denali – Apr 29, 2011 12:00 AM

Personalities can vary and Denali is proof of that. Aidan is much more stoic and doesn't often let loose and race around the enclosure. Denali, on the other hand, seems easily bored and needs distractions. We did receive a comment on one of the Youtube posting that suggested that we couldn't analyze captive behavior because they were captive and prone to boredom. No doubt, that's a challenge for captive managers to provide a stimulating environment, but the behavior I see in Denali is similar to behaviors I observed in video footage of young adults in Yellowstone. When I teach Ethology, I require students to observe wild wolf footage first before observing captive footage. The reason is to provide a good background to the functional nature of that behavior, but this exercise also reveals similarities in captivity that indicate instinctual behavior. Captive wolves do display wolf behavior, and I hope people respect captive wolves and learn from their behavioral observations as ambassadors for wild wolves.