Luna – Shedding a White Undercoat

Luna is a black color phase of the gray wolf, but her undercoat is nearly pure white.  Wolves shed this dense undercoat during the summer season, leaving the sleek permanent guard hairs as their main summer pelage.  Luna seeks out sunny places to rest, but the dark coloration of her guard hairs absorbs a lot of heat.  To find some relief, Luna will rest in the cool vegetation until the middle of the day, then she tends to find an underground resting spot.  Behaviorally, Luna’s been a bit less dominant, lately which could be the cyclical influence of prolactin hormone or the fact that she’s finally maturing.  A recent observation on an overnight session captured a display of Luna dominance over Aidan.  Initially, it appeared that Aidan and Luna were pairbonding, walking side by side.  But, a closer observation noted that Luna was doing a chin rest over Aidan while she was walking.  Chin rests are definitely a sign of dominance.  Let’s just say that Aidan didn’t appear too impressed with the behavior and the “pairbonding stroll” only lasted about 20 feet.