aidan – May 21, 2008 12:00 AM

Attila is 24 days old today. Attila is back on the path of weight gain. His growth rate slowed after a bout of teething and some preference issues with the bottle and bottle feeders. At this point, only wolf care staff are feeding Attila until we see a significant change in his attitude toward the bottle. Another notable behavior is the pups are showing some very strong associative bonds with the human handlers. In the first week of their care, they were inclined to retreat to the corners of the enclosure or burrow deep in one of the many comfortable sleeping pads in the enclosure. On the night shift last night, it was the first night that both pups stayed with the handlers the whole night. The socialization process is critical for wolf care staff to handle adult wolves, while we still have fear avoidance issues with strangers, crowds and loud noises; the bond is being established with those people who will care for the wolves the rest of their lives. Attila is very exploratory in personality, investigating the enclosure and jaw sparring with Red Paw when the opportunity arises. The pup’s premolars are irrupting and causing some teething pain. Both upper and lower canines have erupted, but are still too small for the calipers to measure. For the first time, staff have recorded grooming behavior. The audio clip represents more sounds of pups dreaming.