Written by Planning for Pups program participants, Patty Kierski, Rebecca Kierski, Kate Kierski and Lindsey Ivins: "Malik continues to shed his thick winter coat, so still appears somewhat shaggy. During wolf care, he showed dominance over Grizzer through hard muzzle bite, causing Grizzer to roll over. Unlike Shadow, he was unaffected by the Planning for Pups Participants. After enclosure enrichment, he scent rolled in some tuna, and after findting and eating some chicken legs, he stole some of Maya's cache. When Maya and Grizzer were interacting, Malik treid to get involved, but they ingnored him."
Archives
Written by Planning for Pups program participants, Annette Good and Kathryn Trussell: "Maya was very relaxed with the additional people this weekend. She initiated a lot of play bouts with Grizzer that lasted for several minutes. Enclosure enrichment was done on Saturday, and Maya went into the pond to get some of the food on the rock, making sure her tail stayed dry. She also cached a number of items, but lost the majority of them to Grizzer and Malik. When Shadow started howling on a rock, Maya quickly joined in and jumped on a rock next to him.
Written by Planning for Pups program participants, Tina Stimpson and Heather Hoff: " The exhibit pack was put into the holding pen on Saturday night. Chicken legs, bacon and tuna was placed around the enclosure as part of the enrichment program. After the exhibit pack was released back int the enclosure, the wolves disperesed in all directions to find food. Within minutes, Grizzer was searcing the trees for chicken and bacon. He continued Sunday morning searching the trees. Grizzer was very successful in finding Maya's caches. He continued to test Shadow for dominance."
Written by Planning for Pups program participants Gail Ramee, Lena Edward and Joanne Wessels: "Shadow was restless when the group came out to the bleachers. He tucked his tail, and kept his ears in airplane position. On sunday, he started bark howling at the group and did not stop until the group went back inside. During Wolf Care, Shadow greeted the staff and then went back to lay on top of the den. Shadow did not engage in play with the other wolves. During enclosure enrichment, Shadow was very deliberate in his hunt for the chicken and bacon. He explored the full perimeter of the enclosure. Grizzer frequently followed Shadow around the enlosure, without any response from Shadow. When Grizzer tried to cut in front of Shadow during Wolf Care, Shadow did respond whith growls and an occassional muzzle bite."
Due to the active schedule with the ongoing Wolf Ethology class at the Center, all logs will be the same. Shadow continues to have some issues with groups behind the scenes, so the schedule has been modified for the class, with more observations from inside the observation area. Shadow seems to do much better with this. The weather’s been hot and humid this week, causing the wolves to reduce their activity levels significantly. The biting flies are out and all wolves have been treated with Biospot for fly control on their ears. Grizzer and Maya have completed shedding their dense undercoat, with the exception of some loose hair on their necks and tails. Shadow and Malik, as arctic subspecies are a bit delayed in the shedding and are about midway through the process. Although the Retired Pack members are Great Plains subspecies, they are also delayed in the shedding process, possibly due to their age. Lakota has a growth on her face that has been increasing in size. The Veterinarian has chosen to wait until cooler temperatures before anesthetizing her and removing the growth. He has determined that it is benign, but it may continue to grow. Staff will be watching this carefully and have been cleaning it daily.
Due to the active schedule with the ongoing Wolf Ethology class at the Center, all logs will be the same. Shadow continues to have some issues with groups behind the scenes, so the schedule has been modified for the class, with more observations from inside the observation area. Shadow seems to do much better with this. The weather’s been hot and humid this week, causing the wolves to reduce their activity levels significantly. The biting flies are out and all wolves have been treated with Biospot for fly control on their ears. Grizzer and Maya have completed shedding their dense undercoat, with the exception of some loose hair on their necks and tails. Shadow and Malik, as arctic subspecies are a bit delayed in the shedding and are about midway through the process. Although the Retired Pack members are Great Plains subspecies, they are also delayed in the shedding process, possibly due to their age. Lakota has a growth on her face that has been increasing in size. The Veterinarian has chosen to wait until cooler temperatures before anesthetizing her and removing the growth. He has determined that it is benign, but it may continue to grow. Staff will be watching this carefully and have been cleaning it daily.
Written by Planning for Pups program participants Cheryl Schreiber and Julie Joos: When the Planning for Pups group participants were in the wolf yard on Friday, Shadow began bark-howling, showing his intimidation at large crowds. On Saturday prior to the "What's For Dinner" program, the Exhibit Pack was observed chasing each other around the pond, engaging in a bout of group play. During the feeding, Shadow waited until the large crowds had left the viewing windows to begin feeding on the deer carcass. On Sunday morning during the enclosure enrichment, Shadow cached a pig ear, which Grizzer dug up and ate.
As a method for enhancing the wolves’ lives in captivity, events are scheduled for the wolves on a weekly basis. These events vary from food placement within the enclosure to additions of logs, trees or other stimulus. One of the events is the placement of minnows in the pond for the control of algae. Most of the minnows survive, but when the pond needs to be cleaned, the minnows are placed in a bucket until the pond water is replenished. The minnows that don’t survive the cleaning process are given to the wolves. They don’t eat the minnows, but as you can see in this week’s video clip, you will see Grizzer scent rolling on a dead minnow.
Maya is very inquisitive and is most often found investigating the exhibit looking for any new item or following the scent of birds that land in the exhibit. She continues to be bonded with Shadow. Last week during one of the heavier rainstorms, all 4 wolves were laying under the eaves in front of the viewing window. Maya and Shadow were laying together with Maya putting her nose next to Shadow’s.
Due to the active schedule with the ongoing Wolf Ethology class at the Center, all logs will be the same. Shadow continues to have some issues with groups behind the scenes, so the schedule has been modified for the class, with more observations from inside the observation area. Shadow seems to do much better with this. The weather’s been hot and humid this week, causing the wolves to reduce their activity levels significantly. The biting flies are out and all wolves have been treated with Biospot for fly control on their ears. Grizzer and Maya have completed shedding their dense undercoat, with the exception of some loose hair on their necks and tails. Shadow and Malik, as arctic subspecies are a bit delayed in the shedding and are about midway through the process. Although the Retired Pack members are Great Plains subspecies, they are also delayed in the shedding process, possibly due to their age. Lakota has a growth on her face that has been increasing in size. The Veterinarian has chosen to wait until cooler temperatures before anesthetizing her and removing the growth. He has determined that it is benign, but it may continue to grow. Staff will be watching this carefully and have been cleaning it daily.
The International Wolf Center uses science-based education to teach and inspire the world about wolves, their ecology, and the wolf-human relationship.