The following is an excerpt from my latest book, Becoming Nature: Learning the Language of Wild Animals and Plants.To learn more or to order your own copy, visit my Amazon.com page here.

I learned to connect with animals nonverbally when I went to live withWolves. Atfirst, I thought we spoke different languages, as I couldn’tunderstand their words, and they were lost with mine. Initially I thoughtI could train them to recognize some of my words, as I did with my dogs. However, the more I got...