Photos of the wolf, (Canis lupus), at a nameless river in the backcountry of the Katmai National Park, Alaska.

Deep into the Katmai back country we are following a nameless river at the bottom of high mountains. Every now and then there are some Brown bears, but they are only interested in the salmons. As we reach a river bend, there is suddenly a wolf (Canis lupus pambisileus). Motionless and full of concentration it is standing at the river bank, looking at us. Never before have we seen a wolf in the wild.
We only know the wolf from fairy tales, and there it has always been the embodiment of evil. Our wolf, however, doesn’t give the impression of being a dangerous beast; it looks quite amicable and finally it is slowly trodding back into the woods.
The myth of the rapacious beast is a fairy tale. Due to irrational fears it has been feared, tracked, relentlessly hunted and killed for centuries. Even nowadays, the idea of the “big bad wolf” is still spread, but this has nothing to do with reality. Today, the wolf is one of the species that are dying out.
As we learned later on, we were very lucky seeing a wolf, because it is a shy and very rare animal which avoids humans.

Canis lupus
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Der Wolf beobachtet seine Umgebung

Wolfshund

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