Ernest Thompson Seton was born in England and moved with his family to Canada in 1866. As a young man, he became intrigued with the wild animals that lived in the woods outside his home. In 1882 he began systematic studies of animals while homesteading in Manitoba. An important part of his work was to draw and paint the animals he observed.
During his subsequent career as a naturalist, Seton wrote and illustrated hundreds of scholarly and popular articles, stories, and more than forty books about wild animals. The books include Wild Animals I Have Known (1898), Animal Heroes (1905), The Biography of a Silver Fox (1909), Life Histories of Northern Animals (1909), Wild Animals at Home (1913), and Lives of Game Animals (1925-1928).
Over the years, Americans have gained a greater understanding of wild animals through reading Seton’s work.