MacKenzie discovered that a woodchuck entered their enclosure and had taken residence under one of the denboxes. The woodchuck was doing a whistling call that increased the digging activity around the denbox. The woodchuck spent the night and by mid-day of the following day, scurried across the enclosure and scaled the fence. Mac was fast on his heels, but missed his tail by an inch as he scaled to safety at the top of the fence. Wolf Curator, Lori Schmidt, helped the woodchuck off the fence and he scurried away under the secondary security fence to freedom in the woods. It doesn't appear that the woodchuck was too negatively conditioned, as he showed up in the garage a day later.
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Staff have this term called the crocodile walk, where a wolf hunches low to the ground and appears to roll over, but continues slinking along on their front legs. MacKenzie is famous for this behavior; lately, she's been very excited to see staff, and approaches for what appears to be a submissive roll-over. But, with so much activity in the Exhibit Pack and the problem of being vulnerable in front of Lakota, she doesn't roll over, but continues along her path, with front legs low to the ground and an arched back.
If you read Grizzer's log, you'd know that Shadow had a bit of testing from Grizzer this morning, which caused Malik to approach with high tail looking for a chance to increase status. Shadow puts an end to this test through the use of direct eye contact, and if that fails, a chase begins. In this week's photo, you see Malik with a high tail, with Grizzer inbetween Shadow and Malik; Maya is on the rock offering a paw.
Whatever was causing Lakota to feel poorly two weeks ago, seems to have passed without incident. She's been energetic, healthy and active throughout the recent cold spell. Maybe she was feeling off from the lack of winter we were having. In this week's photo, she's running between the birch trees on her 5th lap around the enclosure. With Lucas in close pursuit and MacKenzie looking a bit annoyed by Lakota's dives into the straw beds.
Socialization between wolves seems to be paramount to the behavior of the individual. This is most evident in Lucas's case. While he seems to be aging at a faster rate than his packmates, the presence of his siblings stimulates him to be active. Without the social contact of specifically, Lakota, we're certain the aches and pains of a 12 year old wolf would keep him down. It's hard to stay down and listless when a wolf like Lakota comes racing by and encourages a chase.
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 Michelle Amacker, Cathy Jents, and Diane Nelson: During the Working for Wolves program, we noticed that Grizzer was fearful of the changes to the enclosure. In this photo, you can notice that he was very cautious in entering the den. Many changes were made to the den, and it took him some time to get comfortable. You can also notice how wide he appears from behind. He seems to have grown with his full winter coat.
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 Andi Nelson: For the Working for Wolves weekend, some major changes were done to the retirement pack's enclosure. While they were in the holding pen, there was some whining and pacing along the fenceline with Shadow. We moved the den boxes and filled them with fresh straw, which was also placed in other resting areas. Upon return to the enclosure, Mackenzie explored the changes and modifications to the enclosure. Her arthritis issues and eye condition seem to be in a holding pattern, at least since mid-September.
Lakota is doing well, racing around the pen during wolf check, excited to see the staff and trying to get her pack mates to chase her. It is hard to believe they will be 13 years old in April. all of the retired wolves have been a bit picky with vitamins and cosequin lately. Every morning, they're given vitamins, cosequin and durlactin (thanks to Andi Nelson's donation), in a meatball. Lately, all three have taken to eating the meat and leaving the pils. Staff are watching carefully to see who is skipping their meds.
Malik is doing well, there must have been some communication between he and Shadow that results in less dominance towards Malik. Now, Shadow only shows dominance towards Malik when Malik shows aggression towards Maya; then, Shadow intervenes immediately. As I write these logs, I gave a deer hide as a stimulus to the Exhibit Pack. Malik took it immediately from the gate, Maya submissively crawled over and attempted to gain possession. As soon as Malik growled and grabbed Maya, Shadow came running over and Malik left the hide. Maya went running up the hill with her possession. Lori Rhodes visited the Center on November 11th and 12th and contributes this week's photos of the Exhibit Pack.
MacKenzie is doing well, as staff provided fresh straw beds this morning, she protected her deer leg cache from the old bed, by carrying it around the enclosure until staff were finished. She also defended it from Lakota, but a mere glance of a dominant eye, she had control.
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