Shadow hasn't been himself lately. He seems a bit less tolerant of individual wolf care staff, has been particular about his morning vitamins, and not really interested in guarding food. His chicken consumption has improved in the last few days and we will increase some observations to see his general pattern without wolf care staff presence in the enclosure. Shadow and Malik will be 11 years old on May 8th, certainly an age where any change in behavior is worth investigating.
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Aidan has had a noticeable change in behaviors, acting far more submissive towards Denali. This week's YouTube footage shows several minutes of Aidan passively submitting. Aidan still dominates a significant amount of wolf care time, but the intensity of his guarding behavior has diminished. As spring approaches, it will be important to provide good stimuli to engage the wolves in activity. With the pond drain thawing this week, we should be able to get the pond cleaned and filled by the last week of April. With daytime temperatures nearing 50 degrees this week, it may seem cool for a human, but a full coat of guard hairs makes 50 degrees warm for a wolf.
Denali does have a height advantage and we see him gaining some status because of his height. Overall, Denali doesn’t seem too focused on showing or maintaining status, but he does seem focused on social chase behavior. He is also very keen on any changes around the enclosure and will be closely watching the spring construction upgrades to the medical enclosure and Grizzer’s new habitat.
Grizzer has reduced his howling bouts but still engages in response to Shadow and Malik. As the spring melt occurs, he is spending more time resting in the shaded portion of the enclosure and less time in the overhead kennel. Staff continue to spend time with him and this week’s Youtube shows a short clip of a staff visit. There have been questions about Grizzer’s status, and yes, he will be managed alone for the short term for several reasons. I put them in bullet format: <br> 1. We want to make sure he has a good hair growth over his suture sites before he meets any other social companions (except humans). <br> <br> 2. We don’t want to have any snow or ice if we do consider an introduction into retirement or a visit from Shadow. <br> <br> 3. We want to wait for the natural hormonal cycling for calmer, prolactin influenced wolf behavior.<br> <br> 4. We want a complete medical exam on the Retirees to make sure there are not any medical issues that could be magnified by a stressful change to pack dynamics. <br> <br> 5. We want to have the alternate habitat done in case a introduction into retirement doesn’t work out<br> <br> There was one more question I received regarding a camera on Grizzer’s enclosure. Yes, this will occur, we are currently researching models, and will need to do some internet upgrades to the lab as we have no more ports available. I anticipate having something online near the end of May.
Malik's abscess scar is nearly healed. I am very glad that we decided to take a conservative course with antibiotics and time rather than pulling the tooth. Malik likes to chew on carcasses, so the missing tooth would have been more of an issue. I had a recent question about identifying Malik from Shadow on a video. Malik is generally slimmer in appearance, with a narrower head and his eyes appear more almond shaped, whereas Shadow's eyes are more roundish. Malik is more aloof, but that is primarily in Youtube filming, on the webcam, when the wolves have their privacy, that may not be apparent. Most often, if there are two wolves on the den and one is on the top, and one is on the bottom, it's a sure bet that Malik is on top.
Grizzer's pack holding area is temporary, as plans are being made to build a permanent habitat for him. He is very keen on activities in both the retired and Exhibit Pack, pawing at the gate by the retireds and jumping and grabbing at the fence when the Exhibit Pack is playing. We decided that he would not join the Exhibit Pack again, despite his clear behavioral displays to be part of that pack. He and Denali have a strong bond of communication between him, and Denali is spending more time sleeping near Grizzer than he is with Aidan. Some people have asked about Grizzer joining Shadow and Malik, but we won't know about that scenario until late spring, when ice and snow conditions are gone and the cycle of prolactin increases. We have to be sure of Grizzer's response towards Malik. We do know that we will not make any move for him until he has a complete recovery of his head.
Denali has been showing less howling response to Grizzer, although the Youtube this week does show one clip. The play behavior has increased between Aidan and Denali, with Denali being more physical trying to wrestle more than Aidan. Denali's personality has always been more playful since he was a pup. Staff recently observed the following from the Observation windows; <br> "This morning Denali was looking in a hole that the water was dripping in from off the roof, he put his head down to get a better look and started getting dripped on. He lifted his head and shook. He looked startled and unsure of what happened. This happened several times before he decided he didn't like it! Later he started furiously digging in the snow bank, he would stop look and listen then start up again. Pretty soon he pulled out a deer head and started to run around and play with it."
As any opportunistic wolf would do, Malik gained a bit of status over Shadow when Shadow wasn’t feeling well. Shadow’s feeling much better this week, so we recorded a bit more posturing. Mostly Shadow marking, scraping and doing chin rests on Malik while Malik tried to stand tall with hackles. This is early morning posturing, by midday, the temperatures are warmer and they are resting on the den together.
Shadow is feeling much better. His appetite has returned and he has been displaying several play bows towards staff. The pond in the Retirement enclosure has not drained, creating some snow melt water during the day and ice conditions at night. Shadow has entered the dug den that he completed last fall, and has done a bit more excavation work.
The pack has had a quiet week, so there's not much news to report and all logs will be the same. The Center is moving forward on an additional habitat for Grizzer with a design that will allow continued access to the current pack holding area. He has become quite comfortable in this area and its' location is right in the Center of Wolf Lab activity which seems to be of interest to Grizzer. This is a bit reminiscent of Lakota.
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