Grizzer has been increasing his dominance activity in the last few days, probably due to the cooler weather settling in for the fall season. He's not too likely to start in on one of the arctics, but chooses to dominate Maya, who shows threat displays and does a ride-up behavior of her own. Note in this week's video, Shadow stays very close and observes the action.
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Malik and Shadow have their moments, mostly when Malik comes from behind and grabs Shadow, but they're still brothers and during this morning's wolf check found them both lying together in the new straw placed at the top of the den. Malik continues to hold the flat ear posture and looks nervous when the big eye of the camera is faced in his direction. He doesn't like eye contact from Grizzer or the camera operator.
Sorry for the delay in the logs, Wolf Curator, Lori Schmidt was in Anchorage Alaska last week for the Wildlife Society National Meeting and general wolf care was the main priority in her absence. On the day before Lori left, Lakota appeared to have a developing lump on her right cheek. A call to the Center's veterinarian diagnosed an abscessed tooth. She was put on a 7 day course of antibiotics with a 3 day dose of deramax. She recovered quickly and is very active again, with the swelling decreasing within 3 days. At her age, it is risky to schedule a surgery to extract the tooth. Staff continue to monitor any irritation, or furthered swelling as this condition can reoccur.
Lakota's winter coat is growing daily, returning back to the thick ruff of neck hair and facial tuffting she is most known for. She continues to show very enthusiastic greetings to staff, with a lot of chasing throughout the enclosure, but there has been an increased level of anxiety, uncharacteristic of Lakota. This has only been occurring in the last few weeks, and will be monitored by video and special observation periods. It could be the excitement of the main pack that is causing her a bit of anxious behavior, or maybe a rush of hormones as the winter season advances.
MacKenzie MacKenzie is also doing well, she doesn’t display as much play behavior as Lakota, but she has good mobility. As I write this, we just fed a large pile of deer scraps, and she’s walking around the enclosure with a chunk of meat, trying to guard food from the every increasing group of ravens
As you can see by Shadow’s video, he is very relaxed. As the colder weather hit, the pack has been bedded down, not showing as much dominance. There are certain staff that each wolf is more tractable towards. For Shadow, it’s critical that he gets this reinforcement from those individuals that he trusts the most.
Lakota is doing well, both her and MacKenzie have settled into a routine, and spend some time together. They are still enjoying the mid-week feedings of chicken and steak with weekend feedings of deer and/or beaver. Lakota is frequently on the denbox, with no stiffness as the cooler weather approaches. The boxes have been filled with straw, but as of today, there has been no interest in using the boxes.
Sorry for the delay in the logs, Wolf Curator, Lori Schmidt was in Anchorage Alaska last week for the Wildlife Society National Meeting and general wolf care was the main priority in her absence. MacKenzie is doing very well on her 2 a-day coated aspirin treatment. Staff had observed some stiffness in her gait as the weather turned cool, but Veterinary recommendations warn against long-term use of anti-inflammatories at her age. Her aspirin is given with meatballs each morning, and she shows no sign of stomach irritation. Of course, wolves are known for hearty stomach linings, as they normally consume carcasses and bone matter with no problems. Not only has MacKenzie's gait improved, her activity has increased and her social behavior with Lakota and wolf care staff is more pronounced. It's hard to grow old, but the wolf care staff are committed to making the age related issues as comfortable as possible.
Sorry for the delay in the logs, Wolf Curator, Lori Schmidt was in Anchorage Alaska last week for the Wildlife Society National Meeting and general wolf care was the main priority in her absence. As fall approaches, hormonal changes result in increased dominance activity between wolves. This is very common behavior, and is termed ritualized dominance behavior. Biologist believe that this type of dominance behavior actually reduces more intensive fights among wolves for rank order position. At the Center, Malik has been looking for opportunities to increase his rank by testing Shadow. This is normal behavior for a second ranking wolf, but what's unique about Malik is that he's not very confident when he starts some action. He tends to start a growling behavior with full hackles, then makes a run for the top of the enclosure and crosses the pond log, looking to see if he's being followed. One thing for sure, Malik gets his exercise.
Sorry for the delay in the logs, Wolf Curator, Lori Schmidt was in Anchorage Alaska last week for the Wildlife Society National Meeting and general wolf care was the main priority in her absence. As you may observe in Grizzer's video, Maya continues to interact with Grizzer, especially if Grizzer is playing a role in the male rank order. The littermates tend to seek each other out for social behavior, when the more senior members of the pack are taking a break. In this week's video, Maya contently lays on one of the pond rocks and watches the fall bird migration.
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