Aidan and Denali have yet to show respect for each other’s cache. If Denali caches food, Aidan quickly digs it up and runs with it, causing Denali to chase him. That may have been the motivation all along. Aidan has developed a bit of an allergy to the high volumes of pollen produced during this wet summer. His eyes are cleaned daily, and we hope this clears up when fall arrives and cooler weather prevails. To get the pups more actively feeding on deer carcasses, we are leaving a deer leg with the pups each evening, weighing the pre and post leg, the pups usually consume a pound or two of meat each night. In the video clips today, you will see Aidan actively consuming the venison.
You may have noticed that we are experiencing some technical difficulty with the webcams. We hope to have them repaired this week. We appreciate your patience and support for the Ambassador wolves at the Center. The Nanny Application deadline has passed. Now we will begin to coordinate teams and make selections. We plan to have the award letters mailed by February 15th. The wolves are doing well, and have fared the recent cold snap without issues.
As the lowest ranking male, Malik is not as likely to start social interactions or play bouts, as Grizzer may get excited and focus on him. But, if the other wolves start interactions, he’s sure to be looking for an opportunity to join in. In his video this week, you will start to see higher tail responses in than in previous weeks, a sign that the dominance rank order issues of winter are calming. He’s usually around when Shadow dominates Grizzer, which can cause a bit of tension between Malik and Shadow. This is classic wolf behavior, and certainly these social pack members are very adept at communicating the importance of rank order through facial expressions, ear postures and vocalizations.
Maya as the sole female, demonstrates all the classic dominant female traits. One that is common on the Exhibit is her marking behavior, or Modified Raised Leg Urination or MRLU. In the wild, this behavior can be observed with a dominant pair of wolves marking their territory. A dominant male will RLU, with the female marking below the male with a MRLU. If a lone wolf enters the edge of the territory, the paired scent mark of both male and female mean that the territory is occupied. In captivity, there isn’t as much purpose to marking territory, but Maya marks food caches, and food in general.
The bond between the littermates is strong. We see it with Grizzer and Maya, and we see it with Shadow and Malik. One behavior that we ask of observers is related to the position of how the wolves are sleeping. Where a wolf chooses to sleep and proximity to another wolf can tell us a great deal about social cohesiveness. Shadow tends to sleep on top of the den, although Grizzer and Maya do get their fair share of time on this prime spot. Malik will often be found lying near Shadow, but all of the pack seems to be found sleeping near Shadow at varying times of the day. We do note that if there’s a howling in the pack, Shadow is most often at the highest vantage point during the howl, whether that is on one of the rocks or on the den site. This week’s video for Shadow demonstrates this behavior.
Lakota and MacKenzie had two treats in honor of their 15th birthday. On Monday, April 28th, the actual day that we celebrate as their birthday, they shared a bag of dried cranberries. Wolves have a bit of a sweet tooth, even in the wild; you can occasional blueberries in wolf scat. We don’t make a habit of this because we did have an issue a few years ago when Lakota over indulged on raspberries that she picked on the edge of the enclosure, but it is a good treat. The second treat came in the form of a roasting hen that they received as their mid-week meal. What a difference a few days can make, the photo of Lakota digging in the snow for berries was a Monday photo, the photo of MacKenzie carrying the chicken in a nearly snow free enclosure was a Wednesday photo.
Malik did extremely well during the medical exam on May 2, 2008, and fared well when Grizzer re-entered the enclosure. It is critical that any separations be kept to a minimum, as rank order can be affected. The drugs used during the medical exam are fully reversible, which allows the wolves to return to full physical and behavioral function within minutes. The normal procedure after a medical exam allows for the dominant wolf to be reversed first and returned to the enclosure. Then, we often return the lowest ranking wolf, so they are not entering the enclosure with the whole pack already in place. The last to go into the enclosure is the middle ranking wolf, in our case, Grizzer. There is a fine line between holding Grizzer off, and giving Malik time to regain his stability, and Grizzer building frustration because he is in holding, then redirecting to Malik. For us, this was about 5 minutes, when Grizzer was returned; he chased Malik around the pond and over the log, but didn’t follow through with much more. If he would have been held much longer, he would have likely become more frustrated.
As you may already know, the pups arrived on site at 2 am on Saturday morning, May 10th. When the temperatures warmed a bit, wolf care staff, assisted by VCC student, Kristen Flowers took the pups outside to meet the adults. Grizzer was excited to see the pups, and while no wolf regurgitated for the pups, they did have a period of intent licking and sniffing. Grizzer's heightened investigation made Pup # 1 howl.
It is amazing how pups change during this time termed the Transition period, before their hearing is fully developed. Noteable behaviors and physical developments that occurred today include: Ears standing erect for short periods of time, awareness of gate noise and human voices, pups very alert to the howling of the Exhibit Pack, growling and barking in their sleep, and teething, as the upper incisor teeth emerged early this morning. Wolf Pup # 2 has been demonstrating dominance behavior towards Pup # 1, not unusual for a smaller pup to compensate for size by being more physical. He is also responding to external stimuli and noises. After the morning feeding and the morning visit with the Exhibit Pack, he fell asleep, only to have his dream state growling and barking jolt him awake. He ran to the wolf care staff for comfort, a good sign that the intensive time for socialization is working.
Maya is very interested in the pups and whines with intensity when they are in view. The pups are responding to her the most, with Red Paw doing a full tail wag when he's next to the fence. Maya continues to show pair bonding behavior with Shadow, as her photo shows her face to face greeting. Both Shadow and Maya are sleeping near the lab door, and are quick to respond to any distress calls from the pups.
The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future.