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White wolves have always seemed very aristocratic to me. They’re like the beautiful people of the animal world. Regal and aloof but not haughty, self-possessed but not arrogant, courageous and intelligent and very aware of their place in the world.

These guys have been around for a long time, some say as long as two million years. Think of the epic dynasties that have formed, rising to great heights and then fading away to be replaced by even greater ones, and the stories that could be told if only you spoke wolf. Rosetta stone needs to offer a course in high wolfish because we need to hear about the wolves history, its heroes and their villains too. There must have been monumental leaders, wolves who made decisions that changed wolf history forever. Perhaps the King who led his band out of the forest and onto the snow that very first time because the endless enormity of the snow fields satisfied his desire to see forever, and to be able to run for days with nothing to slow then down but the beating of their hearts and the limitations of their lungs. No caribou, no matter how far away, would be safe. They would feast if it took three days to run it down.

This is a society where there is very little democratic about it. You have a King and a Queen and they run the show with a combination of benevolence and savage decisiveness that is unassailable until eventually they are replaced by a younger, stronger and hopefully smarter wolf that is always waiting on the sidelines. In the meantime the current monarchs control the day’s activities with an iron paw and their howl is law. Young princes must wait their turn and watch and learn for soon it may be them leading the pack.

This is a captive wolf and he and his pack-mates live in an enclosure rather than run free. They are treated well and there are legitimate reasons for their captivity that unfortunately do not permit them their freedom. But their current living conditions do not change their makeup. They are still royalty and the genes that make them white wolves still give them the characteristics that make them a splendor to behold.