MacKenzie has been doing well, and enjoys the fresh snow. We would also like to thank Chris Batiste for her recent donation of blueberries for MacKenzie and Lakota. MacKenzie has a bit of a sweet tooth, and would pick berries along the fence line. She enjoyed the treat as you can see by this week’s video. Of course, at this age, anything out of the ordinary is best served in small doses. 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.
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Malik has been sticking very close to Shadow during Shadow’s recent recovery from a knee injury. His confidence is strongly tied to Shadow and they remain very close as littermates. Staff can always tell when Malik is relaxed on the Exhibit, as he will jump on the rock for attention and he presents himself for scratching his back. In his video this week, you will see him walk by Grizzer, displaying submissive ears, but not showing any avoidance behavior. This is important to note and speaks to Malik’s confidence. In addition to the Christmas morning check of the wolves, staff will be monitoring the webcams throughout the day to gauge any issues in the pack. The den cam is a great place to watch the actions of the pack, but also tells us about the comfort level of the pack. The most confident pack members tend to take the top of the den. Usually, it’s Maya or Shadow, but if we see Grizzer on top of the den for several hours that tells us that the arctics may have some issues.
We are pleased to report that Shadow seems to have recovered well. He still joins in when Grizzer and Maya chase each other around the enclosure, against the wishes of the staff that care for him. We would rather he take it easy and remember he’s nearing 8 years of age, but he’s a dominant wolf that displays the social behavior of a leader. We want to emphasize how important Shadow is to this upcoming pup introduction. We are excited to see Shadow confident, healthy and in a leadership role, and the bond between Shadow and Maya is a great demonstration of the social pack behavior inherent in wolves. Speaking of socialization, the Nanny applications will be posted on the website after January 1st. Pup nannies are chosen through a rigorous process based on specific prerequisites and a narrative application. The process helps to ensure that we choose nannies who have the pups’ and wolves’ safety as their primary objective. The care the pups receive during their first few months shapes the outcome of their lives in captivity. Therefore we proactively work to minimize mistakes during the formative socialization period in the pups’ lives. When mistakes are made, it may affect the safety of the wolves and of the wolf care staff and the impact persists throughout the wolf’s life (typically 14 to 16 years for a captive wolf). We cannot overstate the importance of proper socialization, minimization of mistakes, and safety of the pups and exhibit pack during the introduction period.
Logs written by Nanny Team members, Lynne Haines and Sherrel Grabler:<br> Both pups were happy to see wolf care staff and nannies this morning. The pups ate most of a deer leg over the night. Denali was not interested in eating gruel. Denali walked along the fence line as the audience sat down on the bleachers for the Behind The Scenes Program. Aidan used Denali to display a head-shake while grabbing him by the throat. He settled down in the yard, focusing intently on a little boy’s teal colored shoes. Denali slept through the 11 am program. During the 5 pm program, and for a good 20 mins longer, Denali was quite focused on a deer leg, gnawing on it and growling at Aidan whenever he approached.
In this week’s video, you will see Maya stalk, lunge and grab Grizzer in a dominance display. You may have even viewed this on the webcam, as the 10 second refresh format, would have captured some of it. Maya has a significant personality change with the winter surge of estrogen, and Grizzer responds well to his packmate’s issues.
The pack dynamics continues to support a clear distinction in rank order. Grizzer is the number two male, and despite a few brief tests of Shadow, he shows submissive ear posture and body posture when Shadow's vocalizations become intense. It is a noisy time of year, driven by a surge in hormones as the wolves reach the height of their breeding season in the next month. Of course, the wolves here are spayed and neutered, but while that may calm some of the behaviors, it does not eliminate the behavioral push for being the strongest, most dominant pack members. In this week's video clip, you will see Shadow defending food from Grizzer, with Grizzer showing a submissive status. Of course, Maya comes in and takes Shadow's deer scraps.
Shadow’s confidence seems to be connected to Maya’s behavior. He is more relaxed and follows the actions of Grizzer and Maya, although, there is still a need for some strong vocalization to keep Grizzer in line. Shadow’s video this week shows some of that assertive behavior. Wolves have extensive vocalization patterns that may sound aggressive, but in fact, this strong communication probably reduces more serious dominance disputes. One of the reasons we chose the den camera as a location is to allow wolf care staff to monitor wolf actions when we are not in the enclosure. We can gleam dominance information by something as simple as who sleeps where. The Den is the highest vantage point in the enclosure and usually this place is reserved for the dominant wolf. Shadow has been taking this spot on a regular basis.
Lakota continues to be an active 14 1/2 year old wolf. Her health remains good and there are no indications that the facial growth is returning. Her most noteable behavior this week is the tendency to toss deer hides. She gets very excited and usually results in a race around the pen. In previous winters, she's even used the hide as a snowboard. Of course, never on camera.
The wolf logs will all be the same today, we would like to thank all of the wolf care supporters this past year. From the significant donations to the Water in the Lab fund to the vitamins and nutritional supplements, straw, squeaky toys, pigs ears, blueberries, tools, jump drives, web cams and many more items that are donated to the lab each year, we are so grateful there are so many people who help support the Retired and Exhibit Pack. There are too many names to mention, but you know who you are. We can always count on you when the wolves are in need. We are happy to report that all is well on this New Years Day, 2008. The Exhibit Pack received 2 frozen fish from a recent fishing trip, one caught by Assistant Wolf Curator, Donna Prichard and one caught by Lori Schmidt, Wolf Curator. Grizzer and Maya enjoyed rolling on them. The retired wolves are doing well, excited about the thawing of two deer legs for a mid-week feeding. The Nanny applications are posted on the website, they can be found on the Programs tab, look in Wolf Seminars or Learning Vacations – Northern Minnesota. We did institute a prerequisite program for the Nanny program this year, we did this based on some experiences that we had in 2004. Wolf pups are not dog pups, and we want to make sure nannies have to skills knowledge and abilities to assist in the socialization process. This is an historic time for the International Wolf Center, 2008 will mark the first time the Center has had three age structures in a pack and we want to make sure the best interest of the pups and the pack in mind as we move forward. If you have questions about the Nanny program, please email the curator directly at curator@wolf.org
The wolf logs will all be the same today, we would like to thank all of the wolf care supporters this past year. From the significant donations to the Water in the Lab fund to the vitamins and nutritional supplements, straw, squeaky toys, pigs ears, blueberries, tools, jump drives, web cams and many more items that are donated to the lab each year, we are so grateful there are so many people who help support the Retired and Exhibit Pack. There are too many names to mention, but you know who you are. We can always count on you when the wolves are in need. We are happy to report that all is well on this New Years Day, 2008. The Exhibit Pack received 2 frozen fish from a recent fishing trip, one caught by Assistant Wolf Curator, Donna Prichard and one caught by Lori Schmidt, Wolf Curator. Grizzer and Maya enjoyed rolling on them. The retired wolves are doing well, excited about the thawing of two deer legs for a mid-week feeding. The Nanny applications are posted on the website, they can be found on the Programs tab, look in Wolf Seminars or Learning Vacations – Northern Minnesota. We did institute a prerequisite program for the Nanny program this year, we did this based on some experiences that we had in 2004. Wolf pups are not dog pups, and we want to make sure nannies have to skills knowledge and abilities to assist in the socialization process. This is an historic time for the International Wolf Center, 2008 will mark the first time the Center has had three age structures in a pack and we want to make sure the best interest of the pups and the pack in mind as we move forward. If you have questions about the Nanny program, please email the curator directly at curator@wolf.org
The International Wolf Center uses science-based education to teach and inspire the world about wolves, their ecology, and the wolf-human relationship.