Someone recently asked me if I had a favorite wolf. Certainly some people may think it's hard not to think of some individuals with a greater concern because of their individual needs, but the reality is, every wolf is different and they all have some unique characteristic to make them special. So, I thought I would dedicate this week's wolf logs to those unique characteristics. Malik's characteristic is being an opportunist. Yes, all wolves are described as opportunistic predators, but Malik seems to excel. His behaviors are not just restricted to interactions with Shadow, but wolf care staff have to be on guard around Malik even though he will be 13 years old in a few months.
Someone recently asked me if I had a favorite wolf. Certainly some people may think it's hard not to think of some individuals with a greater concern because of their individual needs, but the reality is, every wolf is different and they all have some unique characteristic to make them special. So, I thought I would dedicate this week's wolf logs to those unique characteristics. It's hard to describe Shadow without using an anthropomorphic term, but Loyal comes to mind. When he was a pack leader, his bonds were strong and the pack looked to him for every interaction. He would frequently place himself between the pack and any perceived threat. He led the Exhibit Pack for 8 years, and even in Retirement, he leads the howls and the other wolves listen. His loyalty does include staff, Shadow has his favorite staff and his attitude definitely shows when they're in the enclosure.
Grizzer has become more animated in his actions with staff. His submissive roll overs to staff seem to predictably turn into a chase around the enclosure. But, while his staff interactions increase in social nature, we have noticed an increasing shyness towards strangers. We keep the wolf yard very protective to avoid disturbing the older animals who need their rest, but last summer we had months of activity as the pups were exploring the outdoor world. This may have impacted Grizzer more than we originally thought. We'll be working on this as we prepare for the spring Working for Wolves programs, summer Pups at One Year and Ethology programs.
Luna has clearly established herself as a high ranking pack member. It's easy to be the dominant female when she's the only female. Our observations show that she's looking for opportunities within the male rank order and shows no inhibition to dominant Denali. Fortunately for Luna she has some back up in Aidan, but there are times when she's defiant to Aidan as well. We always wonder about nature versus nurture issues with our captive wolves. We see such varying personalities, no two wolves are alike despite similar socialization experiences. But, in Luna's case, we know she had a different socialization experience due to her medical condition and the need to protect her from injuries. Did we create this dominant personality or is this her nature. We can only observe, interpret and create a calm wolf yard that doesn't create undue stress and redirection.
We haven't had a lot of extra resources to provide the retired pack with a full deer carcass in a while (don't worry, we have plenty of meat for them, just not the fun of tugging on a deer), so we decided to let them have a deer torso on Saturday night. Malik who tends to be more food dominant really seemed to enjoy this treat and the extra volume of food left enough for both wolves to satiate themselves. By Monday, they consumed the 50 lb torso including the vertebrae. There's some good video footage on Youtube this week of Malik gnawing on the vertebrae with no trouble. As a reminder ,this is the wolf that had an infected premolar removed a few years ago, even though these two will be 13 years of age in May, they have great teeth.
Denali has had less dominance lately, possibly a result of Aidan's increasing social behavior. This late spring cold has had an impact on the wolves behavior including an increased appetite. Of course, eating is one of Denali's favorite things to do, so we have increased the amount of food and just did a mid-week beaver feeding for all.
Only days after I posted the notice that I thought Aidan's Discoid Lupus had cleared up, did we notice a small pink spot on his nose. We've also been observing some reserved behavior and irritability from Aidan. Some of it is understandable, Luna jumps on Aidan every chance she gets, but there seems to be more to it. We will activate a treatment for his condition if we see continued advancement of pigmentation loss.
Boltz and Aidan continue to show some really strong behavioral patterns. In this week's Youtube, while Luna is doing some intense grab bites to Aidan's neck, Boltz does some inhibited bites with less intensity than he did a few months prior. This could be a calming of the hormones or a response to some increased social behavior that's occurred in the last few months.
Luna's been very active this week, but lower temperatures have influenced her appetite and one thing we find with Luna, when she's hungry, she's a bit dominant. It's in the best interest of all the wolves that Luna is full. When the snow was melting and the ground was bare, she was extremely active, but now the return to cold and snow make her a bit stiff.
Someone recently asked me if I had a favorite wolf. Certainly some people may think it's hard not to think of some individuals with a greater concern because of their individual needs, but the reality is, every wolf is different and they all have some unique characteristic to make them special. So, I thought I would dedicate this week's wolf logs to those unique characteristics. Aidan had a tough start as an Exhibit Pack member, Maya was an active dominant female who, in the absence of another female, seemed to focus on Aidan. There were times in his life where his movement was restricted to certain portions of the enclosure, and any indication that he strayed would result in an active pin to the ground. As a yearling, his first set of guard hairs were thin, possibly due to stress, but maybe due to the fact that Maya rolled him into a submissive posture more than any of the other wolves combined. He had scrapes on the back of the legs from being a half step to slow for Maya's stealth interactions. He accepted it as a lower ranking pack member and later began pair bonding with Maya. Now, he leads this pack and his change in status has revealed a calmer, more socially interactive dominant male.
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