in winter. Now, throughout the year, black bears, grizzly bears, ravens, eagles, and magpies feed on wolf-killed carrion. One biologist added to that list of animals, “Beetles, wolverine, lynx, and more. I call it food for the masses.” In terms of population and health, the elk are doing fine.
As part of recolonizing Yellowstone National Park, wolves also killed coyotes and their pups, reducing by half this unusually dense population. Restoring the balance between wolves and coyotes had a surprising result. Too many coyotes meant few rodents, and when those voles and mice rebounded, so did owls and hawks. So did weasels and foxes. So did pronghorn antelopes, since coyotes feed on these newborn calves of pronghorn antelope, and wolves seldom do.
Something else happened culturally, in mainstream America, something indigenous and hunting and gathering cultures already understood. A few of the wolf packs in Yellowstone could be observed easily with spotting scopes, a new technology that biologists, citizen scientists, and tourists began to enjoy. People watched wolves for hours a day, every day of the year, for years at a time. Some of the wolves were caught and radio-collared. People took photographs and videos and wrote about their experiences. We were seeing into the individual lives of wolves.
This book tells some of those stories. I was riveted.

The book reads as part novel, part documentary on the reinstatement of wolves into Yellowstone National Park. Many years after rangers killed the last wolves in Yellowstone (around 1926) it became apparent that, once again, human interference into nature resulted in an unintentional imbalance that needed a reversal to restore the balance of nature. Although it can be confusing to keep up with the pack groups by name, I found if I simply kept reading, the numbers assigned to collared wolves became easier for me to identify the packs. I felt tremendous respect and awe for wolf 8 and his adopted son, wolf 21, with their compassionate but strong leadership and intensely disliked wolf 40 as she had a mean streak that, in most instances, simply wasn’t necessary. It is clear that McIntyre has an amazing curiosity, love and respect for wolves and the family structure that includes so much love for their offspring. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the real life events along with feeling sadness when nature inevitably renders some cruel outcomes.

I listened to this on audiobook so my progress dramatically slowed down one the Corona came to town and away went my 45 minute commute. I only mention that so that people don’t see how long it took me to finish this book and think I didn’t like it.

This was very interesting and conveniently both about a topic that intrigued me and that I knew little about. Some of the audiobook formatting was wonky or just plain edited poorly though. At one point, the narrator made a mistake and started the sentence over, which was never edited out.

For being the title character of the book, I was surprised by how much of the book was not about wolf 8, but everything linked back to him. I was on the edge of my proverbial seat for the final showdown at the end.

If I ever get to Yellowstone, I hope to see the descendants of Wolf 8. 🤓

This is a good account of Rick McIntyre who is a wildlife biologist who spent vast amounts of time carefully observing the behavior of wolves in Yellowstone since they were reintroduced to that area. People remark that McIntyre is anthropomorphic in the way he observes and shares the behavior of these animals. It seems likely that people draw that conclusion because of his writing style. It has been McIntyre’s job for years to speak publicly to groups of tourists in Yellowstone and share the story of the wolves. He does not come across as a cold, objective scientist. He lets the people know each introduced wolf like they would a person. He describes their personalities so people will treasure the wolves like friends. This is a good book.

Well, I don't remember where, but I came across the description of this book somewhere years ago and have had the title in my mind for a while. So recently I sought it out, and I'm glad I did! I had been curious about wolves lately, and if you're looking for information on wolves, this is certainly quite a great place to start. Still, it's something to read about the wolf's place in the ecosystem, and their behaviors. This book details the life of one of the first wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995, Wolf 8. The story of wolf 8 and wolf 21, his adopted offspring drive the bulk of the story, and they are gripping "protagonists." If I had a knock or two against this, it would be that there was a tendency to repeat the doings of wolf behaviors, so minutely. I get why he did it, I think by publication time he had spent 40 years researching wolves. But that tends to make the book get a bit dry at times

I made it halfway through this book. I really wanted to learn more about the reintroduction of wolves especially since I was vacationing near Yellowstone. However the format of the book, more of a chronological guide through field notes, made it hard for me to stay engaged. Also I kept losing track of all the wolf numbers. Instead I’ll look for a book that’s a bit more organized around the key points of the wolf life.

This was a great book and gives us a look inside the first wolves re-introduced into Yellowstone from the eyes of a naturalist who made it his duty to learn as much as he could about the lives of these amazing animals. He followed 2 particular alpha males, father and son. Even if you're not a biologist, like me, you would find the events of these two wolves fascinating how they have a complicated social structure but employ all those characteristics of parents. A great read!

This book was not my jam, but still pretty awesome for what it is: solid nature writing from the point of view of a passionate naturalist. The author’s observations were interesting. But I struggled to stay engaged chapter after chapter given the lack of plot and would have preferred to watch a Nat Geo documentary on it. That said, highly recommended if this stuff is your jam.

It should be noted this book isn't the type of book I typical read. I loved getting to see the relationship between 8 and 21 , but there were sections that caused me to drift. I preferred the condensed version of this story told on the This Is Love podcast.