It's taken some creative handling and some extra time to make sure Denali gets his fair share of social contact from Wolf Care Staff. He does enjoy contact with staff when he can get it, but getting time is dependent upon Aidan's attitude. This will be an interesting winter, and the dynamics between these two individuals will be definitely influenced by the pups.
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Grizzer has been in an exceptionally good mood lately. He has had many bouts of racing through the enclosures, howling with the pack, play bowing to Oscar, and seeking comfort from the heat, wind and rain in the many protected areas in his habitat. We did notice some very subdued behavior from Grizzer earlier in the week; Oscar had been off site all weekend (he deserves a break from work as well), and Grizzer didn't perk up until Oscar came back into the yard on Monday morning. As I write this log, I see Grizzer on the security camera, laying in a sphinx posture watching Oscar in the yard. Even though they don't physically touch, Grizzer's focus on Oscar keeps him occupied.
We were a bit concerned with Shadow after he seemed disinterested in food on Sunday – Tuesday. We changed the surveillance cameras to constantly record rather than record only motion. He was even resting in the den with an unusually "rest on side" posture. At this age, any subtle difference is worth noting and recording. He seems fine today, it could have been the upper 70's and 80 degree temperatures we had last weekend. Heat stress can take a toll on a wolf with a full winter coat, far more problematic than in the middle of summer when they have shed all their undercoat. The forecast for tomorrow is a high of 49, a great temperature for an arctic wolf.
Aidan had a great visit with wolf care staff today, submissively rolling over and getting some positive social interaction for nearly 30 minutes. This is such a difference than what we experienced with Aidan during his first two years of life. Previously, as the lowest ranking pack member, it was difficult to give him attention without having the more dominant wolves intervene. Now, we have a similar issue, when Denali wants attention, Aidan intervenes.
Shadow and Malik showed very little reaction to the construction work and the resulting move of Aidan and Denali into the Pack Holding area while Grizzer was held in the new habitat. Shadow did look at the shared fence line between the Retired Enclosure and Grizzer's habitat, but didn't show much excitement. There is a rather lengthy footage on Youtube showing Shadow caching a beaver. The warmer weather has kept them from feeding like a typical October day.
Aidan has been increasing his possessive behavior around staff and this seems to make Denali more likely to prance around the Exhibit. Aidan was even described as charging and lunging just like Maya. Which, if you knew Maya, that's a compliment, she was the best at asserting rank order. We fed some additional food when we did the densite concrete and we fed a bit more this week as we had a gate installed for access to the back side of the enclosure. This means, we have some full wolves. Aidan has no problem eating his fair share of resources.
We're not sure why, but Shadow seems to have had a few off days in the past few weeks, and there doesn't appear to be any other symptoms than the lack of enthusiasm for greeting and limited interest in food. It doesn't take much for Malik to see this as a weakness and start to posture towards Shadow. Shadow, already seeming subdued, just backs off from Malik, dropping his ears, which encourages Malik to follow him, adding to the intimidation. Today, Shadow seems better, but we are prepared to do some specialized feeding if necessary to increase his attitude.
We're not sure why, but Shadow seems to have had a few off days in the past few weeks, and there doesn't appear to be any other symptoms than the lack of enthusiasm for greeting and limited interest in food. It doesn't take much for Malik to see this as a weakness and start to posture towards Shadow. Shadow, already seeming subdued, just backs off from Malik, dropping his ears, which encourages Malik to follow him, adding to the intimidation. Today, Shadow seems better, but we are prepared to do some specialized feeding if necessary to increase his attitude. We did feed some scraps today with a hide, so you may see the wolves on camera today defending the scraps from ravens. They cached everything in the den which is well protected from birds.
If you haven't had a chance to watch this week's Youtube, it was great fun seeing Grizzer's excitement when we returned him to his new habitat. We did some concrete work on his den to provide a little extra overhang to prevent rain from coming into the den. This required 3 days of drying time, keeping Grizzer out of the new habitat. When he returned, he was very excited, marking the new smells as well as trying to scent roll. He immediately started racing between the two areas, putting a smile on the faces of the wolf care staff.
Shadow appears to be feeling better, not that we ever determined what was wrong, but he's back to the old chin rests, following and posturing that we have witnessed since he was a pup. The challenging situation with Shadow is that if he's not at his best, Malik is quick to gain some behavioral status, which causes more anxiety from Shadow. There isn't much to remedy the situation, this is the behavior of an opportunistic, social pack member.
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