Aidan has had a great week. We finished the major construction issues and the summer wolf care staff is done for the season, which means less traffic in the wolf yard. Aidan continues to be very excited and social to see Oscar, who can now freely romp in the wolf yard with protective fence keeping him from putting a nose or paw through the chainlink fence. As was reported in early July, Aidan had lost some weight and was down to 120 lbs. During the last Planning for Pups program, we were happy to report he has gained weight and now weighs 127 lbs (of course, he did still have a full belly from feeding).
Denali seems more interested in Oscar this week and Oscar has been responding with some growls and barks over the interest. It seems that Denali's body language is a bit more aggressive than Aidan's. Oscar can be standing with Aidan socially engaged and tail wagging and as soon as Denali comes over, his attitude changes. Body language is the key to understanding behavior and Oscar is much better at reading it than humans. In this week's photo, there are two opposing behaviors displayed. Aidan is doing a stand-over Denali as a show of dominance and Denali is trying to do a chin rest as a show of dominance. Denali weighed in at 124 lbs.
The summer is nearing an end, and the cooler weather is a welcome relief for wolves. The logs are all the same today, As I write there is an approaching thunderstorm and I don't have much time. Aidan continues to show relaxed behavior coming in and out of the medical pen. Denali's increased interest in Oscar makes Oscar a bit nervous, but they are getting along well. Grizzer is very relaxed, and when Oscar returns from field trips, he play bows and rolls over at the fence line. Shadow is showing more dominance which is typical of this time of year. Malik is a bit nervous of the change in Shadow, but does respond with the appropriate body postures.
The summer is nearing an end, and the cooler weather is a welcome relief for wolves. The logs are all the same today, As I write there is an approaching thunderstorm and I don't have much time. Aidan continues to show relaxed behavior coming in and out of the medical pen. Denali's increased interest in Oscar makes Oscar a bit nervous, but they are getting along well. Grizzer is very relaxed, and when Oscar returns from field trips, he play bows and rolls over at the fence line. Shadow is showing more dominance which is typical of this time of year. Malik is a bit nervous of the change in Shadow, but does respond with the appropriate body postures.
Aidan is so relaxed these days, it's hard to believe it's the same wolf compared to the stress of the construction days at the beginning of summer. His confidence is reflected in his appetite and his posture as he is observed doing stand over behaviors to Denali. What is most interesting is his continued interest in Oscar. He continually whines at the fence when Oscar approaches and he has been pawing at the medical pen gate to get into holding. What a difference from the months of June and early July when we couldn't get him into holding.
Due to the Planning for Pups weekend, the excessive heat and the ongoing work on Grizzer’s habitat, this week’s logs will contain the same content for each wolf. Aidan was weighed during Planning for Pups and he's lost a few pounds, down to 120 lbs probably due to construction. Denali was weighed and has increased by a pound, up to 125 lbs. The first thing we need to do is introduce the newest member of the wolf care team. Oscar, a collie mix dog, was recently adopted from the Range Regional Animal Rescue facility in Hibbing Minnesota. We decided to look for a dog that could help provide some social stimulus to Grizzer (through the fence, not as a pack mate) as well as serve for a role model for the 2012 pups. Grizzer is very social, rubbing up against the fence when Oscar approaches, of course, Oscar is always on a leash and under direct supervision, Grizzer is still a wolf. We discovered Oscar and his perpetual grin on his website photo stimulated our application for adoption. Aidan is excitedly whining towards Oscar and Oscar has also helped some of Aidan’s anxiety going through the medical pen gates. Shadow and Malik are stimulated as well, allowing staff to liberally coat fly ointment spray on their heads and ears as they watch Oscar. This is a bonus, as they are usually hard to treat. Oscar has a large extended family, with many staff offering to take him for walks and social time with staff off-site, but Oscar’s home is the Center, and each night, he settles into a sleeping bag as staff put on a CD of music, set the air conditioning to 72 degrees and allow him a good night’s sleep in the safety of the wolf lab before he begins another day of playing in the wolf yard. Oscar’s photo is posted on Malik’s site, the arctics were too hot to come out of the shade for a photo this week, so we used a winter photo of Shadow, reminding us of cooler weather and Oscar did a stand in for Malik.
Shadow is really showing his age in this heat. Of all the wolves here, he has the hardest time with hot, humid weather. While I have yet to catch a photo or video of him, we have observed him using an underground den hole adjacent to the pond. We spray water on the front of the enclosure and the den regularly on these hot days as well as run a sprinkler hose, but I don't think he'll feel better until the cool fall weather returns.
We moved the Slate Den cam from the Exhibit Pack into Grizzer's enclosure. I know the housing of the camera lid is giving some distortion, I will fix that on Monday. We see some great social behavior in Grizzer and he is so much more relaxed with the new habitat. He spends a fair amount of time racing between the two enclosures which gets both the Exhibit and Retired packs up and moving. Grizzer weighed in at 119 lbs.
Malik has been using the underground den that Shadow dug, but he seems to be able to handle the heat better than Shadow. Even on one of the hottest days, he was laying on the den. We mist the enclosure several hours a day to dampen the soil and give them a cool place to rest. Malik is still a bit too skittish of the scale, so he doesn't have a weight recorded.
Shadow really enjoys the sprinkler hose. He tries to bite the water at the base of the hose, allows staff to mist his entire body, then he races back to the wooded part of the enclosure and rolls in dirt. This goes on several times a day. The weather calls for a cool down and rain this weekend, just what Shadow needs after a week of 80's and sunny. We were able to weigh Shadow last weekend and he weighed in at 93.5 lbs.
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