Red Paw is 24 days old today. The pups hearing is getting keener, although their ears are not fully erect, making it difficult for them to determine directional sound. A deep rumbling noise of a motorcycle on the highway woke up Red Paw instantly, alert and in-tune to the sound. (No, it wasn’t Jess’s motorcycle; Jess doesn’t have a motorcycle, only a loud muffler). Other behaviors developing are the predatory skills such as growling, headshakes when wrestling. While this may be interpreted as play behavior, these are all skills that would eventually be used by a wolf in a predatory action. The pups went out on the grass between buildings for 10 minutes, at 5 minutes, Red Paw became anxious, there was a short dominance display initiated by Red Paw, then the pups came back into the lab and slept in the den box for several hours. Another social behavior that has really developed is the play bow, and tail wag. Both pups are displaying this behavior. The pup’s premolars are irrupting and causing some teething pain. Both upper and lower canines have erupted, but are still too small for the calipers to measure. For the first time, staff have recorded grooming behavior. The audio you are hearing is more sounds of pups in the dream mode.
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Lakota had an excellent recovery from the surgery. When she was returned into the enclosure, MacKenzie was very excited to see her and they were running throughout the enclosure. Unfortunately, we didn't get video footage to show this exhuberance, nor did we take footage the morning of MacKenzie's death, but we have it in our memories. We learn to cherish every day with these wolves. Lakota is showing some depressed behavior since MacKenzie's passing. The video clip this week shows the curator's dog Jake greeting Lakota. We were happy with the introduction and Jake may be a visitor to Lakota in the future, but the preference for Lakota is staff time. You may see staff resting with Lakota on sleeping bags, she got the taste for comfort during the surgery recovery and would prefer to have a flannel sleeping bag now. We have made some fence modifications to give Lakota an option to travel into the pack holding area, or into the wolf yard if she wishes. So far, she's visited the main pack through the fence, Maya is very excited to see her and whines at the gate. The other wolves don't show any aggression towards her. We will continue to do what she needs to remain stimulated. ** We just finished wolf care on Monday, the 26th and Lakota did a play bow and a bit of a sprint to Joyce Riveroll, a wolf care staff person who volunteers each summer. This is an excellent sign.
If there were a test that we could easily administer to measure prolactin hormone, Shadow would likely be off the charts. He is incredibly social with wolf care staff and very attentive to the pups presence and even the movement of the lab door. Any indication that there's the possibility of a pup, he's up and focused. He is also very defensive with strangers in the wolf yard, and we are trying to be sensitive to this irritation. He's taken on a protective role of the pups . He's fine if wolf care staff handle the pups, but barks a threat display if nannies are with them. While this has caused a change in protocol, we are pleased that he has such a strong behavioral response. I am looking forward to the introduction and believe all indications are positive at this time. We are fortunate to have such a social dominant male.
Attila is 29 days old today. While Red Paw’s ears are starting to be more erect, Attila seems a bit behind in the physical development. Attila continues to be the most aggressive pup, growling during wrestling bouts. Attila seems to prefer the bowl feeding and lapping versus bottle. The video footage for today shows Attila’s first food begging behavior, which transgressed into grooming behavior. The audio clip is the sound pups make when lapping from a bowl. Attila is doing very well eating from the bowl, both lapping formula and gruel. The programs are a bit of a struggle for Attila, he gets anxious and whines until the wolf care staff or nannies can find the right combination to make him relax. Sometimes it’s a pillow, wolf hair, stuffed toy or even the staff’s hair as occurred this morning. Overall, the socialization is going well, but with wolf pups, we must always be diligent to avoid negative conditioning.
Behavioral notes over the weekend: <br> Attila continues to show some fear avoidance behavior towards quick movements and loud noises. The new stimulus brought into the enclosure has been good for their coordination. Attila was the first to climb on the stump.
Shadow is becoming more tolerant of the nannies in the wolf yard, but today, when Aiden was rolled over for biting at someone, Shadow became agitated. The staff continues to exhibit caution when in the wolf yard to ensure that everything remains calm prior to the introduction.
The socialization process seems to be working. Red Paw greeted the 6 am Nanny/staff shift with wagging tails and submitted to Assistant Curator, Donna Prichard, rolling voluntarily and greeting her by licking her face. The pups are displaying much more predatory behavior including stalking, pouncing and pinning each other. Red Paw always greets the Exhibit Pack with playbows and tail wags, and after the last program, was grabbing the fencing and pulling to get closer to the Exhibit Pack. There seems to be a good association between the adults and the pups. Grizzer is still whining toward the pups, but there is less intensity and focus. He still has his ears perked forward, when the pups are near, whereas all other wolves show submissive ears. The public programs in the auditorium are going well, the pups slept during all of the programs today with very little whining, compared to just a few days ago. Red Paw has his right ear nearly fully erect, and Attila has his left ear nearly fully erect. In the next few days, they should be both fully erect. Pup prints were taken today, and in comparison to the pup prints taken at 22 days old, they are clearly double the size. There appears to be a problem with the new video software compression format, we have ordered another software package and hope to resume video postings soon.
The socialization process seems to be working well, although Attila is a bit shy about noises. When the voice mail was checked today, and there was a strange voice on the machine, Attila became very anxious, until, Curator Lori Schmidt began speaking. Attila does some serious headshakes of the toy football and is very predatory with the stuffed pheasant toy. He tried to pluck the fur, and drag the pheasant to the corner. We believe this is the first observed plucking behavior demonstrated, another predatory instinct that relates to carcass feeding. Attila was food begging from Assistant Curator, Donna Prichard, and has taken to the gruel formula and bowl lapping much better than Red Paw. The public programs in the auditorium are going well, the pups slept during all of the programs today with very little whining, compared to just a few days ago. Red Paw has his right ear nearly fully erect, and Attila has his left ear nearly fully erect. In the next few days, they should be both fully erect. Pup prints were taken today, and in comparison to the pup prints taken at 22 days old, they are clearly double the size. There appears to be a problem with the new video software compression format, we have ordered another software package and hope to resume video postings soon.
Red Paw is 26 days old today. The pups had a busy day on Thursday with a media event at 4 pm and an open house at 5 pm. The media event was outside in the grassy area adjacent to the building. The pup program for the open house only required 15 minutes in the building, but Red Paw was a bit nervous after about 10 minutes. Staff calmed him down a bit and he was confident enough to dominate Attila between the legs of a wolf care staff person. After the programs, the pups were tired. The audio you hear for both pups reflects this desire for sleep, Red Paw lets out a sigh in his audio and Attila is snoring at the end of the day. The pups are starting to explore more, and have had several jaunts outside of the enclosure into the office portion of the lab. A pillow was stored on top of the den box; Red paw was struggling to get on top of his enclosure and stepped on nannies hard to get up on it and on the pillow. The pups did additional programs on Friday, there was no whining from pups, and they went after birch bark with hair stuffed inside. They favored deer hair over wolf hair, pulling both out of birch bark. Starting this weekend, the pups logs will only include an image and growth data only. Video and audio will be processed during the week only.
Grizzer continues to show great interest in the pups and is very calm during wolf interactions. I believe there is a strong influence of prolactin affecting his behavior. He even allows Malik to be more dominant, which has increased Malik's confidence and his tail. If there is a wolf at the window looking at pups, it's usually Grizzer.
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