aidan – Dec 22, 2008 12:00 AM

Aidan continues to be a challenge with one of the handlers. There appears to have been some negative conditioning when Aidan was about 4 weeks old that causes him to be particularly aggressive with one of the handlers. Wolves have a very strong place and person association that is difficult to overcome. He remains the calmer of the two pups with other staff and is doing well. Maya's dominance over Aidan continues, but is not as intense as earlier in the fall. If wolf care staff keep the pack calm, there is a noticeable difference in Maya. This is why the winter season is very restrictive on Behind the Scenes program or visitors to the wolf yard. As you can see by video, the pups continue to wrestle on a daily basis. To stimulate the pack, we did two enclosure enrichments last week, one was scent based that resulted in scent rolling behavior, the other was food based that stimulated the wolves to search and find treats. A YouTube video showing both enclosure enrichment activities will be posted.