Written by Planning for Pups participants Maria Perdziak, Jill Badyrka, and Tom Skorupinski: Although Malik is the third ranking male in the exhibit pack, he is comfortable in his environment. This is evident in the relaxed posture in the sphinx pose with ears pricked forward. Overall he demonstrates confidence even with Grizzer stalking him and mantains a high tail posture.
Written by Planning for Pups participants Marilyn Masters and Jen Ell: Shadow and Grizzer sharing a comfortable rest on the hill. Although Shadow is still being tested by Grizzer for dominance, there is still cohesiveness within the pack. You can tell by the ears pricked forward that they are self assured and not anxious. The ear position of wolves is one way they communicate with each other. Ears forward shows self self-assurance and as the ears go back, it shows more fear, threat, and submissiveness. Shadow still holds the dominant position in the pack. He showed it this weekend by being the wolf to start howls and showing dominance displays over the other wolves.
Due to some malfunctioning video cameras, we only have video footage for Grizzer, Malik and Shadow. All the other wolves are doing well, but our Digital Video camera is not. We hope to get the necessary repairs or a replacement by next week. Grizzer has taken to the new feeding protocol of twice a week feedings. He’s been the first to guard food, and you will see him carrying a still frozen beaver in his video, and actually guarding it from Shadow in Shadow’s video clips. The pack behavior has been very calm lately, even with temperatures cooling off.
In this week’s image, you will see Lakota’s incision, with stitches still visible. She has had a great recovery, with no weeping of the surgery site, no scratching of the stitches and very little post-surgical swelling. She is as active as ever and both she and MacKenzie have great appetites as the fall weather settles in. The stitches are dissolvable, so they will likely start to dissolve after 10 – 12 days.
One of the concerns when working with wolves is the issue of separation from the pack being perceived as a dispersal from the pack. Some facilities have observed problems when a pack member is absent, even for the shortest of veterinary checks, and the rest of the pack doesn’t accept it back. We had a bit of concern about Lakota’s surgery, but we were cautious and kept Lakota in the adjacent vestibule in the Retired Pack so MacKenzie was able to see her. MacKenzie was amazingly tolerant, and lay several feet from the gate until Lakota was returned later to the enclosure. There has been no sign of investigation of Lakota’s stitches, and no dominance between the sisters.
There’s not much to report for Malik’s log, the second feeding in the pack has given him a chance to gain some extra food. He’s been very agile, with many bouts of running across the logs. He remains cautious about Grizzer, but with Grizzer having a fuller than usual stomach, there aren’t too many chase scenes going on. Malik’s video show him eating on of the Wednesday snacks, a front deer leg from a recent roadkill.
Maya is still spending more time alone, exploring the exhibit than the face-off behavior of the males. She doesn’t appear timid, just not interested in the male dominance hierarchy. The addition of the pups next spring will likely see the most dramatic effect on Maya. One interesting note this week, after feeding 2 beaver and a deer leg that went to Grizzer, Malik and Maya, the staff wanted to make sure that Shadow received his fair share. So, Grizzer and Malik were locked into holding, and a fresh deer leg was placed under the fence. Shadow took off with it, but willingly gave Maya the leg when she approached. She does seem to have a way of getting whatever she wants from Shadow.
With the more frequent feedings, smaller portions of food are required. Fortunately, people are cleaning out their freezers before deer season and donating some freezer burned meat to the Center. This makes for a nice meal, and a good size to cache in the enclosure.
MacKenzie is doing well, she has had many more interactions with Lakota in the past month than she had in the earlier part of the winter. This is usually an indication of how a wolf is physically doing, if they seek social contact, they seem to be feeling well.
There was some tension in the pack last week as a load of rocks was delivered for the pond project, and the activity in the wolf yard created some anxiety in the holding pen. A few days later, when the wolves were in holding for some minor routine maintenance to the Exhibit, Grizzer came out of holding extremely agitated and started to redirect to Malik. This created a cascading effect as Malik tested Shadow, and Grizzer attempted to pin Shadow. Eventually, the focus returned to Malik. It is critical that all actions around the enclosure be as calm as possible. As the projects for the fall and spring are planned, this will be our top priority.
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.