Luna – A Supportive Dominant Female?

Redirection is a common behavior we see in Luna, often getting into the other wolves’ faces when possessing something, or simply when she appears to be in a dominating mood. Aidan typically deals with a lot of this redirection, but since his reintroduction after the examination, staff have noticed a slight decline in these outbursts. As I type this I can see her blocking Aidan from Denali in a small dominance sequence on our security cameras.

In the past we have seen wolves reinforce another pack member’s status, especially as a dominant wolf. Maya was quite famous for this behavior of dominating other pack members who would test Shadow or Grizzer in the pack. It could be a similar display we’re seeing here with Luna, reinforcing Aidan’s rank as the dominant male. It’s not certain whether this behavior will continue into the winter, or if we are interpreting this behavior correctly. Science has not, and may never be able to see into the minds of animals, we can only interpret the behaviors we see.