Wild Animals I Have Known

An Apple Books Classics edition.

“Those who do not know the animals well may think I have humanized them, but those who have lived so near them as to know somewhat of their ways and their minds will not think so.” So says Ernest Thompson Seton at the beginning of a story about Raggylug, a cottontail rabbit. Seton was a naturalist and spent years watching the animals he portrays in his stories. These “histories” are based on actual animals that he observed. It shows. Wild animals, like humans, have rich social lives filled with loyalties and love—and the desire to live. In addition to Raggylug and his mom Molly, you’ll meet and fall in love with Lobo, the wise old alpha wolf at war with ranchers; Silverspot, the savvy crow; Bingo, based on the author’s own dog; A wild mustang, cruelly lured into a trap using the love he has for his mate; The Springfield fox, faced with an impossible choice; Wully, a “yaller” dog, and Redruff, a bespeckled partridge. But with love comes heartbreak, and as readers are warned in the introduction, very few wild animals die of old age.

Published at the turn of the 20th century, this seminal book changed minds about the social lives of wild animals—if not, sadly, America’s methods of managing wild horses, foxes, and even wolves. An important novel for learning compassion, the stories in this forgotten classic will stay with readers long after they finish reading.