Helen Thayer's Three Among the Wolves Adventure
In the summer of 1994, Helen Thayer and her husband Bill, hiked above the Arctic Circle in the Canadian Yukon Territory to live for six months approximately one hundred feet from a wolf den, to observe and document their daily lives. They returned in the winter months to interact with and document the lives of wolves and polar bears on the frozen polar sea and the vast Mackenzie Delta in Canada's frozen north.
The key to Thayer's acceptance was Charlie, the author's Inuit dog of magnetic North Pole fame. Following Charlie's lead the Thayers' discover the complexities of wolf family structure, including the alpha male and female, care of the pups, hunting and survival skills. This book is both a natural history of wolves and adventure tale. Far from being the viscous killers of popular imagining, the Thayer's found that wolves form loving family bonds in a world that offers them neither
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A page from Helen's journal...
Around midnight Charlie, who had been sleeping on my sleeping bag, jumped to his feet, ears forward, alert. He listened to something outside. Expecting a bear, Bill grabbed the shotgun. Mirroring Charlie’s silence we listened. Outside we heard the faint sound of paws crossing the mossy ground. Wolves! Now we understood Charlie’s absolute silence. He knew that wolves had surrounded the tent. Although he was used to wolves in the Arctic, he chose a respectful silence around these strangers. Soon the footsteps faded and Charlie resumed his sleep.
In the first light of a clear crisp morning Charlie stepped from the tent, raised his nose to test the air for wolf scent then sent a long howl across the valley. Soon an answering howl erupted from a nearby ridge. A large black wolf stood watching us. In minutes he was joined by several others. We were closing in on the den and we were being watched. Charlie stood tall and proud, his tail curled high over his back, displaying his alpha status as he returned the black wolf’s unflinching stare. Minutes later the wolves silently disappeared. Because a pack’s hunting territory ranges over several square miles we were sure that these wolves belonged to our target family.
.....(You can continue reading the story at the Adventure Classroom website
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About the Tundra
The word tundra derives from the Finnish word for barren or treeless land. The tundra is the simplest biome in terms of species composition and food chains.
Tundra encircles the Arctic Polar regions and extends south to the coniferous forests of the taiga. Tundra is known for its cold desert-like conditions. The growing season ranges from 50 to 60 days. The average winter temperature is -34 degrees F. but the summer temperature of 37-54 degrees F. enables the tundra to sustain life. Soil is formed slowly. A layer of permanently frozen subsoil of gravel and fine material called permafrost exists. When water saturates the upper surface, bogs and ponds may form, providing moisture for plants. There are no deep root systems in the vegetation of the arctic tundra, however there are still a wide variety of plants that are able to resist the cold climate. All of the plants are adapted to sweeping winds and disturbances of the soil. Plants are short and group together to resist the cold temperatures and are protected by the snow during the winter. They can carry out photosynthesis at low temperatures and low light intensities. The growing seasons are short and most plants reproduce by budding and division rather than sexually by flowering.
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