Aidan continues to be the focus of Maya, wolf care staff are trying to identify the trigger that creates Maya’s intense dominance. At this point, it appears howling bouts and tension between Malik and Grizzer are situations that can predict dominance for Aidan. At this point, Aidan does effectively run away, uses the den for protection and submits. These are all the right things, then, he seeks out Shadow and the wolf care staff for reassurance. We weighed the wolves this week and Aidan is down to 104.9 lbs from an April weight of 106.7.
Grizzer has some interesting video footage this week. He continues to wrestle with the pups as if he was still a pup himself. He clearly focuses on Aidan for his muzzle bites, and doesn't do much dominance over Denali. He is observed sitting near Malik, with no real focus on Malik, unless Malik does a grab bite, or foreleg stab. Once Malik initiates some type of dominance, Grizzer responds with a direct eye stare. Malik is fortunate that Grizzer is a calm, tolerant wolf.
Maya's dominance over Aidan hasn't calmed much this summer, but we have identified the triggers that make her excited. One is howling, a pack rally leads her to demonstrate her status. Other scenarios that are problematic for Aidan is the excitement of the daily med deliver in a meatball, the excitement of all the wolves jumping at the fence makes Maya redirect. We noticed another scenario that we must be mindful of; If Maya doesn't go into the pack holding area and Aidan does, she waits to dominate him when he comes out. We have this same problem with Malik and Grizzer. Our goal is to get all the pack into holding, so no one wolf is separated out, but Maya continues to be timid about the sliding gates overhead. One bad experience with a gate can cause a lifetime of negative conditioning. One other notable Maya situation is her unusual shed pattern. For whatever reason, she holds on to her undercoat around her neck, making it look like she has ruffles. She also has some residual guard hairs on the tip of her tail that doesn't shed. It makes her look a bit odd, but it makes it easier for observers to identify her.
Written by program participants Jim LeBlanc and Andi Nelson: During the weekend program, Pups at One Year, participants logged behavioral observations of the pack for an extended period of time. Aidan was out of view in the den, perhaps to avoid the persistent dominating behavior from Maya. When released from holding, after enclosure enrichment was done, Aidan was noted to be watchful of Maya’s location. However, this seems to contradict with this week’s video where the two were quite playful… almost as if Maya is “testing him to see if he would be an appropriate replacement for Shadow when he is eventually retired. In anticipation of the future retirement, the program participants also finalized the preparations of the retired pen.
Written by James and Peggy Peregrine: Grizzer continues to weigh the most. The picture shows him enjoying a Cornish game hen as part of an enclosure enrichment program. His recent weight is 123.5 pounds, a gain of 2.3 pounds. On the video clip, you can see that Grizzer continues to enjoy playing with the yearlings. It concludes with Aidan being pinned by Grizzer. Grizzer also continues to chase Malik to maintain his second ranking male status.
Written by Leslie Brown, Ray and Deb Wells: Although there is still occasional tension with Grizzer, Malik continues to be a cohesive pack member. The picture this week shows a relaxed and alert Malik observing the pack from a distance. He has recently been cautious and reluctant about entering the holding pen, and was too nervous to get weighed this week. Wolf care staff will continue to work with him on these issues over the coming weeks.
Written by Jerid Hedberg and Tim Heitter: This week’s photo shows Shadow with H-2 hackles doing a soft muzzle bite on Grizzer. The leg injury sustained earlier doesn’t affect Shadow’s rank as pack leader. He remains a social animal towards all and expresses his dominance towards the yearlings or Grizzer only every now and then. Shadow readily stood on the scale and showed an increase in weight, weighing now over 86 lbs.
Aidan had a full meal during the Sunday night feeding program. He had a rock hard stomach on Monday, found a cache and started eating it, only to let out a low howl of discomfort since his stomach couldn't fit anymore food. The yearlings are certainly making the most of the feeding programs, although you wouldn't know it by looking at them, they are both lean in body structure. It must be all that exercise Aidan gets by wrestling with his litter mate and avoiding Maya.
Malik is interacting well, but there are moments when he continues to test Grizzer, and this is probably causing the tension for Grizzer. Staff are carefully monitoring his interactions to ensure that he still feels comfortable in the pack. Malik is still getting his fair share of feed, and was observed eating on a beaver carcass with Denali. He finally let staff brush his undercoat, and is nearly complete in summer shed. Malik remains too intimidated to stand on the scale.
Written by Maxine and Dane Johnson: Denali continues to be a handful for wolf care staff. This week he has remained a relatively unopposed pup in a big wolf’s body. At his weighing, Denali was more than willing to stand on the scale; perhaps too willing to have himself weighed, and the staff struggled to get any of the other wolves onto the scale. While still playful with Grizzer, we all were able to witness Denali become more of a ranking adult in Grizzer’s eyes, as he was put in his place and pinned repeatedly throughout the weekend. Towards the end of the weekend however, he enjoyed a great treat of marshmallows, peanut butter, kibble, blueberries, ground beef, and leftover pizza. While this is a significant transitional time for both pups, Denali enjoys the benefits of his size and for the moment enjoys a comparatively unchecked life by most of his pack members.
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