Denali – The mind is willing…but the body?

This log was written by Carolyn Owen and Karen Owen, participants of the Wolf Photography Weekend in early October.

Denali was observed actively participating in several chases, mounting and jaw sparing behaviors. In this photo, Denali is observed rounding a corner to join the pack in a run around the enclosure. During the Saturday night feeding, Denali dominated the deer carcass allowing Boltz to feed for a limited time, keeping Axel and Grayson at a distance. After a period of time, however, Axel and Grayson were seen feeding.

Axel – Instigator of Social Interactions

This log was written by, Christina Wagner, a participant of the Wolf Photography Weekend.

Axel was very playful and initiated play more than the rest of the wolves. There were a couple times that Axel did not back down from more forceful play. He would tuck his tail while striking back at Boltz. During the evening carcass feeding, Axel would taunt Denali in trying to successfully obtain a piece of meat.  He was a very engaging wolf and loved the viewing windows.

 

This log was written by Porsha Cline, a participant of the Wolf Photography Weekend.

Axel was playful and initiated play with the other wolves.  He would bump into them, as well as display inhibited biting at them.  He would bow down attempting to initiate chase behavior from the other wolves.  He was quite successful at engaging the rest of the pack, and would assume submissive postures when they would engage with him, such as rolling over, lying on his back and submitting to neck pinning. 

Grayson – Strongest Bonds – Most Difficult Time

In the transition of Aidan into retirement, Grayson seems to have the most significant impact to his behavior.  Even prior to retirement, Grayson would display some lone howls towards staff at the start of wolf care.  He is a very vocal wolf, but lately, the howling seems to continue into the mid-morning.  It is low throated in tone and no other wolf responds;  Whatever he is communicating, the other wolves don’t seem stimulated to reply.  The other behavioral changes include a bit more timid behavior about feeding, interactions with the rest of the pack and even his ability to compete for the daily meatball vitamins.  Staff are spending more time with him and have added 4 supplemental feedings a week to boost Grayson’s body weight and provide more motivation to compete.  Of course, staff need to find a distraction and even fifteen minutes of holding for Denali to accomplish this goal.  It is week two of this action, and things are getting better.  In our past experience, wolves that have the strongest bonds often have the most difficult time with change and loss of a that social companion.  

Denali – Determines the Feeding Order

Denali has always been the wolf that controls the carcass, even though he wasn’t the wolf that controlled the pack.  In the wild, higher ranking wolves may be the ones that eat first because they may be directly involved with making the kill, but in captivity, when the food is wheeled in a wheelbarrow, personality dictates who possesses food.  One thing about Denali is that he has a lot of personality.  After Aidan was retired, Denali has not been showing much interest in Aidan, but he certainly has increased the amount of interaction with pack mates.  He has become far more possessive of food and is the main influence on who gets to eat first.  In the past, it was Axel, but as of July 28th, Boltz has come into favor.   Other noticeable behaviors are the jaw sparring and rallying behaviors displayed during the cooler parts of the day.   Denali also gets excited about any of the enclosure enrichment activities we provide.  We know we have a successful idea when Denali does a full tail spin in a 360 degree circle and hops on over to the enrichment window.  It’s nice to have feedback. 

Grizzer – Spring in his Step

When I began planning for Aidan’s retirement last winter, I was most concerned about how it would affect Grizzer’s life.  At 14 1/2 years of age, I didn’t want to alter his routine or make him intimidated by change. I wasn’t sure I was even going to put Aidan with Grizzer initially, but then, I saw them through at the shared fenceline as Aidan began using the Pack Holding Area.  Grizzer let out a series of social whines towards Aidan and Aidan reciprocated the greeting.  On July 28th, three days after Aidan made the move out of the Exhibit Pack, he was reuniting an old social alliance with Grizzer.  Grizzer initiated the nose-to-nose greeting with Aidan and in less than an hour was allowing staff to feed both wolves a bowl full of chicken with no competition.  The trust between Aidan and Grizzer was apparent and not only did they socially interact, it appeared that Grizzer retained a higher status over Aidan that modeled their relationship in 2011.  Grizzer has been actively displaying RLU behaviors, scraping the ground to spread his scent and taking carries a bit of a high sweep at the base of his tail as he walks throughout the enclosures.  We even witnessed Grizzer helping Aidan in a short Luna confrontation.  In the last few weeks, Grizzer has certainly perked up, with a social grin, he could pass for 12 years of age. 

Luna – Seeing the Effects

To manage Aidan and Luna in the same space, we need to separate Luna in a vestibule for her morning breakfast and keep her there long enough until Aidan and Grizzer have finished their larger meals.  Luna is still on a reduced diet to meet the goal of 100 pounds before winter and we are seeing the effect that the weight loss has had on her mobility.  She is far more active and showing less instability in her back right leg.  The other benefit of Luna needing to wait in holding until the other retirees are done with their breakfast is that staff get the opportunity to do some body work on Luna in the smaller vestibule.  She is less distracted and more willing to sit for longer sessions.  Staff are also seeing the effects of this extra work;  She is building muscle mass and her tail has more freedom of movement.  When we had our first consultation with a Practitioner about Luna she had significant concerns about her sacrum (tailbone) being locked down;  Without  spending any time with Luna she said “having her tail locked down like that is not only painful, it keeps her nervous system stuck in “alarm” mode.  With her hip weakness, she may display defensive aggression because she is not stable’.  To those of you who knew Luna as a pup and throughout her time in the Exhibit Pack, this statement is spot on.  So, the more body work we can do to relieve the tension of her sacrum, the better for Luna and those who live with her.  

Aidan – A Positive Experience

Aidan’s transition to retirement is much smoother than we anticipated.  This may be the best indication that he was ready for the change and ready to accept a lower ranking status.  The first wolf to welcome him into retirement was Grizzer.  The last time Grizzer and Aidan had been together was in 2011, when Aidan was experiencing a lot of dominance from Grizzer’s sister Maya. Based on the interaction we witnessed, Aidan appears to be responding in a subordinate behavior towards Grizzer.  This relationship may change when Aidan gets more acclimated to retirement, but for now, Aidan seems to defer to Grizzer showing no competition for food or space.  The next step in Aidan’s transition is to establish protocol for staff to interact with each individual wolf.  Aidan is still very needy seeking staff attention which can be a challenge for Grizzer to interact.  The design of our retirement facility allows staff to move wolves throughout the 3 specific areas we call retirement and make sure each wolf gets social interaction and a physical assessment on a daily basis. 

Axel

Axel- The Pack is Changing

Some of the behaviors that indicate a wolf is showing status is their tendency to mark with a Raised Leg Urination or RLU and when they carry their tail high above their back in what’s called a T-1 tail posture.   Axel has been displaying both, but since the retirement of Aidan, he’s had more resistance to his behavior from Boltz and Denali.  In this post’s photo, Axel was photographed on top of the pump housing during a weekly pack feeding.  Normally, he and Denali shared the carcass while the rest of the wolves waited.  On July 28th pack feeding, 3 days after Aidan was retired, Axel sat with his ears pricked and turned sideways, displaying a bit of intimidation as Denali and Boltz shared the carcass and kept him at bay.  We expect there will be more change in individual wolf alliances and subsequent dynamics before the pack decides on leadership, but for Axel, it appears to have taken him by surprise. 

Boltz- New Found Freedoms

Even though Aidan had been less involved in the Exhibit pack activities in the last few months, we knew his removal from the pack would change the dynamics in the Exhibit.  Initially, we thought Denali, as a sibling to Aidan, would show the most significant response to Aidan’s removal.  We were wrong.  The strongest responses were observed in Grayson, who increased the number of lone howls he displayed and Boltz, who was released from the tension between he and Aidan, making for some very social wolf checks and surprising feeding programs.  In this post, the photo shows Boltz doing a full lunge towards Axel while Denali continues to feed.  This was photographed on the pack’s first feeding after Aidan’s retirement.  In previous feedings, Boltz was always the last to feed, he was timid, more likely to be isolated by himself in the wooded area of the enclosure.  Part of that behavior was due to a phobia of biting, buzzing insects, but part was his experience as a pup.  Of all the wolves at the Center, Boltz has the weakest socialization with staff due to his age when we acquired him.  Although Boltz was bottle-fed and socialized during the neonate stage at his natal facility, he did not have the full 24-hour a day human experience that is standard protocol at the Center.  Wolf pups have a fear avoidance behavior that can be observed as young as 13 days of age; Acquiring Boltz at 30 days of age definitely shows a stronger avoidance of new or uncertain stimuli. On July 28th, during the What’s for Dinner program, Denali not only let Boltz feed with him, but actively kept Axel and Grayson off the deer.  This new found freedom at the carcass has resulted in Boltz showing more confidence and more willingness for staff interaction. 

Aidan Day 2

Day 2 Update

Aidan had a restful first night of retirement, but by dawn, as the Exhibit Pack started some social interactions, he started to show some anxiety, pawing at the gate towards the activity.  Grayson is coming to the fence line whining and that gets Aidan anxious.  Staff are able to calm Aidan down with distractions, but the challenge with social animals is they want to be social, regardless of the moments of tension that affected their confidence.  Aidan likes a thick layer of wood chips, so I placed a full bag on the den and for now, he is comfortable there. He has been swimming several times in the wading pool in the Pack Holding Area.  When in the Exhibit, he didn’t get much pond time because the stability of getting in and out of the pond made him vulnerable.  He also had a full meal of chicken with his morning meds, we know wolves like to rest after sleeping.  He will be going on a diet similar to Luna, but we won’t start that until he is comfortably settled with the new arrangements.  I am switching the webcams between the East Side Retirement of Luna and Grizzer and the pack holding area (we don’t have enough bandwidth in the lab to do 3 cameras).  If you watch the camera this morning, you may see him as he investigates the area, rests on the wood chips or focuses on the pack.  You may notice some shaved areas on Aidan; he had his belly shaved to get a clear view for the ultrasound, and the vets checked out some other residual growths and skin issues.  His hair will grow back before winter.  The next step in the transition plan is to share a fence line with Luna and Grizzer.  We need to do this carefully, if Aidan has too much anxiety, it can be viewed as a weakness and both Luna and Grizzer can take advantage of him.  The first initial try yesterday resulted in Aidan showing a tucked tail and running from Luna.  We will take this slow; forcing a situation could cause a negative circumstance that could affect a long-term relationship.

The rest of the pack is not focused on Aidan other than some limited activity at the fence line, but it is short-lived.  Denali has had no displays of interest in Aidan, but has been spending his time doing appeasement behavior (licking the sides of Axel’s face) and stimulating play bows and chase behaviors.  Boltz has had the most noticeable change in behaviors, without the tension between he and Aidan, he is socially interacting with the pack, feeding at will and thanks to a cold front, enjoying some cooler weather.