Capturing Wolves in Action

Perhaps one of the rarest events for people to witness is a pack of wolves in the middle of a hunt. I've been in Yellowstone and seen wolves returning from a hunt with portions of their kill, but I've never seen a hunt in progress.
Well, thanks to a donation from Canon, U.S.A., park biologists have digitally captured a wolf pack in action. And as the accompanying photo clearly shows, this is quite a dynamic event in the wild kingdom.
The camera company donated a 20D camera along with a high-powered 200-400 mm zoom lens to the park specifically for wildlife research. With it biologists took this photo from a small plane about 500 feet off the ground. Not only did Canon provide the camera equipment, but it also helped defray the cost of the flights.
"Viewing natural wolf behavior in the field has been nearly impossible in the history of wolf research," Doug Smith, director of the Yellowstone Wolf Project, told the Yellowstone Park Foundation, which coordinated the donation. "Flying high above wolves in an airplane does not disturb their natural behavior, but, formerly, it was too high for us to collect data.
"Now, with digital photography and Canon cameras, we can see everything wolves are doing and learn more about their natural behavior in the wild."