Wild grizzly bears, conducting their affairs undisturbed, are the essence of the wilderness spirit. Much has been written, both fact and fiction, about these awesome animals, but until very recently we have known little about the details of their daily existence.

For twenty-five years, Adolph Murie, one of North America's greatest naturalists, spent his summers in Mount McKinley National Park (since renamed Denali National Park) tracking, recording, and interpreting the lives of these magnificent animals in one of their few remaining strongholds. Murie observed the grizzlies as they moved throughout their range. He noted how families were formed, how they found food, and he described in detail how they related to other animals with whom they came in contact, including man. Often he followed a bear family for days as it traveled through the park. Even though their behavior could be quite unpredictable, Murie was able to distinguish, through careful observation, the individuals who made up many distinct families.

Originally available only in government publications which are long out of print, this classic work of natural history is now published which are long out of print, this classic work of natural history is now published for the first time in a popular edition. This edition is being published simultaneously with Adolph Murie's other classic study of the Far North, "The Wolves of Mount McKinley", thus making widely available two of the most important studies on North American wildlife.

In the time of Lewis and Clark, wolves were abundant throughout North America from the Arctic regions to Mexico. But man declared war on this cunning and powerful animal when cattle replaced the buffalo on the western plains, reducing the wolf’s range to those few areas in the Far North where economic necessity did not call for its extinction. Between 1939 and 1941, Adolph Murie, one of North America’s greatest naturalists, made a field study of the relationship between wolves and Dall sheep in Mount McKinley National Park (since renamed Denali National Park) which has come to be respected as a classic work of natural history. In this study Murie not only described the life cycle of Alaskan wolves in greater detail than has ever been done, but he discovered a great deal about the entire ecological network of predator and prey. The issues surrounding the survival of the wolf and its prey are more important today than ever, and Murie helps us understand the careful balance that must be maintained to ensure that these magnificent animals prosper. Originally available only in government publications which are long out-of-print, this account of a much maligned animal is now available in its first popular edition.