aidan – Aug 21, 2010 12:00 AM

Despite being the omega, Aidan has a significant amount of tail wagging greetings with Maya. It's always hard to separate the human emotion from the wolf reality, no doubt, as humans, we are always sympathetic to the plight of the underdog. But, the one thing we have learned about working with wolves is that wolves have social rules and a wolf pack has a top and it has a bottom. As wolf care staff, we need to be cognitive of the social rules. If we greet Aidan first out of sympathy, we can create redirected aggression towards Aidan from Maya and sometimes Grizzer. When we enter the enclosure, we greet Maya first, then deal with Denali, which is a whole other set of logs, then if Grizzer chooses to interact, we greet him. By the time this cycle is done and the other wolves move off, Aidan has some quiet time with staff. The best thing we can do for Aidan is keep the wolf yard quiet and avoid too much outside stimulus that gets Maya excited. Calm is best in a wolf yard.