The wolf logs will all be the same today, due to weather priorities… Yes, the weather plays a big part in what we do in wolf care and defines the hazards of the job. Today, we have freezing rain, which creates a hazard for wolf care staff and wolves alike. Staff are very vulnerable in slippery conditions, if a wolf jumps on us, and we fall, this can easily turn in to test. For the wolves, the icy conditions can mean a joint injury. Our job today is to keep the pack calm, and check everyone’s physical condition thoroughly. The wolves are using the dens and there is straw placed under the eaves to get out of the rain. In the videos this week, you will see the pond frozen from snowmelt conditions. Aidan does a stiff leg jump to crack the ice, and Denali comes up with an ice chunk to investigate. Shadow continues to show his leadership as he dominates Grizzer, but Grizzer is showing very submissive postures and is seeking Shadow’s dominance. Grizzer still socially interacts with the pups; Malik still follows Grizzer around looking for any opportunity to get a grab bite on Grizzer. Maya is still stalking and making Aidan nervous, but not as problematic as a month ago. All in all, the pack is well; the only other risk that we are dealing with today is the weight of the ice on tree branches that is starting to make branches break.
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Grizzer is still very social with the pups, spending a significant amount of time interacting, usually with Grizzer on his back allowing the pups to climb on him. The warmer temperatures of spring are arriving this week, and this means very calm wolves. Grizzer's preference is for the top of the new slate den, but during a recent storm, Grizzer, Aidan and Denali all chose to lay inside the new den. The den was designed for two wolves comfortably, but we're glad to know that it can hold the three of them.
Malik hasn't reduced his behavior in the last few weeks, which means that there are still some male rank order issues. Malik projects a lot of nervous energy that makes him weak. Grizzer attempts to ignore him, but with Malik following him around and growling in his face, he's kind of hard to ignore. We've been meaning to record the audio of his chatter, it is quite unique.
With spring arriving and temperatures in the 60’s the snow is melting quickly. The enclosure has residual straw beds that have solid layers of ice, creating the waiting period before we can rake and remove straw. The warmer weather has made the wolves less active during the day. Maya is calming, which makes Aidan more relaxed. He is greeting more with staff and spending some quality time interacting. We still notice his response to anxiety turns predatory. Even with the most experienced staff, he grab-bites when there’s too much commotion in the enclosure. He quickly calms if staff face him and bend over to greet and do a chest scratch. The pups will be one year old on Monday, April 27th, it doesn’t seem that long ago that we brought these amazing pups into the lab, it has been a learning experience watching them grow into yearlings. Aidan has formed some very strong bonds with his fellow pack mates.
This past week was a challenge for Denali management. As discussed, he is more testing than Aidan. Aidan will do more aggressive biting out of anxiety, but Denali does grab more as a common greeting. He also appears to be insatiable in appetite. With the change of seasons, it’s not uncommon to have some hormonal and metabolism changes. We’re not sure why, but last week Denali was ravenously hungry despite a Saturday night feeding of a 120 lb deer. So, on Monday, we fed a 35 lb beaver, and Aidan and Denali spent 2 hours eating that (we fed it frozen to keep them occupied). On Tuesday, Denali continued to be obsessed and agitated when we gave meds, and possessive over anything in wolf care hands. We took out another deer torso and fed it frozen again (see Denali and Maya’s video), by Wednesday, we finally saw a calmer satisfied pup. We hope this is short-term, our food budget can’t sustain a yearling that wants to eat 200 lbs of meat a week, nor is that good for his health.
Aidan and Denali are one year old today, and has you can see by Denali's weight, he had a good first year. In comparison, Grizzer was 93 lbs as a yearling and now he tops 120 lbs.. so if anyone studies algebra and calculates the ratio and if growth rate from yearling to full adult is consistent, then Denali will be ~130 lbs. If attitude toward food is any indication, then Denali will be all that… he has a focus on food that surpasses even Grizzer. Friday, there was a crane on site that stood 50 feet above the roof line, Denali was very afraid, as was Maya and Grizzer. Shadow ignored it, Aidan was more worried about Maya being on the move and Malik was looking for Grizzer. Denali bobbed his head several times to determine what it was, then ran for the hill.
As video clips will show, Shadow is still a very active dominant male, and has been observed in a lot of interactions towards Grizzer, most often when Grizzer gets too excited towards staff, the pups (yearlings) or Malik. This might be protectionism behavior, as Shadow is aging, he will act quickly and swiftly to any sign of Grizzer gaining status, which is more likely than Shadow taking on an active role to protect staff. Shadow's weight is a bit of a concern, in May of 2005, he weighted 95 lbs, in July of 2008, he weighted 92.5, now, he is 88.6 lbs. It is common for older animals to lose weight, but when a dominant wolf does, it might have negative impacts. Of course, it's probably the role of the dominant wolf that is making him work so hard. By the look of the photos, the stress is not just physical.
Wolf care staff owe Denali an apology. When we do wolf care, we see Denali testing Grizzer, foreleg stabbing and pawing at Grizzer until he gets aggravated. What we observed during the wolf watch was a completely different scenario. Denali spent most of the observation period wandering the front of the enclosure, looking for Grizzer. Grizzer spent most of the observation period hiding behind bushes and rocks, in a ambush stance, waiting to pounce on Denali or at least make direct eye contact with him. Eamonn Briem wrote: "Denali seems a little nervous about Grizzer. He is skittish when Grizzer comes around. His ears are always back and turned sideways and his tail was as low as a T 3.5 (touching his haunches). Sometimes he was so focused on Grizzer that he ran sideways and ran over Aidan and Maya." We believe, when we do wolf care, we provide Denali some confidence to test Grizzer, but when the pack is alone, Denali has no confidence, and he won't take Grizzer on alone.
Malik continues to benefit from Shadow's daily feedings, either directly stealing food from Shadow, taking his caches, or getting some tidbits from wolf care staff as a distraction. What Malik doesn't like is wind, and as the fall weather arrives, it includes, cool, rainy and windy days. Malik is nervous about wind, and especially trees swaying in the breeze. In recent weeks, we have been reviewing old photos and thought we would share this picture of Malik as a 7-week old pup.
Shadow continues to be extremely social with staff and greets like no other wolf. His exuberance with the cooler temperatures combined with less flies and 5 lbs of chicken in his stomach made for an excited wolf check this morning. It was also a wet wolf care check, as rain fell through out the night and the mornings brought continued drizzle and colder weather. In the past several weeks, we have been reviewing photos, and thought we would share the pup pictures of our current retired wolves.
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