maya – Nov 9, 2009 12:00 AM

We would like to clarify that Maya isn't doing anything wrong when she dominates Aidan, she's just doing what a dominant wolf does. It's important that people learn about wolves, and appreciate wolves from a wolves perspective and not a human perspective. In the wild, females control the dominance rank order of the other females, and this dominance serves as population control keeping lower ranking females from breeding. When an instinct has such a strong connection to survival, it's difficult to calm in a captive situation. Staff may feel sympathetic to Aidan's tension from Maya, but it's important to understand Maya's behavior.