Wolves and Wolf Nature 



a coyote teases a badger to the point of fury, 

 just as a small boy may tease his smaller fel- 

 lows until they roar with rage. The sexual 

 motive is overpowering at certain seasons. 

 Pride and revenge and grief no doubt are felt. 

 Love of approbation, which is well known to 

 exist in domestic animals, no doubt does so 

 also in the wild. Self-sacrifice is practiced by 

 the mother, who starves that her young may 

 feed. In fact, it is altogether probable that 

 the higher wild animals are influenced by a 

 vast number of just those motives which influ- 

 ence savage man. 



Familiar as this subject should be to all, it 

 is yet one about which we think too little. 

 Among the many essays which have been 

 written about it, none is more interesting or 

 more to the point than that given by Darwin 

 in chapters III. and IV. of the "Descent of 

 Man." 



One of the strongest evidences of the intel- 

 ligence of wolves is seen in the fact that they, 

 perhaps alone of all wild animals, at certain 

 times so far surrender their own individuality 

 as to combine to help each other for the com- 

 mon good. The mere fact that wolves hunt 

 in packs is not in itself evidence of the power 



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