“The wolf is neither a saint nor a sinner except to those who want to make it so.”

This quote came from an article written by one of the most influential wolf biologists, Dr. L. David Mech. He sat down with us for a deep dive discussion on wolf biology, wolf management, and the complexity of living with wolves.  

David is a Senior Research Scientist with the Biological Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, and Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota. He has studied wolves and their prey since 1958, as well as several other species of wildlife. David is also the founder and vice chair of the International Wolf Center and chaired the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Wolf Specialist Group from 1978 to 2013. In 2013, the Wolf Specialist Group merged into the IUCN Canid Specialist Group, and Dave has been an advisor for the Group ever since. 

David has authored several books, including The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species (1970), The Way of the Wolf (1991), The Arctic Wolf: Living with the Pack (1988), and Wolves of the High Arctic (1992). A detailed wolf reference book, Wolves: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation, which he co-edited with Luigi Boitani, was published in 2003, and The Behavior of Wolves Hunting Wild Prey, co-authored by Doug Smith and Dan MacNulty, with video by Bob Landis, was published in 2015. His latest book, in 2020, Wolf Island: Discovering the Secrets of a Mythic Animal, was written with Greg Breining. Learn more about David and his work at davemech.org.