Jane Packard was observing wolf pups playing in a heather meadow near the Arctic Circle while the father wolf lay watching.

"The puppies ran over and licked his nose, which means 'feed me,'" Packard said. "The father gave each pup a gentle, over-the-muzzle bite, and the pups didn't bother him anymore. In human terms, you could say they had learned manners."

The Texas A&M University associate professor spent six weeks in 1989 on Ellsmere Island in northern Canada studying white wolves.

"We were able to observe them 24/7 because there is no night," she said.

Her most memorable experience came during one of her eight-hour shifts.

"The wolves had moved across a gully to a place where I couldn't see them," Packard said. "One of our rules is to never leave our ATV [all-terrain vehicle], but I knew that if I had to drive around the gully, it would take half an hour. So I broke the rule and walked across the gully."

Packard spotted the wolves sleeping in a meadow and was watching them when "I got a prickly feeling, you know, like when you feel like you are not alone. I turned to see a wolf about 8 feet away. He came over and sniffed my boot. I talked to him softly. He walked around me, then walked away, just treated me like a log or a boulder."

Packard said she was surprised to see a wolf that was not part of the family she had been observing.

"That was a lone wolf," she said. "After he walked away, the female from the pack ran off in the same direction, and I heard scuffling. We never saw that wolf again."

Studying the wolf family provided lessons that can be used to communicate with dogs, Packard said.

"You hear people say you [the master] have to be the alpha male when training a dog, but I didn't see that in wolves. What we can learn from wolves is to be good parents to our dogs. Then you don't have to jerk them around on a leash."

One of Packard's funniest moments came when a couple of wolf pups visited the camp.

"The wolves would often come in and drag our sleeping bags out of the tent and play with them," Packard said. "Only this time, one of my colleagues was asleep in his. When the pups tugged on it, the guy let out a big snore, and the pups started yelping and ran away."

Legendary chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall was the inspiration for Packard's career path.

"I read In the Shadow of Man [Goodall's first book about her work with the Gombe chimps in Africa] when I was a junior at Swarthmore College. Since then, Jane Goodall has been my hero," Packard said, pointing to a painting autographed by Goodall that hangs on the wall of Packard's office.

The subject of the painting is a macaw with wings represented by fire. "That signifies that the rain forest is literally going up in flames," Packard explained.

Packard has had several opportunities to visit with Goodall, who has given her pointers that proved useful in her study of wolves.

"I was with some students in Yellowstone, and we met the mother of a litter we were studying. I remembered Goodall saying to do something the animal would do itself, so I told the students to look at the ground like they were smelling the flowers. The wolf didn't bother us."

Packard's interest in her career choice was evident during her doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota, according to L.D. Mech, senior scientist in the Biological Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey. Mech was Packard's professor at the Minnesota school and also participated in the Arctic wolf study in Canada with Packard.

"She was a very passionate student," Mech said, "and that was at a time when there were not too many females in that field. She was very bright and very capable. As part of her doctoral thesis, she had to build an enclosure for 25 to 30 wolves. That facility still exists."

Packard, who heads the Biodiversity Stewardship Laboratory at A&M, is involved in other research projects closer to home. One is a parallel study with scientists at the University of Maryland. The sister group is examining attitudes on land conservation in Maryland's Eastern Shore region while Packard's group is doing the same in East Texas.

"The ecology is the same, but there is a world of difference in cultures. We hope to discover ways to help public officials communicate about conservation resources. We need to find the common ground and work out from there."

At this stage in Packard's career, she is more interested in studying people.

"Goodall reminded us that when we think of animals, we have to think of the humans who live with them. I call myself an ethologist. I am trying to understand the world from the perspective of another being, whether that is a wolf or a person. The communication skills are similar."

• Jim Butler's e-mail address is jim.butler@theeagle.com.