shadow – Feb 13, 2002 12:00 AM

Part II discussion… All of this interaction is natural wolf behavior. In the wild, wolves need to cooperate, work together in a pack to hunt efficiently. If there wasn't a clear order of who is in charge (rank order), chances are they would be less successful in hunting prey and would ultimately not survive. So this rank order behavior in captivity has a strong instinct motivated by survival in the wild. Wolves don't act in the same terms as human emotion, fairness or kindness are terms relative to humans. Wolves are motivated by instinct and behavioral traits, some are born alphas, and some are born omegas. The pack dynamics that occurs is not stagnant. If one of the yearlings becomes vulnerable, they may loose rank, it is difficult to predict and is subject to change. The wolves physical and psychological care is the top priority for the International Wolf Center and we hope visitor's to the Center learn a greater understanding of wild wolf behavior from the lessons of Lakota, Mackenzie, Lucas, Shadow and Malik. We don't view Shadow and Malik as unkind; they are merely acting like wolves, the same way that we didn't view Lakota as unkind when she was going after Mackenzie. I know it is difficult to view this from the wolves' perspectives rather than humans but these pack members are the ambassador's to the wild wolves and they are showing us a glimpse of wild wolf behavior.