As the sole female, Maya seems to have the status of dominant female by default. Even though she is more timid than Grizzer, the focus of dominance is on Grizzer. Maya willingly joins in, and as the fall approaches, often starts the dominance display. Grizzer usually interacts with as much energy as Maya, but when the arctics get involved, it becomes a lot more intense. Maya has been spending a fair amount of time on the rocks in front of the Center. When the fall color's advance, there will be many opportunities for great photographs.
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Maya seems to still have a bit of an avoidance behavior towards staff. She's not fearful as much as disinterested in the staff. She seems to be interacting with all the wolves, but will avoid getting a daily physical. When she is approached, she submits and allows for a full check, but often has a high pitch whine while submitting. She's always been submissive, but staff have noticed her a bit more timid since Nyssa's death. She's still first to respond to predatory stimuli such as small songbirds landing in the enclosure looking for seeds.
So sorry for the delay in the wolf logs. Preparation for the Wolf Symposium in Colorado Springs has taken a bit of my time. In addition, protocols and contingency plans during my absence need to be written to ensure that every possible wolf emergency is covered. International Wolf Center members and former nannies, Brian and Ellen Dietz will be driving up from Illinois to spend the weekend at the Center assisting with any pack issues that may arise. I am most grateful for their offer to help keep an eye on the pack. I plan to feed a large deer carcass to both packs on Thursday night prior to my departure. A full wolf is usually a sleepy wolf. Dr Chip Hanson and wolf care staff Matt Fetterer and Jim Ziburski will be monitoring the pack as well.
Today was the first snow of the year, the begining of an intersting winter for Grizzer. He is maturing into an adult wolf, and today's example could be one of the many behaviors he will be showing. Shadow and Malik got into a dominace dispute, Grizzer often mounts Malik from behind during this encounters, but today, he became an active participant biting Malik on the neck several times. This was the first time that the wolf care staff noticed Grizzer actively biting Malik.
As you can see in the picture, Lucas is almost aproaching his 13th birthday. From all the retired pack, he is the one whose age is more noticeable, but that doesn't stop him from enjoying some play time with his littermates. Today he chased Lakota around the enclosure, and was also observed play bowing to her in response. It is good to see they still have stamina to play!
Wolf Care Staff member Jen Westlund had an interesting feeding. Grizzer tore the door off the pack holding area prior to feeding. The protocol for the feeding program is to lock the pack into the holding area while the staff wheels out the carcass. There was still plenty of time prior to the feeding, but Grizzer couldn't wait, he decided to let himself out of holding. All is repaired and he enjoyed his deer without further incident.
Even though Malik is getting a bit of unexpected attention from Grizzer, it doesn't seem to stop his behavior of instigating a dominance interaction with Shadow. Last week, while staff attempted to treat Shadow for a reoccuring ear mite problem, Malik took a couple of bites at Shadow's rump while he was distracted. This just led to Shadow getting a bit more serious when the ear mite treatment was done, and of course, Grizzer followed Shadow. Attempts to maintain high rank are critical in a wolf pack, even in captivity.
As last week's logs stated, Maya is the most observant and probably most predatory of the bunch. As the first snows arrive, many of the small songbirds are flocking prior to migration. For whatever reason, some of them are landing in the pen. Maya carefully stalks them and rushes them leading to a quick flight to the birds. Most get away, but some are not quick enough for an intent wolf, with strong predatory instincts. By the way, she got the filter mentioned in last week's wolf logs. The curator is designing a metal grate system.
Lakota has been spending a fair amount of time in MacKenzie's corner bed lately. This morning after wolf care, both Lakota and Lucas were resting in a new placement of straw, while MacKenzie laid in the snow nearby. There's still some construction noise across the road that keeps MacKenzie on alert.
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