Written by Kristin Radermacher, submitted by Kate O'Meara Aidan 22.6lbs Aidan may be a finicky eater when it comes to gruel, but he’s not picky about bugs. Today he stalked and at a moth. Turning dinnertime into a game improves his appetite as well – he pounced on and ate the chicken that was pushed through the hole in the corner of the cardboard box. During the 1:00 pup program he slept the entire time except when a hawk flew overhead; then his attention was on the hawk the entire time. At the 11:00 pup program Aidan was munching on a deer leg while Denali had a beaver tail. After a few minutes, Aidan decided he wanted the beaver tail instead, so he went over to his brother to grab it. They tussled and growled, but Denali eventually won the battle of the beaver tail and Aidan went back to his deer leg. Added by Kristin Radermacher; This afternoon after the last pup program we took the pups out to the pup pen. Aidan found a deer leg and was seen scent rolling on it. He then dug up the pinecone that Denali had cached.
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Written by Kristin Radermacher, submitted by Kate O'Meara Denali 26lbs This morning the adult wolves were howling, and the pups answered from the pup lab with their own loud howls. Later, when they were out in the pup yard, they paced back and forth wagging their tails as the adult wolves came up to the fence. Maya and Grizzer both whined at the pups. After a few minutes the pups found shady spots to lay down and watch the adults. Back in the lab Denali spent most of the morning sleeping until right before the 11:00 pups program when he stood over Aiden. Aside from a brief skirmish with his brother during the program, he kept himself entertained with a beaver tail. After the program during the heat of midday, he spent his time napping in the wolf pup lab. Added by Kristin Radermacher; This afternoon after the last pup program we took the pups out to the pup pen. Denali found and cached a pinecone and then a stick. He spent a bit of time in the new "pool" in the pup yard.
Written by Nanny Team Members Bridget Lyons & Cathy Jents: Last night Denali attacked and killed his first moose……ok, stuffed moose! In the wolf lab, he spotted the defenseless animal on the other side of the pup pen. He immediately ran over to and attacked the large stuffed moose. He grabbed onto the shoulder with his mighty pup canines and shook his prey with a great head shake. The moose got away and he again lunged at the moose and sunk his canines into his stuffing and took the moose down. Suddenly, Aidan heard the commotion and helped his brother finish the deal. The two brothers continued with bites and head shakes until their prey was conquered. After this long encounter, the exhausted pups curled up and took a long nap.
Weights are a bit subjective, as Aidan is very energetic and difficult to weigh. These are post feeding weights and considering that the pups are eating nearly a pound a food at the morning meal, they may appear that they have large increases, when in fact, they are probably gaining more like .2 – .4 lbs a day. The scale reads to the nearest .2 lb, so it may appear that Aidan doesn't gain weight, but he may be only gaining a .1 lb in a day. Other days, he has some significant growth.
Yes, we have weights on all the adults. Curator, Lori Schmidt and Pup Care Staff, Joyce Riveroll purchased a large floor scale and are now able to weigh all the adults. We will continue to monitor weight on a monthly basis. The Exhibit Pack has a weekly enclosure enrichment program, that is a bit different than last year. Last year, we would lock the wolves off in the pack holding area and hide bacon or other meat products in the rocks. This year, the pups are in the pack holding area, so the wolves aren't draw off the Exhibit. Therefore, we can't walk into the enclosure with bacon in our hands. So, we are floating ice cubes with venison brats in the pond, and stocking the pond with minnows to help control the algae. Grizzer dives for the ice cubes, and looks for the minnows, but he also searches the rocks where we put food items last year, even though we haven't done that since last August.
Malik weighed in at 88 lbs, 1.5 lbs lighter than the last time he was weighed, which was 2005. This is still a very healthy weight. Malik has been doing some very unusual behavior in the last few days. For the first in our observations, he started a bark howl, and startled the pups. When Shadow bark howls, the pups seem to take it in stride, but when Malik did, it caught everyone off guard. The anxious behavior resulted in Grizzer doing some chase and following behavior of Malik.
During Friday’s wolf care, Malik was growling trying to dominate Grizzer. Shadow immediately body blocked Malik, with full hackles and growls. To some people, Shadow’ behavior was that of protecting Grizzer. The reality is that he was protecting his own rank as the pack’s leader. If a lower ranking wolf starts gaining rank order by means of dominating the second ranking wolf, that might give him the confidence to attempt challenging the dominant male. Shadow’s behavior prevents Malik from escalating in the rank, and a possible challenging him. Shadow is a very confident wolf and a confident pack leader. He still shows strong sings of ownership of the pups over the other wolves.
Written by Weekend Nanny Cindy Ludwig and Debbie Shepard: Aidan flipped his crate mat over. He immediately began digging on the nylon side. He became fascinated with the sound and feel of his digging. Soon Denali joined in and both wolves continued with this behavior for approximately 20 minutes. Aidan remains obsessed with shoelaces. When he grabs shoelaces he does not want to let go.
Maya didn't come into holding to meet the pups, her anxiety over the gates was stronger than her will to interact with the pups. She whined at the gate, came part way into the enclosure, but we didn't want to close the door on her, adding to the negative conditioning she currently faces. It is critical that all interactions with wolves and facilities remains positive, wolves association with negative events and people are well-documented. Once the pups were out, she continued to whine submissively at them and followed them throughout the enclosure, but Shadow is clearly the dominant wolf that seeks out the pups and is protecting them.
With all the activity of the morning, the pups were not weighed today, but will be weighed on Tuesday. From now on, they will get weighed every Monday during wolf care. The following log was written by Behavioral Observation team member: Awen Briem. <br> Aidan and Denali were introduced into the main enclosure with the ambassador today. Upon entering the main enclosure, the pups ran with the pack into the woods. Aidan and Denali immediately seemed more focused on their fellow pack members than on human interaction. Aidan showed interest in a turkey leg possessed by Grizzer, left over from last night’s feeding. Each time Aidan approached the turkey leg, Grizzer defended his food by displaying lip curls and standing over Aidan. Later in the day, wolf care staff placed a deer leg in the enclosure to supplement the pups’ food intake. Although Aidan began chewing the leg, Grizzer stole and defended the leg by showing dominance over Aidan. In both instances Aidan was quick to submit, although his interest in food possession persisted. During one dominance interaction between Grizzer and Aidan, Maya distracted both pups away from Grizzer with a play bow and chase, at which point both pups redirected their attention to Maya, displaying food begging behavior by licking her muzzle, flattening their ears and lowering their tails. Maya reciprocated with another play bow and tail wagging.
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