It's the start of the 25th anniversary celebration weekend, and the Youtube Posting will be delayed until Monday to show some of the weekend events. Maya has been observed doing a lot of blocking around Shadow. This means she blocks Denali, Aidan and even Grizzer from riding up on Shadow or interacting. It also means that she is working twice as hard in dominance with Shadow's more subdued behavior. The transition of Shadow into retirement may relieve some of Maya's stress, which ultimately affects Aidan.
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Maya has some very social moments with staff, particularly the wolf curator. This is the second week in a row that she did some intense whining, jumping and greeting much more characteristic of a pup than of a 6 year old adult. This is likely hormonally influenced, and as we have said before, the summer season is the calmest season. Maya has also shown much more social behavior towards Denali, which is something relatively new for her.
It's the start of the 25th anniversary celebration weekend, and the Youtube Posting will be delayed until Monday to show some of the weekend events. Shadow continues to have good days when he's interactive, and days when he is completely subdued in behavior. The behavioral cues are flat back ears, his head is held low, he doesn't seek out interactions and he remains aloof with the pack. Maya even did a ride-up on Shadow yesterday in a show of dominance, and Shadow just retreated. The transition to retirement will likely make him more comfortable. Retirement isn't a negative situation when the physical demands are less, and the security and privacy factors are enhanced.
Malik has had some real excitement in the past week. He had a tree fall in a windstorm that didn't cause any damage, but would be intimidating for a wolf. As with all the wolves at the Center, we condition them to be tolerant of chainsaws when they are pups. We must have had a lot of chainsaw work in the year 2000, when Malik and Shadow were pups because he showed no fear at all when the curator cut the tree up and hauled it to the burn pile.
Shadow was transitioned to the Retired Pack on Saturday evening June 26th, 2010. This was a planned transition in response to behavioral indications that he was having difficulty interacting with the younger pack members. The June 27th Youtube video posting showed increasing aggression with any interactions, possibly caused by a pain response or intolerance for the intense physical contact of younger pack mates. The transition to retirement was extremely smooth, and the remaining Exhibit Pack members showed very little activity surrounding the pack holding area on the night of the move or in subsequent days since the move. This may indicate that the pack had identified his weaknesses long before the transition to retirement. The reintroduction of Malik and Shadow was smooth without any incidents, and the Exhibit Pack remains calm. We will continue to monitor the activity of the wolves with the Ethology class that is currently on site, and will have more detailed footage of the event in the next YouTube video.
Of all the wolves in the Exhibit, Grizzer appears to be the only wolf showing some distinct behavioral changes since Shadow's retirement. All other pack members are calm, and show very little interest in the fence line towards retirement. Grizzer isn't anxious, but more subdued since Shadow's retirement. He is far more reserved with staff, and while he socially interacts with the pack, he doesn't initiate as much social behavior as Denali. Grizzer is a wolf that typically avoids conflict, and without a clear dominant wolf, some individuals can show uncertainty. This is why ritualized dominance is so important to a wolf pack. While Grizzer received most of Shadow's intense dominance, it was clear he was 2nd ranking. Grizzer seems to be an individual that avoids conflict, and may not seek the position of pack leader. Wolf Ethology Students: Lisa Hazel, Rich Schoenwiesner, Vicky Van Hamme, Patti Barss made the following observations: <br> In general, Grizzer has spent much time by himself watching the other three ambassador wolves interact. He is often resting in a higher spot, either on a rock or hillside. When walking and exploring, tail position is predominantly T2, at times T3. Grizzer has joined in rally howls, usually positioned away from the rest of the pack and in a resting position. As Aidan and Denali have been testing Grizzer this week, he has responded by chasing and pinning each of them with a soft muzzle bite.
Malik does appear to interact well with Shadow, with the exception of food possession. In a wolf world, food possession is not tied to rank, meaning that regardless of a wolf's rank status, they can guard and possess food. Malik is good at guarding and possessing food, and has been extremely guarding since Shadow was transitioned into retirement. Staff are watching this interaction, and providing ample resources to satiate both wolves. Malik has always been a lower ranking wolf, and even though Shadow's still transitioning, this seems to be the rank that will maintain. Of course, dominance is much less in retirement, other than a few postures and a chin rest, Shadow has shown no dominance behavior towards Malik. On the other hand, Malik has shown some hackles and high tail towards Shadow when Shadow's a bit intimidated. Malik, as a lower ranking wolf, will take advantage of situations if the opportunity arises; This trait was very apparent when Malik was in the Exhibit Pack.
Maya has been very calm since Shadow's retirement, and while we have no actual proof that her stress levels have decreased (cortisol samples are being collected for future analysis), her behavior seems to support our theory that Shadow's decline may have been contributing to Maya's redirected aggression. The following observations were made by Ethology Students: Nancy Dreschel, Jen Falkowski, David Martin, Jennie Morris, Jess Ohnmacht, Jack Shero. <br> Maya appears to be fairly relaxed this week even with the changes in the hierarchy of the pack. Maya has participated with the pack in responding to rally howls initiated from Shadow from retirement. One interesting interaction included Maya pinned Grizzer while Aidan pinned Denali about ten feet away. Aidan and Maya held the pins for several seconds. Also, two times this week Aidan and Maya were seen parallel gaiting together.
The pups were given more items from the Exhibit Pack today, with new rocks, feathers, bark and logs. Both pups were very interested in the audio editing process, when they heard themselves whine and howl, they perked their ears in interest. We introduced some ground elk meat to their gruel today, and Red Paw was ravenous with initial bowl, and continued to show interest when small meatballs were put on a birch log during the program. It was very stimulating and is a good transition to a meat base diet in the upcoming weeks. Red Paw continues to show fearless behavior towards the Exhibit Pack, not bothered by their howling. The only exception was during a food scuffle between Maya and Shadow this morning that was extremely loud and intense (Maya eventually got Shadow’s beaver tail). After the 1 pm program today, Red Paw and Lakota went nose to nose at the pack holding area fence, and Lakota lowered her body, and rubbed her side against the fence and Red Paw’s nose. He was very calm with Lakota’s presence and the pups are good stimulus for Lakota.
Red Paw and Attila have been doing extremely well during programs, thanks to the deer tail and some patient Nannies. We are extremely happy with this portion of the socialization process. Red Paw does show some anxiety to the dog work, growling at Jake the Curator's dog today. He shows no anxiety toward Lakota and the main pack, and spends a great deal of time running up to the fences in a full tail wag and submissive ears.
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