Grizzer – Howling in the Night

Since the loss of Shadow, we have been experiencing less howling within the social groups.  Recently, Grizzer has been observed by webcam viewers howling in the late evening. Someone had recently asked about Grizzer’s right eye.  It is slightly misshapen and doesn’t have the same blink reflex as his left eye.  This was the result of some dominance issues between Grizzer and Denali starting in the winter of 2010, and eventually lead to Grizzer’s retirement in March, 2011.  His antagonistic behavior towards Denali resulted in some threat displays from Denali, and with Denali’s added height, lead to some head scrapes on Grizzer.   Grizzer received several sutures to the top of his head and by the last incident, it appears that there may have been some nerve damage.  He shows no pain response, but seems to have limited blink response in his right eye.  His 3rd eye lid, called the Nictitating membrane, does blink, but not at the same rate as his upper eyelid.  This is hard to see during the daylight, but can be viewed by our night vision camera.  When his 3rd eyelid blinks, the tapetum lucidum (a layer of tissue in the eye that reflects light) shows his blink response, slower than his left, but still present.