Grayson- A Cool Rock

There have been several improvements in the Exhibit Pack thanks to a generous donation from an incredibly generous young woman, Anika Hahn.  Anika chose to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah by inviting friends and family to make gifts in her honor to the International Wolf Center. To read more about Anika’s commitment to wolf education, check out the Fall 2016 Issue archived on our website https://wolf.org/wolf-info/wolf-magazine/fall-2016/.  This week’s photo shows Grayson enjoying the benefits of a rocks in the pond to climb in and out of the water and find a cool resting spot on a summer day.  This is just one of the many projects funding by Anika.  Other projects include new shade trees, rocks in the pond to allow the wolves an opportunity to climb in and out of the water, a new pump housing to protect the electrical pumps and filters needed to run the pond and a new UV filter system to reduce algae growth.  It has been a busy spring getting all of these pieces in place and the improvements to the Exhibit have been a tremendous improvement for the wolves. 

In the last month, we have noticed a significant change in Grayson’s confidence, which is a change from the observations over the winter.  He has been observed doing chin rests, stand overs and ride up’s on not only Axel, but Denali as well. 

He also have had a good growth spurt in the last month.  Here are the weights in the last few months:

Date                      Age                        Weight                 Weight Gain

4/1/17                   11 months           82.6 lbs                 3.8 lbs

5/2/17                   12 months          83.8 lbs                 1.2 lbs

6/2/17                   13 months           91.8 lbs                 8.0 lbs

To watch how the yearlings are fitting into the social rank, we rely on behavioral observations independent of the regular wolf care schedule.  Recently, the Vermilion Community College Ethology class completed 100 hours of observation on the Exhibit Pack and had the following assessment on Grayson:

“Of the adult wolves, he seemed to be most comfortable and confidant with pack leader, Aidan, especially when feeding. Grayson generally tends to avoid confrontation, however on occasion instigates/participates in dominance/submission sequences. He seems to enjoy the advantage of height, on more than one occasion walking atop the rocks near the left fence line. In one such scenario, Boltz and Axel both approached him; Axel grabbing his tail and Boltz his scruff as they pulled Grayson down from his advantageous position on the rocks. Just one of several dominance displays exerted over Grayson throughout our observations.”