Wildlife is the second studio album by American post-hardcore band La Dispute, released October 4, 2011, on independent label No Sleep Records.

The band members took control of all of the production duties alongside the album's recording engineers, Andrew Everding and Joseph Pedulla.

The album features lyrical themes that – while making several references to the band's home town of Grand Rapids – focus on personal loss, anger, despair, and in the vision of the band, is a collection of unpublished "short stories" from a hypothetical author, complete with the author’s notes and sectioned thematically by the use of four monologues.

This time around, because we had a more concrete concept going into it, and because we wanted to work even more as a single unit [...]"[8] Dreyer and the rest of La Dispute had expressed interest in writing a conceptual record, but with ambiguity so it would not limit the listener's experience.

"Oftentimes, I think records with a linear narrative narrow the ways in which a person can enjoy it, and not everyone wants to sit down and listen to something front to back.

"[3] When they returned from their touring in Australia in February 2011 they "dropped off the face of the earth" for two months, during which their writing sessions lasted twelve to fourteen hours a day.

[10] Joe Pedulla stated that he wanted to give the album a more raw and authentic sound: "We were just trying to capture what it would be like for an audience member sitting and listening to a guitar in a room."

"[14] The music on Wildlife, akin to the band's first album, incorporates elements of post-hardcore, screamo, progressive rock and post-rock,[11][20] described as having "bluesy quirks and experimental touches" by Alex Reeves of The 1st Five.

[16] Compared with the first album, Wildlife has melodic tendencies and a more synchronized approach to musicianship and vocals, with fewer unusual time signatures and more emphasis on chord progressions.

"[12] With writer Vladimir Nabokov's works Pale Fire and Lolita being considered as the "biggest external influence" on Wildlife,[23] the album features dark lyrical themes which focus on personal loss and the anger and despair felt from watching one's hometown decay.

[5][14] The four monologues in question project the loss and the struggle of the artist with the introduction 'a Departure', and the three interludes, 'a Letter', 'a Poem' and 'a Broken Jar'.

[25] 'The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit' deals with the hypothetical author's sexuality, by exploring and questioning his inability to participate in casual sex.

[15] 'King Park', a seven-minute ballad,[13] focuses on inner-city gang culture and follows the perspective of an individual who is engrossed by a drive-by shooting; and also follows how the drive by shooter, plagued by guilt, commits suicide.

[26] Dreyer described the true story behind the song: "A year or two ago, down the street from where Brad and I work, a kid was shot.

[34] They promoted the initial release of the album by supporting Thrice's headline tour across the United States in October and November 2011.

[38] The North American leg of the tour started in late March, lasting into June and had support from Balance and Composure, Sainthood Reps, and All Get Out.

These packets included their CD "Conversations", which annotates the lyrical themes in Wildlife in depth, along with rare photos, a poster, postcards and other items.

[19] Daniel Roe, writing for Rockfreaks, acknowledged the album's large stylistic shift from "blistering hardcore punk inspired" musicianship towards simpler chord progressions.

Alex Andrews of Thrash Hits gave the album a four out of six rating, saying: "The flipside of Dreyer's imposing presence is that it can be all too easy to let the rest of the band fade into the background.

[50] Rock Sound placed the album at 19 out of their top 50, stating "some bands ask for you attention, on Wildlife La Dispute demand it.

[50] All tracks are written by Jordan Dreyer, Brad Vander Lugt, Chad Sterenberg, Kevin Whittemore and Adam VassNotes La Dispute Additional liner notes