Pups put in large holding area for photo session, isolated from the adults. Pups very nervous at first possibly due to the adults pacing at the edge of the fence. Malik anxiously submitted to adults at the fence line. Mackenzie and Lucas continually mob Lakota during the first 20 minutes pups are held, then settle down with Lakota staying at the den. Pups begin to settle down in holding area and begin to play. Adults are let into holding area, pups first response is to mob Lakota. Malik is able to intimidate Lakota several times, LK submissive to Malik.
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Maya is very efficient in predatory behavior. She stalks small rodents, birds etc, better than any other pack member. She's been observed using the same behavior to stalk and bite the floating hair in the pond. It's been a challenge to clean the pond with the puppies help, but it sure has been entertaining.
Lakota is doing very well, she races around the pen like a two year old. Staff often discuss how active she is compared to the other retired wolves. Her favorite activity is grabbing fresly laid straw and spreading it thoughout the enlosure. As the weather gets colder, weekly straw will be added giving her many hours of enjoyment.
During deer season, the wolves have received an abundance of deer scraps and meat. This also means that the ravens are enjoying the leftovers from the feedings. Maya has been observed this week watching, stalking and chasing ravens from the deer carcasses. Her predatory instincts can be seen in this photo as she watches the ravens in the enclosure.
Maya's interactions with the males is very interesting. When Grizzer and Shadow chase Malik, Maya stalks them and pounces on Grizzer. This usually leads to her and Grizzer riding up and jaw sparring, with Grizzer attempting to get back to the Malik chase. Maya definitely needs something to dominate and Grizzer is convenient.
Everything is going well here. It appears that MacKenzie has overcome the spinal issues she had earlier and is being weaned off the prednisone. Lakota is still springing around the enclosure as if she were a two year old, instead of a wolf nearing 14 years of age. The male rank order remains calm, with Grizzer and Maya continuing to interact as pupmates, and Shadow maintaining watch over the pack. Malik seems very relaxed and in his video this week is observed with high tail interacting with Grizzer and Maya when they are wrestling, but backs off when Shadow gives him direct eye contact. Thanks for your continued support of the wolf care program. Staff will be monitoring all wolves closely over the coming holiday season and maybe we’ll see you on the webcam.
MacKenzie had a bit of a relapse on Christmas eve day as we were weaning her off her medication. It now appears that she may need a maintenance dose of medication to maintain mobility and control pain. The hopes were that her body could do some healing while on medication, and that we would see improvement without the anti-inflammatory. It now appears the spinal problems may be more complex. She improves quickly with the increase in medication and we will be working to find the right minimum dose to keep her comfortable. In this week's video, you will see her comfortably eating a beaver, chewing the tail off and taking it to her bed (beaver tails are high in fat, and a real treat for wolves).
A student recently contacted the Center and inquired about the wolves jaw capacity to break open a coconut. We’re always encouraging scientific discovery as long as it doesn’t negatively impact the wolves. So, we tried it and we discovered, although wolves have the jaw capacity to break open a moose bone, which is obviously harder than a coconut, the coconut is too wide to get good leverage with their molars (that teeth closest to the jaw joint). Without the leverage of their temporal muscles, the wolves did nothing more than stare and roll the coconut. Grizzer continues to be more subdued in his testing behavior, but clearly takes his number two role seriously. In his video this week, you will see him standing with Shadow on top of the den watching the activity in the parking lot
This is the first true subzero weather this winter and the wolves are handling the temperatures well, even the 30 below zero evenings. In an effort to ensure that the wolves have enough energy to stay warm, the Exhibit pack had an extra feeding this week, primarily for Malik and Shadow, as Grizzer and Maya have no problems getting their fair share. Usually after a Saturday feeding, the pack has plenty of leftovers and caches, and will often be observed feeding on carcasses through the following Wednesday or Thursday. But, last week’s deer was completely gone by Monday, so the extra feeding was helpful. We also included 2 beaver with the full deer carcass for the feeding this past Saturday. Beaver have a good fat content and are a valuable food in the cold season. We would also like to thank Wendy Watson for her recent donation of 8 straw bales to the wolves. With the snow arriving so early, we have been using an abundance of straw, including the donation from Andi Nelson and Theresa Williams.
There seems to be a pattern in the response to Grizzer, Maya defends food from him, Malik defends himself. Regardless, Grizzer maintains a good attitude and has been very compatible with staff interactions. In Maya’s video this week, she displays a behavior that seems to be common when a dog is in the wolf yard. When she was a pup, the Wolf Curator’s dog was used to get the pups exposed to larger canids dominance displays before the pups met the adult wolves. When Maya sees any dog, she displays loud, and excitable whining behavior, this will likely be her response when the new pups arrive.
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