It’s a busy week for the curator, so all the logs will have the same text: In the Exhibit Pack, there’s been a lot of raven activity around the left over food, and as Maya’s video shows, some ravens are caught by the wolves. Maya killed this raven that was too close to the carcass. Dominance in the Exhibit pack remains fairly calm. In Shadow’s video, you see him taking a leadership position on top of the den, moving with a high tail position toward the pack. He vocalizes to Grizzer and gets the response he was looking for. Malik continues to show signs of being a third ranking male, in his video, you see him watch Grizzer take a deer carcass up the hill. On Sunday’s feeding, staff fed 1 full deer and a second deer torso to ensure that everyone had plenty to eat. In the Retired Pack, Mackenzie has her good days and bad days. The video for MacKenzie shows one of her bad days, She prefers to rest in her straw bed and not interact with staff, but she shows submissive ear postures to the staff off camera. We are very watchful of these days and give her the respect and space that she needs. The day after that video, she had a great day with staff member, Matt Fetterer. She rolled over on her back and got a full massage from Matt, stretching all 4 legs to full extension for the full effect of the massage. Lakota’s change in antibiotics did the trick. The abscess has drained and she’s back to her playful self. On the same day as Mac was getting the massage from Matt, the curator was doing playbows with Lakota, as she raced around the pen and even jumped over the curator’s head. Of course, she was sitting on the ground, so it wasn’t that high of a leap, but for a wolf nearing 14, it was very limber.
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Shadow’s been getting a bit of testing from Grizzer again as the hormonal cycle of the breeding season reaches its’ peak. Staff are very aware of the impact on Shadow if he’s intimidated in any way. The protocol is to always greet the dominant wolves first unless there’s a change in rank. I think Shadow knows the routine, but Grizzer tends to be everywhere at all times. Shadow may be getting some dominance, but he’s right there to interact with Maya and if Grizzer and Maya are playing, he still stands guard.
The recent snowfalls have changed the mood of the wolves. The snow seems to occupy them with more scents and opportunities for rolling around and enjoying themselves. This change in weather pattern from the weeks without snow is a welcome relief to the staff. The dominance issues have decreased and the pack seems more at ease with each other, often observed in calm play behavior. As you can see from Shadow’s video this week, the Arctic wolves are still not convinced that Grizzer’s given up his testing for status.
The only news from the wolf care staff is the recent snowfall. While Ely didn’t receive as much as other places in the state, the 12 inches of new snowfall adds to the daily care of the wolves. Access to the wolf yard requires a snow blower and all gates need to be shoveled to maintain operability. Grizzer enjoys a good snowfall and finds the opportunity to investigate everything. In this week’s video, you see Grizzer checking out everyone’s food. He isn’t well received by the other wolves, but he keeps wagging his tail.
MacKenzie’s video was taken during the snowfall. As the staff works on the snow removal process in the wolf yard, MacKenzie is very alert to the possibility of food or other stimulus arriving in her enclosure. The snow quickly covers the old straw beds, but when the snow quits, staff replenish the supply. This is why the “Workin’ for Wolves participants can always expect straw removal as part of the weekend chores in spring. “Workin’ for Wolves is a program offered twice a year by the Center. Participants assist with spring and fall duties to make the Center’s wolves more comfortable and to enhance their lives. In addition, the revenue generated from the program supports the Center’s goal of maintaining the wolves with the best possible care. If you’re interested in participating in the “Workin for Wolves program in May, check out the Learning Vacations link on the website.
Maya has calmed a bit in recent weeks and remains the peace maker of this pack. She is frequently observed greeting Shadow when Grizzer starts giving Shadow a bit of testing behavior. In this week’s video, Maya waits on top of the den for the staff to deliver the straw beds after the recent snowfall. Even the young wolves appreciate the warm comfort of a dry straw bed.
It is always difficult to leave one wolf alone in an enclosure as they are social animals by nature, but the vet recommendation for Lakota to get 2 days of healing in a clean, restricted environment is in her best interest. After Lakota was taken off site to the vet clinic, MacKenzie spent time with wolf care staff and fed on several pounds of meat. She had some anxious pacing initially, but has settled down to lying in the front of the exhibit and greeting wolf care staff. By Saturday morning, she was doing well, but a deer leg on Saturday night also provided a great distraction. Normally separation of a pack member could result in that pack member not being accepted after a long separation because the rank order closes up and another wolf moves up in their spot, but in this case, it’s 2-15 year old females and Lakota is the omega. There’s no-one to take over her spot. MacKenzie is a confident wolf and doesn’t need to retake her status.
Pup # 2 is 18 days old today and has been temporarily nicknamed Attila. We look forward to the name the pup contest and hope people are following the logs to get a sense of the pup’s behaviors and personality. We nicknamed pup # 2 Attila because he has a very feisty personality. He is quick to assert dominance over his more passive littermate, and in the logs from the 13th of May, he snapped at one of the handlers when they touched him. He has also growled at the Wolf Curator, Lori Schmidt, and learned about active dominance and being rolled over in a submissive posture. It is critical that the pups are shown their limits of acceptable behavior. It is better to teach them lessons now, to make them more manageable as adults. Pups will keep testing their limits, and if there is no discipline, they will continue to escalate potentially aggressive behavior. The adult members of a wolf pack would be doing this to their pups, so when humans socialize wolf pups and replace the candid influence, they must assume that role. The pups will be learning this first hand when they join the Exhibit Pack in August. As far as pup management, we are still struggling with the right flow of the formula from the bottle. We have tried several brands, even the models that were preferred by the 2004 litter don’t seem to be favored by these pups. If the pups struggle with the flow of the nipple, they expend a lot of energy that should be going into growing, get worn out and don’t feed. A flow to fast can result in pups aspirating formula, too slow and they give up. There were some issues with the shifts last night, but with perseverance and patience, Attila did consume nearly 25 ounces of formula in 24 hours. This compares with 13 ounces when he was 13 days old. The pups had their first outdoor session in the sun today while the pen was being cleaned.
We have many observations of Aidan rolling on the ground for Luna and Boltz. He seems to increase his social interactions on a daily basis, but as Denali comes over to show a bit of status, Aidan is quick to lunge and drive Denali away. We did get a weight on Aidan this week, he is now 136.4 lbs.
Boltz didn't want to stand on the scale this week, so we don't have a weight on him, but he continues to be physically active with the adults and is nearing Aidan's height. Staff have noticed a lot of ride-up behaviors, especially when Aidan is in a social mood. But, if Aidan wants an end to it, Boltz complies. Boltz is certainly more of a challenge to feed than Luna. With Boltz, if there's any competition from Denali, he tends to drop what he's eating and back off. By this time, we had hoped to feed larger quantities and not do a twice a day feeding, but until we get these pups to their adult weight, we will feed as long as they show an interest.
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