Boltz – Life in the Middle

When the Center transitioned to three age structures in the Exhibit Pack with Aidan and Denali’s introduction in 2008, we did so in hopes of buffering the older wolves from the testing behavior of juveniles.  This worked well and Shadow maintained his pack leadership into 2010 and if it wasn’t for other health issues, he likely would have stayed longer.  Now, in 2017, Boltz is the middleman, providing a layer of dominance between the 2016 pups and Aidan.  In this photo, Boltz shows his teeth to get his point across, but his lack of hackles indicates the encounter is more posturing than it is dominance.  When interpreting wolf behavior, the face, teeth, ears, hackles and response from the other wolves all add to the story.