The High Arctic 2001
The High Arctic 2006
Aylmer Lake, Northwest Territories-2001
Aylmer Lake, Northwest Territories-2002
Yellowstone National Park
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The first Notes from the Field will
cover wolf expert L. David Mech and IWC Executive Director
Walter Medwid as they make their way to within 600 miles of
the North Pole. They are in search of any remaining members
of the High Arctic wolf pack that Mech has studied for 15 years.
We will keep you posted on their excursion.
The High Arctic pack includes the wolves that Mech first
befriended in 1986 and has lived with for part of each summer
since then (except 1999). The only pack in the world that
anyone has lived this close to for so long, it has yielded
much valuable information. Mech first reported on this pack
in the May 1987 issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Magazine, and
this was followed with the National Geographic Society's Explorer
TV documentary "White Wolf" ("Ice Pack" in Eurasia), and Voyageur
Press's books "The Arctic Wolf: Living with the Pack," " Wolves
of the High Arctic" and "The Arctic Wolf: Ten Years with the
Pack."
As of summer 2000, only one of this line of wolves was left,
"Explorer," a female born in 1992, who has always exhibited
great curiosity. In 2000, she had a mate from some distant
area but bore no pups.
Learning whether Explorer still lives and whether she produced
pups this year is the object of the current expedition. In
addition, Mech and Medwid will try to locate as many wolf
prey - musk-oxen, arctic hares, and Peary caribou - as they
can. This will allow the men to determine what kind of food
supply exists for the wolves in the area.
The men will leave Minnesota on June 29 to fly to Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada, then on to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories
and Resolute Bay, an Inuit village on Cornwallis Island, Nunavut
on June 30 (75 degrees N. Latitude). After that, the timing
of the last leg of this trip to 80 degrees N. Latitude in
the High Arctic is open, as they leave the world of scheduled
flights.
Keep watch in this space for the progress and details of
this adventure to see whether they will find Explorer, the
last remaining wolf in her famous line.
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