Shadow has surprised us all with his tolerance of the construction on Grizzer's habitat. Of all the wolves here to display territorial behavior, Shadow is usually the one to bark howl and posture towards strange people. In the last few days, Shadow has just lounged on the den as the crew comes by with pipes, ladders, generators, motorized post hole diggers and a work crew of 4. When it gets hot, he just moves to the elderberry shrubs and finds a comfortable place to continue his rest. We are very pleased about that, at the age of 11, they don't need more things interrupting their well-deserved rest.
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Grizzer is much better since the fence contractors completed the main fence for his new habitat. Wolf Care staff still have a lot to complete including ground wire, concrete pads at the gates, line rail along the retitred wolf wall and a new den. The area will be ready for his use when we complete the rails, concrete and ground wire. The den will be something that we construct later this summer. He will have access to the current pack holding area which has a protective roof. The nice thing about this design is that if we need to work on the new area, the gate can be closed to keep him in his current space. When we are not working, he can have access to both for a significant amount of new space.
The wolf logs are all the same this week due to the obligations to the Ethology class and an 80 degree heat and humidity spell that requires the curator to be spending time keeping the wolves cool. We had a great Ethology course this week, and the staff at the Center learned some great new techniques for managing anxiety, thanks to some tremendous resources among our program participants. The wolves did extremely well, even allowing for small group tours of Grizzer’s enclosure extension on the last night. Grizzer’s ground wire is in place, the next week will focus on burying the ground wire, completing the concrete pads and laying out the den. Our hope is to move him by July 15th. Shadow and Malik have a significant amount of hair remaining, but we continue to hand pluck the hair on a daily basis. Today is extremely warm and humid, so extra sprinlker time and use of the water hose is critical. Enjoy the 4th of July weekend, and be safe. Someone had asked if the wolves panic due to the fireworks noise, and the answer is no, we do some very positive conditioning as pups to fireworks, and they are very accustom to thunderstorms, showing no negative issues with this noise. Wind on the other hand, makes them nervous.
The wolf logs are all the same this week due to the obligations to the Ethology class and an 80 degree heat and humidity spell that requires the curator to be spending time keeping the wolves cool. We had a great Ethology course this week, and the staff at the Center learned some great new techniques for managing anxiety, thanks to some tremendous resources among our program participants. The wolves did extremely well, even allowing for small group tours of Grizzer’s enclosure extension on the last night. Grizzer’s ground wire is in place, the next week will focus on burying the ground wire, completing the concrete pads and laying out the den. Our hope is to move him by July 15th. Shadow and Malik have a significant amount of hair remaining, but we continue to hand pluck the hair on a daily basis. Today is extremely warm and humid, so extra sprinkler time and use of the water hose is critical. Enjoy the 4th of July weekend, and be safe. Someone had asked if the wolves panic due to the fireworks noise, and the answer is no, we do some very positive conditioning as pups to fireworks, and they are very accustom to thunderstorms, showing no negative issues with this noise. Wind on the other hand, makes them nervous.
The wolf logs are all the same this week due to the obligations to the Ethology class and an 80 degree heat and humidity spell that requires the curator to be spending time keeping the wolves cool. We had a great Ethology course this week, and the staff at the Center learned some great new techniques for managing anxiety, thanks to some tremendous resources among our program participants. The wolves did extremely well, even allowing for small group tours of Grizzer’s enclosure extension on the last night. Grizzer’s ground wire is in place, the next week will focus on burying the ground wire, completing the concrete pads and laying out the den. Our hope is to move him by July 15th. Shadow and Malik have a significant amount of hair remaining, but we continue to hand pluck the hair on a daily basis. Today is extremely warm and humid, so extra sprinkler time and use of the water hose is critical. Enjoy the 4th of July weekend, and be safe. Someone had asked if the wolves panic due to the fireworks noise, and the answer is no, we do some very positive conditioning as pups to fireworks, and they are very accustom to thunderstorms, showing no negative issues with this noise. Wind on the other hand, makes them nervous.
The wolf logs are all the same this week due to the obligations to the Ethology class and an 80 degree heat and humidity spell that requires the curator to be spending time keeping the wolves cool. We had a great Ethology course this week, and the staff at the Center learned some great new techniques for managing anxiety, thanks to some tremendous resources among our program participants. The wolves did extremely well, even allowing for small group tours of Grizzer’s enclosure extension on the last night. Grizzer’s ground wire is in place, the next week will focus on burying the ground wire, completing the concrete pads and laying out the den. Our hope is to move him by July 15th. Shadow and Malik have a significant amount of hair remaining, but we continue to hand pluck the hair on a daily basis. Today is extremely warm and humid, so extra sprinkler time and use of the water hose is critical. Enjoy the 4th of July weekend, and be safe. Someone had asked if the wolves panic due to the fireworks noise, and the answer is no, we do some very positive conditioning as pups to fireworks, and they are very accustom to thunderstorms, showing no negative issues with this noise. Wind on the other hand, makes them nervous.
Aidan is still acting a bit anxious about any enclosure work but as soon as projects are done for the day, he's back on the greeting rock. He's had a noticeable change with some handlers, displaying some anxious grab biting. These handlers are staying out of the enclosure until construction is done to avoid creating a negative situation for both Aidan and the staff.
Denali has no anxiety towards any work, and has really become conditioned not only the bell as a sound condition, but prior to the Enclosure Enrichment program, he waits at the holding pen doors to come into the medical pen. I wish Aidan was that easy, but Aidan continues to show hesitance at the gate and anxiety about people approaching the wolf yard from the driveway.
The pack interactions with Malik have been pretty calm lately, right now the tension is Maya and Aidan, which sets Grizzer to follow Malik, but not too much other than that. Even though Malik is the bottom of the rank order at this time, he is still able to get his fair share of food. There have been times when he feeds right with Denali, not an easy task. Malik still has his moments of testing Grizzer, especially if Shadow is actively dominating Grizzer, but that's a wolf. There's always the instinct to be an opportunist, and that is the best way to describe Malik. One note to all wolf log readers, we are experiencing some difficulty with video editing software. The curator has purchased a new computer and an upgrade of software, but it may not be arriving for a few days. Please be patient, we know the importance of the video, and will solve it before the next YouTube is due on September 1st. In the meantime, a podcast is being produced today, discussing the behavioral observations of the summer Ethology and Pups at One Year participants.
Aidan has a new quirk that the wolf care staff must solve. Well, it's not really a quirk, more like self-preservation, he doesn't want to go into holding with Maya. Of course, we certainly understand, Maya continues to remind Aidan that he's gaining no status as a yearling. We wouldn't mind this situation, if it wasn't for the fact that he is not afraid of the wheelbarrow, and when we feed, he meets staff at the gate and tries to drag the deer away from the viewing windows and public program. Last week, he not only dragged the deer, but the staff and the wheelbarrow as well. Of course, this is a problem we created, someone thought it was cute to let the wolves climb in the wheelbarrow when they were pups. Bad idea, now we will deal with this problem for the near future. At tonight's feeding, the curator stayed in the pack holding area with Aidan and provided him some security, but this is not a long term solution. The curator does not have plans for living in the enclosure.
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