We had a great report from the Ely Vet Clinic on Luna's last x-rays and were given the approval to transition the pups back together. The timing of this was important as Luna had become so frustrated that she would attack Boltz anytime she had the opportunity (during a program was the only time they were allowed together). After three hours of some active interactions, Luna and Boltz finally settled down and fell asleep resting with their heads touching. Then, Boltz used Luna as a pillow. It's nice to see this type of pup mate interactions. <br> Here are the weights since the last posting:<br> Day Days Old Weight in LBS <br> <li>7/6/2012 104 29.1<li> 7/7/2012 105 29.1<li> 7/8/2012 106 29.9<li> 7/9/2012 107 30.4<li> 7/10/2012 108 30.4<li> 7/11/2012 109 31.4<li> 7/12/2012 110 n/a<li> 7/13/2012 111 31.7
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Boltz is extremely tolerant of Luna's activities, and for that, we are fortunate. Luna can get very aggressive with Boltz and he doesn't respond with the same type of behavior. This may be influenced by the fact that Oscar still actively jaw spars and rolls Boltz over in a submissive posture. Behaviorally, Boltz does better with canids than humans. This is likely due to the fact that we didn't really begin socializing Boltz to our facility and staff until he was 28 days old, even though our source facility began the socialization during the neonate period. <br> Boltz's weights since last week fluctuated a bit. Warm weather and Luna's separation for her Vet visit do influence his appetite. <br> Date Days Old Weight in LBS <br><li> 7/14/2012* 4 months 120 44.5 <li> 7/15/2012 121 44.53<li> 7/16/2012 122 45.85<li> 7/17/2012 123 45.4<li> 7/18/2012 124 46.7<li> 7/19/2012 125 47.62<li> 7/20/2012 126 47.62
Shadow has the hardest time with the heat and he's resorted to sleeping under the dense vegetation in the back of the enclosure. This is great for him, but the drawback is that we can't see him from the surveillance camera nor from the lab window. This means frequent trips to retirement to check on him, which usually gets him up and defeats the purpose of letting them rest during the heat. At least we can turn on the sprinkler hose every time we go out, so when he gets up, he has nice cool soil at the front of the enclosure where he greets.
Boltz's weights may appear that he is on a roller coaster, but we think this may be scale issues. Due to his size, he doesn't fit on the pup scale anymore, (actually Luna is now weighed on this scale as well). This is a large metal scale that weighs to the nearest .2 lbs, and if the pups are not at the center of the scale, it can get inconsistent weights. Getting a pup to stand on a scale is a challenge, and getting them to stand still is an even bigger challenge. Weights are important to gather every morning, but we also analyze total food consumption, energy level and attitude when determining a pup's status. Boltz is excelling at all of these factors. <br>Here's his weights since the last posting showing date, age in days and weight in pounds. <br> 6/25/2012 101 36 <li> 6/26/2012 102 35.5 <li> 6/27/2012 103 36 <li> 6/28/2012 104 37 <li> 6/29/2012 105 36.1
Boltz displayed some very low throated howls in response to separation from Luna. We started to transition them together and saw some very strong associative behavior after about 3 hours of active interactions. The Youtube this week has a lot of video featuring the pups, including Boltz spending time on a hot day in the water tub and doing some caching behavior. <br> Here are the weights since the last posting:<br> <br> Date Days Old Weight in LBS. <br> <li>7/6/2012 112 41.4<li> 7/7/2012 113 41.5<li> 7/8/2012 114 41.5<li> 7/9/2012 115 42.8<li> 7/10/2012 116 42.3<li> 7/11/2012 117 43.7<li> 7/12/2012 118 44.1<li> 7/13/2012 119 44.5
We haven't started bringing the pups into the Pack Holding Area, so Grizzer has a bit more time before his world is influenced by pup play sessions. We continue to see a lot of howling from Grizzer, generally, anytime the adults are active on either side of his enclosure, he gets involved. Originally, we had a tentative design to have Grizzer's new habitat away from the rest of the wolves, now, we can't imagine him not being engaged in social activity through the fence. It's not the best case scenario for a wolf to live alone, but if they have to, it's good to have an enclosure design that allows them visual privacy, yet close enough to the activity to stimulate them.
Aidan had an unusual behavior on Thursday morning. When I went in to do wolf care, I noticed that he was staying near the den entrance. Usually he comes over to greet and guards staff from Denali, so when we were able to greet Denali first, it seemed like something wasn't quite right. We went over to the den and spent some time interacting, until he felt comfortable enough to move to the front of the Exhibit. This seemed to coincide with a Behind the Scenes program. Aidan has always been the shyer of the two adults, and when he acts a bit reserved, Denali takes advantage of him and tests him for hours after a program. We certainly want to avoid any disruption to the wolves rank issues right before the introduction. We did our last Behind the Scenes this weekend, and we are trying to keep things relatively calm in the wolf yard prior to the introduction.
Boltz was neutered on Tuesday and after one day off the daily program schedule, was back with Luna and investigating the pack holding area by Wednesday morning. He did extremely well and is gets very excited to get some time in the holding area that will serve as the introduction site. Boltz and Luna have both taken to the medical pen and are spending nights sleeping outdoors. We want this enclosure to be very familiar to the pups as we will need to draw them into this pen multiple times a day for feeding and nutritional supplements. Boltz has been stabilizing his weight gain, but we will see an increase in daily weight gain in the next month with plenty of exercise and an increase in appetite. <br> Here are the weight gains since the last posting:<br> Date Days of Age Weight in Pounds<br> <li>7/20/2012 126 47.62<li> 7/21/2012 127 48.8<li> 7/22/2012 128 48.5<li> 7/23/2012 129 49.82<li> 7/24/2012 130 49.6<li> 7/25/2012 131 49.82<li> 7/26/2012 132 49.82
Denali has always been know for being an opportunistic tester. Grizzer experienced it last winter and Aidan deals with this behavior if there's anything that causes him stress. We finished the Behind the Scenes programs this week and it appear that Aidan, who's generally shyer, had some intimidation during the programs. This prompted Denali to do some ride-up behaviors, jawsparring and pinning Aidan. Denali gets pretty excited in a short period of time, this is why he will be the 2nd wolf to meet the pups during the introduction.
We have been moving Grizzer from the front of his enclosure to allow the pups some time in the Pack Holding area which is the site of the introduction. We initially thought Grizzer might show some anxiety about this move, but instead, he tried to submit to the pups at the gate, then upon his return to the area, spent his time marking and exploring all the spots the pups and participants had been. He was very relaxed and eventually settled on a spot next to the pond to rest for the day.
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