This pup is showing some signs of dominance. He has grabbed the stuffed wolf pup by the ear, and climbs and bites on pup# 1. We can start to feel their upper teeth breaking through, and expect them to have tooth development soon.
Archives
Attila is 19 days old today and has a slower development than Red Paw. Part of this is due to his temperament, he’s very particular about the bottle and the position he is held when feeding. If it isn’t a certain position, he gets frustrated and quits. He didn’t feed as much yesterday as he had in previous days. The Vet is coming today to do a check for any physical issues that might be occurring. Physically, his snout is elongating and his ears are showing more signs of being pointed and held upright, but the ears don’t stay up for long. One notable behavior is that Attila began to drag the blanket across the enclosure. While this may just seem like pup play, dragging carcasses is a common wolf behavior when feeding. We will also watch for these other carcass feeding instincts such as caching, tug of war and plucking.
Behavioral notes over the weekend: <br> Red Paw is very calm in programs and is tolerant of any movement or noise. He has increased his meat intact considerably, and enjoys the elk meatballs given during the programs. Air conditioning in the lab is a bonus for the pups and they enjoy both inside and outside time.
Written by Kristin Radermacher. Aidan, like his brother, started out the day with a rousing howl. He spent a lot of time outside chasing his brother. He was also observed digging holes and cacheing food.
Before wolf care staff enter the enclosure, it’s important for them to observe the body language and behavior of the pack before entering. Staff members don’t want to walk in on any active dominance session and find themselves dealing with more than a regular wolf check. This occurred on Friday, November 2nd. When we arrived for wolf care, Shadow was staying toward the back of the pen with very submissive ears, when staff entered the enclosure, he was reluctant to come down for a greeting, but after a few minutes, he seemed to relax and interact. Grizzer had some excitement levels with staff, so he seemed pretty clear that the issue was probably between Grizzer and Shadow. In contrast to Malik who gets more aggressive in defense, Shadow seems to get more subdued when Grizzer tests him. This will be something interesting to watch in the upcoming months.
MacKenzie had a slight puncture in her left, rear paw this week. The enclosure was checked thoroughly to see if there were any fence issues, but no noticeable areas were detected. It is possible that it was a puncture from some play bouts with Lakota, but with limited evidence, it is hard to determine the cause. She is keeping it clean and staff is monitoring it for any signs of infection. It was a year ago (December 4th, 2006) that MacKenzie had some significant spinal conditions that made us wonder how long she’d be with us. We are happy to report that MacKenzie remains in good physical condition and good mobility; every day is an honor to work with her.
It’s been a quiet week of dominance, Shadow’s knee injury has healed and Grizzer seems to be less testing. Several bouts of chase have been observed with Grizzer and Maya taking turns chasing each other. The arctic’s join in and the social behavior including pack rallies with full tail wags seem to be increasing. Grizzer has been very submissive to staff as well with his video footage showing him in a calm posture, before getting excited at the arrival of the plumber for the wolf lab. Wolf care staff will be in on Christmas day to make sure all continues to go well for the pack.
Lakota is again taking her meatballs, but staff still needs to crush the pills to ensure that she doesn’t eat the meat and leave the pills in the snow. The issue may have been related to a surplus of food from local deer hunter scraps. As the weather gets colder, her appetite is increasing. She is extremely rambunctious on a daily basis, springing towards staff and running at full speed around the pen. We are happy with her mobility and she appears to have no joint stiffness. Staff have noticed that it is taking more time to get her attention when she is facing away from us; it appears her hearing is probably going. This doesn’t seem to have an impact on her or her social activity in the pack. Wolf care staff will be in on Christmas day to make sure all is well with the wolves, caring for wolves is a 365 day a year job.
One thing good about Denali's testing is the Grizzer is more active, which is good for his weight issue. We see Grizzer showing more pair bonding behavior with Maya, rubbing up against her and spending time interacting. Although, Maya can be just as cranky with Grizzer as she is with Denali and Aidan.
Denali received a big surprise this morning, Grizzer had enough of his testing behavior and began chasing Denali around the pond, this continued for several minutes, with the Denali showing very submissive ear and tail. Of course, Denali returned to his testing later in the day, but he was intimidated by Grizzer's intensity.
The International Wolf Center uses science-based education to teach and inspire the world about wolves, their ecology, and the wolf-human relationship.