EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Fate of the Wolf

Tibetan Wolf (Canis lupus chanco), Family Canidae
Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, Mongolia

Explanation:   To call this a love-hate relationship is an oversimplification and a disservice to the deeper iconic forces involved.  This week we are exploring the spirit of the wolf in the cultures of Mongolia.

Wolves in central Asia are feared and revered.  They are feared for their predation on livestock which is often the full wealth that a family owns.  And also revered for their intelligence and tenacity.  This tension between emotions toward the wolf was made famous in the book and movie "Wolf Totem" that tells the story of a young Chinese student "visiting" (banished to) Inner Mongolia where he learns the ways of local Mongolian herders and their deeper reverence for the wolf in their culture.  

Indeed, wolves have been part of this ecosystem for millennia, and in times past likely preyed on native species of the region such as roe deer, saiga antelope, goitered and Mongolian gazelle, ibex goats, and others.  As people settled the area and ran livestock, and as populations of native mammals dwindled, wolves turned toward the easier prey of cattle, sheep, and goats, and also domesticated Bactrian camels, horses, and yak.  And people began eliminating the wolf, first for its depredation habitats, and later also for selling of wolf parts on the international wildlife trade.  Recently, conservation actions have been aimed at restoring wolf populations locally.

Wolves of the region belong to the Tibetan wolf subspecies -- locally called the Mongolian wolf, for obvious reasons -- and are marked by their light- to white-edged fur.  

But still there ran a vein of not just respect but a spiritual linkage with wolves.  I encountered this reverence first-hand in Mongolia when visiting various families of indigenous heritage.
    

In the ger (yurt) of a female shaman of the Kahlkh group of people, whom we visited outside the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, hung these portraits of wolves.  The shaman told us that she inherited them from her father, and that the wolf has deep shamanic meaning as icons of strength.  And she has adopted the wolf as a true icon for her own shamanic rituals and ceremonies.  
  

Next, we encountered this wolf pelt hanging in the ger of a Khazakh family in northern Mongolia near the border with Russia.  Said to have been given to the patriarch of the family by a friend, this pelt symbolized both the strength of the animal and domination over it for protection of livestock.  
   
 

And now returning to the main image in this week's episode, this is a tourist "Art Shop" located inside Gorkhi-Terelj National Park in central Mongolia.  The entrance to the shop sports two wolf pelts being displayed more as tourist attractions than any deeper iconic meaning.  

The wolf has entered the social psyche of many cultures around the world, but few seem as tangible and deep as those I encountered in this part of central Asia.