Grizzer – Grinning

Grizzer is doing well, despite some hot humid days and a bit of stability issues during these heat spells, he has a great appetite, has been spending more time with staff and has allowed us to remove most of his undercoat. He’s displaying a behavior called “Grinning” in this post’s photo.   Based on our interpretation of events, Grinning is displayed when wolves are satisfied with circumstances.  What circumstances cause Grizzer to grin?  The mist from the Exhibit Pack is one circumstance.  A full belly of food and a sleeping Luna would be two others that come to mind.  The main issue we are watching is his response to stimuli, both sound and visual.  His hearing seems to be great, but we do seem him struggle with visual distance, especially recognizing individuals at the fence. He recognizes the voices of the wolf care staff and whines to greet them, but if staff come in quiet and don’t vocalize, Grizzer is uncertain of their identity.  Grizzer weighed in at 112 pounds, so we increased his diet a bit.  We want to make sure he enters the winter between 115 – 120 pounds, giving him a buffer for calorie use on those cold winter nights.  Although, Grizzer has been using the heated building on several occasions during recent thunderstorms, so he may be our first retiree to sleep indoors at night.  We do have to be a bit cautious that an indoor, outdoor lifestyle doesn’t reduce his undercoat development, nor impact his social relationships with his pack mate or maybe pack mates depending upon Aidan’s transition.