Maya has grown a winter coat, she looks like Grizzer from the back. I hope that's no indication of the intensity of the winter that both yearlings have more hair than last winter. Maya continues to demonstrate predatory behavior toward any migrating birds that enter the enclosure, most get away. Maya also seems to be holding status as the only female. Rarely do the other wolves dominante her. She does start a few Grizzer play bouts where she's the receiving end of the full force of Grizzer.
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This week's wolf logs were written by program participants in the 10/28-10/30/05 weekend program called "Working for Wolves", in which participants performed enclosure enrichment and maintenance projects in both the Retired and Exhibit enclosures. Written by Jill Badyrka and Tom Skorupinski: Shadow's weekend was interrupted by the Working for Wolves program, in which participants entered the Exhibit enclosure to clean the scat and bones, build a retaining wall at the den, and to drain the pond. In order for the participants to enter the enclosure, the Exhibit pack had to be moved into a holding pen, which was initially the outside puppy pen for Grizzer, Maya, and Nyssa. The changes occurring over the weekend provoked agitation, as demonstrated by his frequent bark-howling and pacing. However, after the work was done, he appears relaxed, lying atop his favorite spot above the den.
Maya and Grizzer were very energetic this week, and enjoyed several bouts of tug-of-war and chase with their pack mates. Shadow never seems to be far away from Maya, especially when Malik is around. This week's photo shows Maya and Shadow in a parallel walk behavior, with Malik looking on.
Shadow has been starting many howling bouts lately. We're not always sure of the stimulus, but he seems to take the lead on the top of the hill staring off in a distance beyond the enclosure walls. As I'm typing this, he started the third round of howling today.
While the focus most of this winter has been on chasing Malik, there doesn't seem to be any impact on the rank order. It's been a generally calmer winter than last winter as far as wolf dominance. Malik gets plenty of time for rest and relaxation and even starts a few of the chase scenes.
During the last program called the Workin'for Wolves weekend, one of the projects that participants performed was building benches in the retirement wolves' enclosure. A couple of the benches were strategically placed near the den boxes so that the wolves could climb on top of them. So far, Lakota has been the only one to use the benches to get on top of the den boxes. She seems to enjoy the view from above.
This morning's wolf care found the retired wolves very active, with Mackenzie giving the wolf care staff enthusiastic greetings. Lately, Mackenzie has been focused on watching the Exhibit Pack. It could be the increased activity during the fall/winter months, or the noise from construction projects close to the center, or a combination of things….it's hard to tell. Her attention this morning was diverted by the fresh straw that was brought into the enclosure.
MacKenzie is doing well and was very enthusiastic when greeting staff this morning. The Retired Pack was fed beaver last Thursday, giving them a break from the abundance of deer they have received due to deer season scraps. When the beaver was brought into the enclosure, MacKenzie got two of them and proceeded to take them to her corner, where she guarded them from Lucas and Lakota when they tried to approach.
Often visitors ask how to tell Shadow and Malik apart, since they look so much alike. In this photo, you can see Shadow's more rounded eyes (vs. Malik's more almond-shaped eyes), the slightly darker coloration on his face, and the absence of the cowlick between the eyes that Malik has. At times, it is hard to tell them apart from a distance.
Lucas remains a bit shy, but seems to be fine otherwise. It's hard to say the cause of this, there are a wide variety of behavioral changes that appear during this time of the year. He actively takes his vitamins and will approach for food, but it seems he only wants human contact on his terms, so staff respect his space and continue to observe him for other behavioral or physical changes.
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