During my visit to the Brookfield Zoo last week, I captured this photograph of a Mexican Gray Wolf:

Mexican gray wolfMexican gray wolf at the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Illinois on February 1, 2018 Unfortunately there are now less than 400 of these wolves in the world--and less than 150 living in the wild. The Brookfield Zoo has some (I'm guessing 8 or 9) of the 240 Mexican gray wolves living in captivity. Fortunately, the zoo is participating in a breeding program to try to save these wolves...and recently introduced a couple of the wolves back into the wild in New Mexico. The fact that the Brookfield Zoo is undertaking such an initiative make me feel better about capturing photographs of captive animals.

I really wanted to capture this image. I loved how the color of his eyes matched the color of the background. I liked how his fur was backlit and raised behind his body due to the strong wind. And, I liked how he was peeking over his tail. The problem is that he wouldn't look my way!

Fortunately, nobody was on hand to shoot the behind the scenes video. All I needed was for him to open his eyes and look at me. So, in addition to making all kinds of strange sounds (which weren't effective), I started dancing around--"Dances With Wolves"--and waving my arms (which was effective). So, he gave me a look...and I thanked him and moved on.