The Secret Language of Wolves
Yellowstone Gateway Museum Unveils Groundbreaking Exhibit Bridging Science, Art and the Wild
This winter, the Yellowstone Gateway Museum invites the public to explore that very question through The Secret Language of Wolves, a major new exhibit that brings together cutting-edge science, local innovation, and extraordinary art to reveal how humans are learning to listen to the wild.
At the center of the exhibition is Dr. Jeffrey Reed, a Paradise Valley native and founder of Grizzly Systems, whose pioneering use of artificial intelligence has led to the largest study of wild wolf communication ever conducted anywhere in the world. Through small recording devices known as GrizCams, Yellowstone National Park's Wolf Project researchers are capturing the soundscape of Yellowstone’s wilderness decoding how wolves, elk, birds, and other animals communicate across vast distances and shifting seasons.
Visitors will have the rare chance to step inside an immersive 3D sound theater, where Dr. Reed’s recordings surround them in the living acoustics of Yellowstone.
This multisensory experience places listeners in the center of a world without human noise a moment to hear the forest, valleys, and mountains as animals do. From the low rumble of a distant elk to the intricate harmonies of wolf howls echoing across the ecosystem, the sound environment reveals a landscape alive with communication.
George Bumann sculpture of 907 howling
In collaboration with the Alpine Ecosystems Research Institute (AERI), Dr. Scott Dersam expands the story beyond wolves to explore how humans have always lived in conversation with other species learning from animals and shaping the world together through observation, imitation, and shared survival.
Complementing the scientific work is a stunning display of art that brings the story full circle. The exhibition features powerful photography from Tom Murphy, capturing Yellowstone’s natural environment, and an in-progress clay maquette of Yellowstone’s famed wolf 907F by acclaimed sculptor George Bumann, offering a rare glimpse into an artist’s creative process as he captures one of the park’s most iconic animals.
Together, these voices, scientists, artists, and the wolves themselves, invite visitors to step into a multi-sensory experience that bridges art and science, past and future. Through interactive displays, immersive audio, and evocative visual storytelling, The Secret Language of Wolves reveals a world alive with sound, meaning, and connection.
The Secret Language of Wolves opened with a reception on Sunday, December 1 at 5:30 PM at the Yellowstone Gateway Museum in Livingston, Montana. The event is free and open to the public. Museum location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/dJJ87xsAP8XwvCvq9
Hover over the below image to reveal who was talking
Jeffrey Reed is a computational linguist and software engineer turned conservationist, he’s decoding the secrets of animal communication, from wolf howls to chickadee alarms, using AI-driven technology built deep in the mountains of Montana...his birthplace. Jeff's latest venture Grizzly Systems (grizcam.com) is reimagining how to protect and promote the world's last wild places. Jeff started The Cry Wolf Project, a large-scale bioacoustics study in the Greater Yellowstone area. Active in conservation, he co-founded Wild Livelihoods Business Coalition and works to protect wild soundscapes and share them with others.