grizzer – Mar 16, 2009 12:00 AM

The Lakehead University Mammology class was in Ely this past weekend to learn about wolf behavior, and assist Center operations with some key late night observations of the pack. As a stimulus for behavioral interactions, a turkey and a ham were fed to the pack on Friday night, in advance of their Saturday night feeding. The wolves were expecting more, and were somewhat excited about the limited amount of food that in their mind, should have been over 100 lbs of dinner. This created some tension and of course, Malik and Grizzer had a bit of a dominance issue. Grizzer sustained a bite to the cheek, and Malik had a swollen eye. The curator checked them out, and they were both fine, but a dose of anti-inflammatory was delivered to reduce any pain. When Grizzer was inspected during wolf care on Saturday morning, he was very tolerant of a physical inspection, and presented himself to wolf care staff several times. Thanks to the Thunder Bay group for observing and we hope it was a worthwhile experience sharing a night with the pack.