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January 3, 2008
Canid Instinct, And Lack Thereof
(I took this photo of June a few winters ago in red-rocked southern Utah.)
After years of running with my dog June, I have learned to implicitly trust her instincts. And, after years of running in the wilderness, I have also learned that I occasionally can't trust the instincts of wild animals.
During last Sunday's long run, June and I cruised around a downhill corner on a dirt road in the middle of mostly nowhere. As we rounded the bend, we spooked a large herd of pronghorn antelope. They took off running downslope and shortly disappeared. With their quick and erratic movements, the pronghorns excited June. In response, she tugged on the leash and whined with what I interpreted as dog glee.
Once the pronghorn were gone, June still tugged and whined. I looked down at her to see that she was tugging and whining in a slightly different direction from the pronghorn's direction of travel. I extended my gaze and it didn't take long to see what she had long since noticed: a single black wolf, about 50 feet away, standing still, watching us.
I yelled "Hey! Hey! Hey!" and waved my arms. The wolf remained unmoving. I repeated the same actions. Ever so slowly and seemingly nonchalantly, the wolf bent its butt down, pooped, turned, and dropped off the back of the tiny hill upon which it had stood. June and I turned around and headed back up the road. With a little elevation gain, I could see beyond the hill into a white, snow-covered field where the black wolf now stood, still watching us. I stopped for a moment, pulled out my camera phone, and took a photo (Incidentally, the photo is worthless, as the wolf looks like a small black speck in the snowy field.). As we continued up the hill, the wolf come back towards us. For a few minutes, I watched it climb two different hills to watch us as we climbed.
Then, we rounded a bend and climbed through a wooded area, and I could no longer see the wolf. June kept looking over her shoulder, which made me look over my shoulder. I never saw a thing, but, because of June's actions, I suspect that the wolf was still out there somewhere. The several mile run back to civilization seemed to take forever. Out there, I had cell phone service and I admit that used it to talk to my sweetie for a little bit of company.
I had several more hours of incident-less running that afternoon to ponder this wolf sighting. Here is what I thought about:
1. Observing a wolf from that close distance was remarkable. I could see that its black fur was actually mottled with a bit of gray. I also noticed hair thinning on its tail, a sign of mange, the sometimes fatal disease caused by mite infestations on the skin of mostly (wild and domestic) canids. Typically, wolves will actively avoid humans, so seeing a wolf so close was amazing.
2. June acted according to her instincts as she identified the presence of the wolf.
3. The wolf didn't act according to its instincts. As I mentioned above, wolves almost exclusively avoid humans. In this case, the wolf exhibited no avoidance behaviors. Most accurately, it exhibited what appeared to be indifference and interest behaviors.
4. This situation was volatile because the wolf didn't act according to its instincts.
I see a lot of wildlife while I'm out running and otherwise exploring the wilderness. In fact, I sometimes wonder if my blog readers tire of reading stories about these animals. Most of the time when I'm out there, the wildlife is lower on the proverbial food chain than me, and occasionally the wildlife is higher than me on that chain. But, almost all of the time, everyone acts according to instincts, and we all proceed smoothly. I try to operate in the wilderness with a cautious respect for the land, the elements, and the wildlife. I do get scared, though, when an animal, like that black wolf, deviates from its predicted behavior.
Posted by Meghan at January 3, 2008 8:07 PM
Comments
I'm mostly lurking on your blog, or reading via bloglines, but I do love those animal stories. I have to admit that sometimes I'm a little bit freaked out by your encounters with animals higher up the food chains.
The only wild carnivores I occasionally see are foxes, and I don't fear them. A wolf or a big cat, on the other hand, would probably send me into panic mode. I've seen wolves up close in a park once, and they looked mightily fierce.
Posted by: Thomas at January 4, 2008 2:31 AM
Scary Meghan!! Good thing for your little June Dog! (she is soooo cute by the way!) Wonder why the wolf wasn't acting afraid of you?
Posted by: Beth at January 4, 2008 1:49 PM
A fully-mature, healthy wolf probably weighs more than you, and it's fur is so thick and dense June's bites would probably feel like a nice back rub.
So many wild animals know of certain advantages, so they don't scare, but I'm so glad there wasn't a pack!
The dead wolf I saw a few years ago looked like it weigh about 180lbs. I know I had to have been wrong since they don't get over 115-120 (maybe it's all that thick fur makes it look so big).
It would sure freak me out to have an encounter like yours.
Posted by: JeffO at January 4, 2008 3:45 PM
whatever ....I had 6 bambi like deer bounce by me about 40 feet away up in the NJ trails a few days ago--lol it was pretty cool to see.
It did have me think about how peeps run in areas where there are cougars or wolves---yikes.
becareful hun ... I think the wolf was upset with you cause he just had to poop and u saw him :-)
Posted by: Bob Gentile at January 4, 2008 4:54 PM
Meghan,
I love the wildlife stories! Also, your pup is awfully cute. Stay safe out there.
Posted by: backofpack at January 4, 2008 7:35 PM
Meghan, I almost hate to bring this up, but when I read the story about poor Meredith Emerson, I almost feel like I'd rather take my chances with the lions and wolves. I can't comprehend what Meredith went through. And I can't comprehend getting chewed up by a wild animal but even on scales of horror, the latter has to be a bit less horrendous.
But to see a wolf live like that, not just paw prints! How incredibly exciting (in a very hair raising way)! What do you think was wrong with it, to act so out of character? Not the mange, right? Sad (it's always sad). Did it have yellow eyes? Is it unusual to see a black one? Thanks for sharing, little Red Riding Hood, and don't stop.
Posted by: Kendra Borgsnout at January 9, 2008 2:04 PM
I just did a google search on "bike trainer crash" and found your blog. If it makes you feel better, my bike trainer let go last night and I crashed on my trainer. Funny stuff. I'm training for a Spring marathon too. Good Luck!
Posted by: Bobby at January 11, 2008 7:44 AM