Many animal species exhibit play, and yet we humans can't help but look on in awe when we recognize it in species beyond the domestic dogs and cats we keep as companions. We get so used to thinking of wildlife as efficient and purposeful, wasting no energy. For the young of many species, play is indeed an essential part of growing up. Through play, juveniles learn everything they'll need for adulthood from how to hunt to how to fight to how to navigate the social structure of their community.

Tanja Askani has been bonding with animals since she was a child. She established the first wolf pack in the Lüneburger Heide Wildlife Preserve in 1998 and continues to care for its wolf packs in addition to many other animals. She lives in Germany.

Tanja Askani reveals the wolf as a highly intelligent, social, sensitive creature that brings inestimable value to healthy natural systems. This stigmatized predator is one part of our natural world whose value and wisdom we are just beginning to understand. Askani demonstrates a new way of relating to wolves and to the world as a whole.