Denali has started to take more of an interest in Oscar. He is frequently at the edge of the fence whining when Oscar is in the wolf yard. We completed the protective panels for Oscar (and eventually the wolf pups). These panels are framed in cedar and hold very small mesh hardware cloth that prevents a nose or a paw from coming in contact with a wolves mouth. Oscar had a few bouts of aggressive growling towards the wolves, but it was after some excited play with other dogs and once he calmed down, he was back to his same calm, happy go lucky dog behavior.
Archives
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.
To say that Shadow is still a pack leader is an understatement. He has command of everything on site. He can chin rest on Malik and send a message of dominance. One stare through the gate at Grizzer and Grizzer will back off. Shadow howls to Aidan and Denali and they stop whatever activity they have started. Shadow even controls the wolf care staff, a growl through the fence and he gets his meds delivered in a different method. The only one he's not controlling is Oscar. Due to Malik's overt aggression towards Oscar, Oscar is restricted from going past the pack holding area. It is too bad, I think Shadow would enjoy Oscar visits.
Malik (actually Grizzer did as well) had an interesting response last week that proves the point that associative learning is very important with wolves. One of the volunteers that helped move rocks in Grizzer's new habitat was on site with a group last week. Malik immediately picked up on the voice of that individual and visually identified him in a crowd of 24 people showing intense anxiety towards his presence. Initially we thought it was the large group as Behind the Scenes opportunities are very rare for the Retired Exhibit, but as we watched Malik, he was completely focused on this individual. The presence of this individual who was associated with the construction activity brought back a lot of anxiety for Malik, but 5 minutes after he left, all was calm again.
Aidan continues to be a bit of a challenge for some of our staff. With certain individuals, he is completely relaxed, for others, the construction seemed to have triggered some negative conditioning and he has shown some aggressive behavior to a few individuals. Socialized wolves can be far more dangerous than wolves who have not been bottle fed and handled at a young age. We will keep analyzing this situation and trying to determine the best course of action to help him gain trust of some staff. This is the reason why we don't have an open access policy to the wolf enclosures and why it is very rare that people join wolf care. Aidan also helped identify a leak in the concrete pond. This will be on the list of things to do for the Fall Working for Wolves… for those of you registered, the list is growing daily.
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.
While we don't have video as proof, we do have an observation of Shadow using his underground den. If you recall. last fall he began digging a den next to the pond and he hit some large tree roots. We removed some of those roots, winter arrived and we never gave the den another thought. During the recent heat spell, Shadow must have been motivated to get cool and worked around the obstacles to make this den fit an adult wolf. His choice to go underground was a good one, he has very few fly bites compared to Malik.
Grizzer is using his new enclosure, especially the den top. He likes high vantage points to watch activities and this den is perfect for that purpose. He has done much better with activity in the wolf yard that used to stress him out, now, when there's too much going on, he just heads to the new enclosure and finds a secluded place to rest. One of the staff had some experience using cinnamon in healing wounds on horses, and we may try this with Grizzer to encourage the last growth of tissue and hair follicles. We continue lanolin on the wound, but the downside is that we're getting more sticky lanolin in his hair. He does let us comb it out, but before we get to cleaning him up, his appearance is a bit rough.
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 International Wolf Center uses science-based education to teach and inspire the world about wolves, their ecology, and the wolf-human relationship.