Aidan-Prancing with the Pack (Some of the Pack?)

We have moments when Aidan shows some strong pack cohesiveness with Denali, Grayson and even at times Axel, but as soon as Boltz arrives, he reverts back to intimidation and retreat mode.  There are definite correlations to the temperatures, and as you can see by this week’s photo, the snow gets everyone excited.  Aidan is prancing with Denali as the younger wolves are running along the fenceline.  I posted this video clip on last week’s Youtube. Aidan had a vet check last week and there were discussions about the growth that has been irritating his front leg.  At this point, we are measuring and monitoring the growth size and growth rate as well as the irritation factor.  The Veterinarian prescribed an antihistamine, since mast cell’s can be a result of a body’s response to allergens and inflammation.  Aidan has had a history of auto-immune disorders dating back to 2011 with his first diagnosis of discoid lupus, so this has been an ongoing management issue for staff.  

As far as the testing of Aidan’s status, this seems to be diminishing, although the colder than average April has kept things a bit tense a big longer than usual.  It seems like the arctics are having face-off behaviors with Boltz which makes us think there might be some rank establishment among the three younger wolves.  Rank isn’t something that’s settled in a day, it is a combination of behavioral occurrences that build over time and are influenced by hormones and certainly cooler ambient temperatures.  To say that the pack is testing, does not infer that testing interactions are the sole interactions of the pack.  Even on a daily basis, the wolves can go from testing dominance to a “nose to nose” greetings and end up resting in social groups with the same individuals that had earlier experienced conflict.  Wolves don’t hold a grudge or want to get even with each other. Aidan was the wolf that lead the social bonding with the arctic pups on their introduction into the pack and despite the testing, Aidan and Grayson still have a strong bond; On Saturday, the staff reported all wolves but Boltz were resting on the pump housing together.  That’s not a very large space for 4 large wolves, so they must have been feeling compatible.  We look for evidence in every interaction, so we have the ability to understand wolf intent. 

Aidan – Showing More Confidence, Sometimes

This week has found Aidan showing more confidence at times, but still not all the way back to managing the pack.  He is able to control the food resource, acquiring and defending carcasses, but when it comes to rank order, Boltz and Axel give him the most anxiety.  He has been resting with Grayson and seems to have limited concern about Grayson’s presence.  Staff did identify a pea sized lump on his incision site where the last mass cell tumor was removed.  This certainly will change management decisions.  Based on the last growth development, we may have to look at medical intervention in a few months. So far, Aidan has stayed active, often prancing to the edge of the woodline when the pack is active, looking like he is moments away from joining in, but then decides against it.  You may notice that we moved the Exhibit webcam  angle this afternoon so we can get a better surveillance view of Aidan’s resting spot.  Staff have been asked to pay particular attention to Aidan’s focus on his leg.  Please feel free to email me with any observations you may have.  If you could identify the time stamp on the webcam, this will help us retrieve footage.   

Axel – Stalking

Axel and Grayson are very active with each other, and the rest of the pack. This past week they have been working together to test their limits with Boltz and Denali. While Grayson’s activities are usually limited to chasing, Axel is biting, pulling tails, and doing ride-ups. In the last few days he seems to be focusing more on Denali.  This is a natural process until the pack can define a new leader.  Denali is quick to respond with a high tail and a few ride-up’s of his own.  Boltz is less confident about the attention. 

Boltz – Back in the Middle?

Boltz continues to show less confidence about taking over leadership of the pack. He still postures towards Aidan but is quick to back off when Aidan shows some dominance, especially if the interaction involves food. This week there were several bouts of testing towards Boltz by Axel and Grayson. After a testing event, the response from Boltz is to display some active submission, rolling over and licking Denali’s face.  There were a sequence of behaviors photographed taken of this event.  In Boltz’s log, you see the submissive response of Boltz.  In Denali’s log, you see a Denali seeming to enjoy the social grooming that is part of active submission. 

Denali – Receiving Renewed Focus

As stated in the last log, Denali appears to be enjoying a bit of peace from Aidan’s lack of confidence in terms of how Aidan typically manages the pack. However, in the past several days other members of the pack are doing a bit more testing of Denali. Recently Denali was the focus of Axel who was biting, chasing, doing ride-ups and generally testing him.  But, Denali is not showing a loss of confidence, in fact, he’s been prancing around with a high tail and doing more Raised Leg Urinations that we’ve seen in a while. This isn’t Denali’s first experience with maturing yearlings, Boltz showed some of the same traits as a yearling. The interesting observations in the last few weeks relates to the the relationship with Boltz and Denali.  When Boltz loses confidence, instead of running away with a low tail, he runs to Denali and obnoxiously submits.  The problem of an obnoxious submission is that the energy is unstable leaving Denali to display airplane ears of uncertainty.  The benefit of the obnoxious submission is that the behavior can include some social grooming.  Denali’s facial expression shows that he does enjoy that part of the interaction. 

Grayson Observing

Grayson – the Observer

From the earliest moments that Grayson arrived at the Center we noticed that he seemed to be always watching and taking in all activities around him. This continues to be the behavior he exhibits most. In the past week, Grayson has spent time observing Axel, following and testing Denali, then watching Aidan observing Axel and Denali. He continues to vocalize quite a bit as tensions increased between Axel, Denali, and Boltz.  The most important observation staff have recorded is that he continues to rest with Aidan, and seems to still see Aidan as his pack leader.  The reality is that Aidan, while not asserting leadership, has a mere presence that implies leadership in the mind of Grayson, Denali and even in Aidan’s own actions.  It is critical that we acknowledge the psychological impact of retiring a pack leader. 

Grizzer – Resting Comfortably

Grizzer seems to be enjoying warm naps in the sun on top of the den in the pack holding area. We have had warm days and cold nights lately, and Grizzer has been observed panting to cool off since he still has his thick winter coat. He continues to be social with Luna as long as it doesn’t involve food, and seems to enjoy visits with wolf care staff.  As you may know, we have had mortalities of wolves between 13 and 15 years of age.  Although Grizzer appears very healthy, there are key things to monitor as he approaches 14 years of age.  The most important is kidney function, which can have some telling symptoms such as lethargy, weight loss, increased thirst, change in appetite or how an animal processes food (scats).  There are several great things about managing Grizzer.  First and foremost, he is on a hand-fed feeding regime with measured food amounts fed on a daily basis, so we know exactly what he eats.  Secondly, staff fill the waterers on a daily basis, so water consumption can be monitored, although we can’t tribute it all to Grizzer as he shares water with Luna.  Third, Grizzer has a behavioral pattern of trying to defecated on a high spot, so if there’s a scat on a stump, we are 99% certain it’s Grizzer.  As far as lethargy, that’s a bit more of a challenge, older animals like to sleep, especially in a nice cover hay bed in the sun, but a quick scan of surveillance cameras can judge the activity levels within a 24-hour period.  Grizzer’s behavior can best be described as crepuscular, which means, active at dawn and desk. 

Luna- Roll on Back

Luna continues to dictate to wolf care staff where and when she wants body work. For the past several weeks, she seems to want to skip leg work and concentrate on belly rubs.  Her undercoat is extremely thick and when wolf care staff do manage to find her skin under the thick layer of winter hair, it stimulates the scratch response.  The only challenge to this is the toenails that come with the scratch response.  Luna seems to have less wear on her toenails than the other wolves, even Grizzer.  We rarely clip wolf toenails because of the digging and active movements throughout the wooded enclosure.   Luna’s longer nails may be due to the impact of her back right femoral head alignment causing an uneven gait.  Staff are conditioning her to the presence of toenail clippers and so far have been successful in clipping the front toenails but she is still sensitive on her back toenails.  Perhaps some warmer daytime temperatures may make her more sedentary, making toenail clipping and brushing her thick winter coat a bit easier.  We celebrated her birthday on on March 25th with a webinar and a birthday treat of pigs ears.  

Axel – is Leadership a Good Fit

Axel is definitely taking every opportunity to assert some status.  His tension is still quite high with Denali and Boltz, displaying ride-up behaviors doing some face-off behaviors, not to mention taking any opportunity to grab-bite Aidan’s tail.  Certainly, he has confidence; he was the more confident of the two pups and some of his behavior seems to be mirroring his pup behavior, but is that enough to lead a pack and is leadership a good fit with Axel’s personality?  Only time will tell, but independence doesn’t make for strong bonds.  We continue to see the importance of strong bonds between Grayson and Aidan.  If Axel leads, will he show the same level of trust and leadership for the 2020 pups or will they form alliances with the more social companionship of Grayson or Boltz? Even though it is only 2018, the preparation for the 2020 pups is underway and these are the kind of questions on the minds of the curator. 

Boltz – Looking at Life at the Top

Earlier this winter, we really thought Boltz was showing some behaviors that indicated he could lead this pack, but recently, his confidence has been waning.  It seems like he took a look at life at the top and decided that it was better to be subordinate.  He is socially interactive with the pack, but is quick to show a submissive food-begging posture to Denali after a group howl or when there’s an over-exuberant session of dominance from the maturing yearlings.  He is very timid when trying to get a piece of the weekly deer carcass, especially since Aidan’s confidence has increased.  We just celebrated Boltz’s 6th birthday on March 17th and during his webinar and we discussed Boltz’s phobias of flying insects during the summer and how that timid response is likely going to impact his ability to gain the respect and leadership of the pack.  One of the webinar subscribers asked if Boltz had other winter phobias that were as intense as the insect issues.  My response to that was no, primarily because he might have a focus on things from above such as ravens during the winter, but not enough to go and hide in the woods all day like he does in the summer.  One thing is for certain, each wolf has a personality and has had life experiences that shape their personality.  It is up to wolf care staff to understand and find creative ways to manage their unique personalities as they meld with the pack.  For Boltz, we found that using bacon flavored bubbles is a way to help desensitize him to items floating above his head and we will continue to work with him before the start of the insect season.  If you are interested in honoring Boltz’s birthday or supporting the training and supplies used to care for our wolves, please consider a gift to the Wolf Care Fund.