Attila is 46 days old today. The following logs were written by Team Leader Steve Lokker. " When our Nanny team arrived last weekend, we were introduced to two wolf pups that were striking in their looks, developing their instincts, and… tripping over their very large paws. Today, less than a week later, Attila is showing the coordination of a young wolf. After more time exploring the expanse of the outdoor wolf yard, his stumbling attempts to run have grown into a more graceful and confident looking stride. Despite being noticeably smaller than his brother, Attila has the look of a sleek and swift young wolf, who's appearance will be classically gray wolf and aesthetically pleasing.
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The Pups are 47 days old today and received their official names. The winning names were Aidan and Denali. Originally, Denali was on the list for Wolf Pup 2 – or Attila, but after we saw the pups progress in weight and size throughout the naming contest. We thought it was more appropriate that Wolf Pup 1 – Red Paw, be named Denali. So, that's what we've decided and from now on, we will refer to the pup formerly known as Red Paw or Pup 1 as Denali. We are planning to post video again this week, please let me know via email if you have difficulty in playing the video. My email address is curator@wolf.org.
Denali and Aiden received their first taste of deer meat today, when staff brought a leg with residual meat into the program. They were extremely interested and ignored the audience during the entire program. The only drawback is trying to get the deer leg back at the end of the program. They continue to eat well, and are growing at a good rate.
Aiden was extremely interested in the deer leg offered during the Pup 101 program. Last Saturday, he discovered the beaver thawing for the Exhibit Pack and became extremely excited, causing staff to move the wheelbarrow outside. Now that he has a taste of venision, all future deer will be thawed outside of the wolf yard. Aiden came out of the program with excitement and growled aggressively when staff tried to take the deer leg back to the freezer.
Denali continues to show a significant daily weight gain and has been weaning off the formula and consuming over a pound of gruel a day. His most significant observation in this log is his tracking of a Raven. He visually watched a Raven fly overhead and became very focused with the movement. He followed it until he couldn't see it because of the building.
The Pups are 47 days old today and received their official names. The winning names were Aidan and Denali. Originally, Aiden was on the list for Wolf Pup # 1 – or Red Paw, but after further research into the name, we learned that the name Aidan is an Irish Gaelic name, a diminutive of Aodh and usually translated into English as "little fiery one. Based on our behavioral experience with Pup # 2 (nicknamed Attila), Aiden seemed to fit. We also noticed that Attila was responding to the A sound of his name, so we wanted to keep a consistent name. We are planning to post video again this week, please let me know via email if you have difficulty in playing the video. My email address is curator@wolf.org.
Grizzer continues to have a great appetite and some anxiety before feeding. On Friday night, there was a special program with board members and alpha members. The group met in the auditorium for a lecture from Wolf Biologists Dave Mech and Jim Hammill. Grizzer mistook the auditorium gathering for a feeding night and became very agitated that the group never fed him. A 10 lb frozen beef log solved the problem.
Lakota's spirits seem to be improving, but has still not returned to normal. She is caching things, but from the looks of her scat (which are dark and formed), she does appear to be eating some of her caches. She does have free access to the pack holding area, and this week's photo shows her observing the pups, but not getting to excited to see them.
We have a very good indication that Maya will be a great surrogate mother to the pups. During last week's feeding program, Maya brought a part of a deer to the pups and the next day, she carried a deer leg along the fence line, trying to find a place to push the leg through the fence. These are all good indications of an adult wolf committted to adopting pups.
Logs written by Nanny Team Leader Jill Badyrka: Both pups are beginning to exhibit predatory behavior with stimuli other than each other. Aiden and Denali stalked and followed back and forth a small bird hopping along the fence line in the wolf yard. Although Aiden typically begins the play fight with Denali with a stand-over and pinning, Denali during one of the Pup 101 programs tried to take a deer leg from Aiden with a stand-over. He then proceeded to test Aiden by trying to drag deer leg, although unsuccessfully in the end.
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