Malik had a good week. We fed a deer torso that had a head attached. Malik detached the head and proceeded to carry it around for several hours at a time. He would bring it past Shadow, drop it, then stand over it before carrying it away. Shadow didn't exhibit much testing behavior, as a matter of fact, Shadow didn't seem the least bit impressed with Malik's head.
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Grizzer is showing more excitement towards wolf care staff and especially towards retirement. When Shadow is dominating Malik, Grizzer is right at the back gate in a high tail. This behavior reinforces our decision to not put Grizzer and Malik together. Grizzer channels some of that excitement towards Oscar, who is always up to something in the yard to keep Grizzer occupied. Otherwise, Grizzer gets a lot of bones and enjoys visits from a large number of wolf care staff. The Level 1 handlers at the Center (we have 3 tiers of handlers based on experience, Level 1 are the newer handlers) are allowed to go in with Grizzer when accompanied by a Level 2 or 3 handler. This means that Grizzer gets far more stimulation by seeing a lot more people. All the other wolves see only a limited number of people due to the increased intensity of their behavior, especially from Shadow and Aidan.
Grizzer continues to get very excited when Wolf Care Staff are in the enclosure or when Oscar is in the wolf yard. He has been whining towards Aidan and Denali when they are involved in activity, and it appears that he runs along the fence line with them. We also see a lot of straw compaction in the new den where the webcam is focused. It appears that's his sleeping spot, with the straw bed in the kennel near the wolf yard having little compaction.
Lately, staff have been thinking that Aidan was the main dominant force in interactions, mainly due to his guarding wolf care staff when they are in the enclosure. Recent surveillance video showed some interesting footage of Denali doing a ride-up on Aidan and pinning him to the ground. It appeared to be very social behavior with tails wagging, but the next day, Aidan had increased diligence when following Denali.
If we could use one Ethogram term to describe Grizzer these days, it would be "Stand Tall". This is an behavior where a wolf stands on an object and pushes the front legs to full extension. This can be interpreted as a confident, and can be viewed in threat displays, social engagement or greetings. When a wolf does this behavior alone, it can also be interpreted as that individual feeling pretty good about themselves. Grizzer has been Standing Tall on top of the den on a regular basis.
As described in Aidan's log, the Exhibit Pack had a visitor. Denali was much more excited with a tail wag, hackles and some hopping behavior as the wolf stared into the enclosure. Aidan was a bit more territorial showing some posturing behavior, but both seemed to be stimulated by the wolves presence. Denali has claimed the top of the slate den, and will always possess the new layer of straw. The ravens have been very active as a series of warm days has decreased the wolves appetite and resulted in a lot of left over food in the enclosure. This is probably what drew the wolf to the outer fence, the sound of ravens calling can be a signal to wolves that there is something to scavenge nearby.
Shadow has been very social lately, even to the individuals that he normally keeps on the other side of the fence (some wolf care staff get a growl from Shadow when they give meds). We've also observed a lot of whirl behaviors, where he gets excited, spins around and runs the other way. This is a good sign for a wolf that will be 12 years old in May.
Denali has so much energy and with Aidan being a bit more reserved, he doesn't seem to have a release for this energy. All of that changed when we fed a large deer carcass and the wolves ate the deer and left the hide. Denali has been head-shaking, dragging, tossing and plucking this deer hide for over a week. He is very animated in his actions and has a playbow/prance/hop behavior when he approaches the hide.
We've had some good visits with Malik who is generally more reserved with staff. As long as Shadow gets to greet first, Malik can spend some time interacting. There seems to be a pattern to their interactions as well. When wolf care staff are not in the enclosure, the surveillance cameras reveal two wolves who frequently sleep in the den together. But when staff are interacting, Shadow keeps Malik away, which prompts Malik to do some posturing. If you change the names of the wolves from Malik and Shadow to Denali and Aidan, the behaviors would be the same. I know Aidan and Shadow were very social, you have to wonder if this isn't something Aidan picked up from his former pack leader.
Something has triggered Maya to be a bit more intense than usual this week. We're not sure what caused it, but we are seeing the effects on Aidan. I do notice that her behavior is still far more posturing than physical contact, usually it's eye stares and stalking, lunging behavior, but Aidan has been actively doing threat displays leading to more aggressive jaw sparring and contact. This is certainly something that we will monitor in the upcoming weeks, although it's her role as the dominant female to establish rank, and Aidan seems to be dealing with it by showing caution and positioning himself in safe areas of the enclosure.
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