The pups are 52 days old today, we don't have weights today, we are waiting for the new scales arrival tomorrow, so we don't have to weigh them with the sling. Aiden moves too much and is too alert for the sling. The following logs were written by Jill Badyrka. : Both pups received a veterinary visit today in the Wolf Lab. Initially, both displayed a bit of shyness with Chip, but ultimately both pups came to Chip and sat quietly during the exam. The curator held each pup for their vaccination. Both pups remained relaxed for the remainder of their exam, without incident. In their first Pup 101 of the day, Aiden continued to display increasingly focused food aggression with a beaver tail, although Denali was successful in distracting him away from the tail with the peeling of bark from a birch log. It is quite interesting to watch their cognitive and strategic skills develop, while abiding by innate “rules of the pack such as food possession.
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The pups are 52 days old today, we don't have weights today, we are waiting for the new scales arrival tomorrow, so we don't have to weigh them with the sling. Aiden moves too much and is too alert for the sling. The following logs were written by Jill Badyrka: Both pups received a veterinary visit today in the Wolf Lab. Initially, both displayed a bit of shyness with Chip, but ultimately both pups came to Chip and sat quietly during the exam. The curator held each pup for their vaccination. Both pups remained relaxed for the remainder of their exam, without incident. In their first Pup 101 of the day, Aiden continued to display increasingly focused food aggression with a beaver tail, although Denali was successful in distracting him away from the tail with the peeling of bark from a birch log. It is quite interesting to watch their cognitive and strategic skills develop, while abiding by innate “rules of the pack such as food possession.
The pups are 53 days old today. The following log was written by Team Leader Jill Badyrka.<br> Communication is developing with a constant influx of increased vocalizations. When the Exhibit Pack howled at 1:45 am, and again beginning at 6:25 am for two distinct sessions, both pups woke and joined in. The range of intonations is increasing, as well as the types of vocalizations. The pups are emitting barks, yelps, squeaks, and various combinations of these interspersed with the howls. During Pup 101, for the first time, the pups shared a deer hide from which they both tore and ingested small pieces. While Aiden displays a keener predatory sense, Denali has better mastered his fear avoidance, exhibiting no fear during a Behind the Scenes program by walking up to the public fence and examining the human participants. After two days of not being able to obtain accurate weights with the sling scale, the arrival of the new scale today enabled an easy weigh of 20.2 pounds for Denali.
Welcome back to the logs, we're not sure what happened, but it is repaired now. We have a bit of data to post today, the pups were 8 weeks old yesterday, they gained weight and we have some new measurements. One of our team leaders pointed out that Grizzer's and Maya's body measurements weren't matching Denali and Aidan's. The issue is the change in body measurement positions. After reviewing a few research projects, the standard measurement we agreed upon was to measure the sagittal crest of the pup with the head held down at a 90 degree angle measuring a straight line distance to the base of the tail. In 2004, the measurement was a combination the nose to sagittal crest, the sagittal crest to base of tail and total length of tail. When we total this for Aidan, it measures 101 cm total nose to tail length. Also, even though Aidan is smaller than Denali, he is still larger by age than Grizzer was. Aidan stands 43 cm tall at the shoulder, he has a slimmer frame than Denali and seems to have longer legs. Aidan's video shows the pups on the back side of the pup pen, with Lakota having access to the wolf yard from the back. Lakota is free to walk in and out of the retired enclosure at will, and often comes to check out the pups. If they are too much for her, she goes back to the Retired Enclosure. As you can see, the pups are excited to see her. We do watch the packs response to greetings with Lakota, but so far, as long as she's not physically coming in contact with the pups, they are not defensive.
Malik has been taking advantage of the packs calm personality to get some full feedings. The pack has been eating the deer, beaver etc. within days, versus previous summers, when food was often left in the enclosure and the wolf care staff needed to dispose of some fly ridden food. The influence of prolactin and the activity of watching pups must have stimulated the appetite.
Logs written by 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. Aiden has displayed a continual desire to be outside in the wolf yard even at night, with random yet prolonged periods of scratching at the door. His intense curiosity appears insatiable.
The following was written by Team Leader Jill Badyrka: While there are general stages of development, and the pups are now in the Socialization Period, having transitioned from the Transition Period, the uniqueness of each pup’s development is a true wonder to witness. Aiden weighs approximately 2 pounds less than Denali, yet is wiry strong with agility surpassing that of Denali. For example, Aiden is able to easily climb the den box in the lab enclosure, while the larger Denali is still clumsy and not able to jump up and maneuver his large paws. However, in the evening Pup 101 program, Denali displayed more food aggression than Aiden with a stand-over and a squash, and Aiden actually submitted with several submissive paws. This is rather new for Aiden who has been the main aggressor. Today was also the first day in the outside pup enclosure, where they both spent about an hour. Both pups displayed much curiosity and interest while inside, and once brought back out to the wolf yard, returned to the gate of the pup enclosure and tried to paw their way back in.
While there are general stages of development, and the pups are now in the Socialization Period, having transitioned from the Transition Period, the uniqueness of each pup’s development is a true wonder to witness. Aiden weighs approximately 2 pounds less than Denali, yet is wiry strong with agility surpassing that of Denali. For example, Aiden is able to easily climb the den box in the lab enclosure, while the larger Denali is still clumsy and not able to jump up and maneuver his large paws. However, in the evening Pup 101 program, Denali displayed more food aggression than Aiden with a stand-over and a squash, and Aiden actually submitted with several submissive paws. This is rather new for Aiden who has been the main aggressor. Today was also the first day in the outside pup enclosure, where they both spent about an hour. Both pups displayed much curiosity and interest while inside, and once brought back out to the wolf yard, returned to the gate of the pup enclosure and tried to paw their way back in.
The pups are 53 days old today. The new scale arrived and it is very easy to use. Aidan walkded across the scale, stood there, the digital reading flashed and he walked off, no stress. I do need to clarify, that I mispelled Aidan's name initially. Now, I an spelling it correctly. When I searched the web for this name, Wikipedia's definition is <br> Aidan is an Irish Gaelic name, a diminutive of Aodh and usually translated into English as "little fiery one" or similar. Formerly common only in Ireland, the name (together with variants) has become common in the UK and the United States. I will try to spell it correctly from now on. The following logs were written by team leader Jill Badyrka.<br> Communication is developing with a constant influx of increased vocalizations. When the Exhibit Pack howled at 1:45 am, and again beginning at 6:25 am for two distinct sessions, both pups woke and joined in. The range of intonations is increasing, as well as the types of vocalizations. The pups are emitting barks, yelps, squeaks, and various combinations of these interspersed with the howls. During Pup 101, for the first time, the pups shared a deer hide from which they both tore and ingested small pieces. Aiden seems to especially enjoy the tearing and shaking of his food, exhibiting a stronger predatory instinct than Denali. After two days of not being able to obtain accurate weights with the sling scale, the arrival of the new scale today enabled an easy weigh of 17.8 pounds for Aiden.
Welcome back to the logs, we're not sure what happened, but it is repaired now. We have a bit of data to post today, the pups were 8 weeks old yesterday, they gained weight and we have some new measurements. One of our team leaders pointed out that Grizzer's and Maya's body measurements weren't matching Denali and Aidan's. The issue is the change in body measurement positions. After reviewing a few research projects, the standard measurement we agreed upon was to measure the sagittal crest of the pup with the head held down at a 90 degree angle measuring a straight line distance to the base of the tail. In 2004, the measurement was a combination the nose to sagittal crest, the sagittal crest to base of tail and total length of tail. When we total this for Denali, it measures 107 cm total nose to tail length. Denali is a robust pup that stands 42.5 cm tall.
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