Malik is having a good start to winter. With Grizzer still influenced by the presence of pups and being fairly calm, he doesn’t have the dominance rank issues that he did last winter. Of course, Grizzer will still follow and chase if Malik is too forceful, but it is much calmer than previous winters. Malik does get bold when the pups are interacting with Grizzer, he does a full foreleg stab at Grizzer, jumps on his head and will take a grab at his rump, but when you’re the bottom ranking wolf, its well within his right to look for opportunities to move up. Especially when your littermate is the dominant male and you can seek him out for protection.
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In an effort to allow the wolves to investigate the Retired Enclosure after the loss of Lakota, the pack has been given supervised access to the Retired Enclosure several times in the last week. It is great stimulus for the pack, and especially the pups, who spend a great deal of time looking for cached items. Denali was very active, bounding around the entire enclosure, and was rewarded with a deer leg that Lakota had cached in the rock den. Denali continues to show good alliances with Grizzer, and gets along well with the rest of the pack. A YouTube video was posted with the activity in the Retired Enclosure.
In an effort to allow the wolves to investigate the Retired Enclosure after the loss of Lakota, the pack has been given supervised access to the Retired Enclosure several times in the last week. It is great stimulus for the pack, and is critical for Shadow and Malik, who are the next set of retirees. Malik was quite nervous as we had expected, but the more time he gets to explore, the more relaxed he is likely to become. Retirement for Shadow and Malik could be several years away, as Shadow is a strong dominant male and Malik gets comfort in his littermate's status, so the more time to explore, the easier it will be when that inevitable day arrives. A YouTube video was posted with the activity in the Retired Enclosure.
Shadow aggressively mobbed Lakota, then the pack (including Malik) aggressively mobbed Shadow. Lucas has been showing more dominance of Shadow and seems to team up with Mackenzie to dominate Shadow.
What's for Dinner program went well. A full deer carcass was fed and the pups continue to maintain control over food. Shadow was observed aggressively grabbing the deer carcass by the neck as if trying to kill it."
Fly ointment on all wolves except Lakota, she has been reluctant to submit in front of the other wolves. Malik took the fly ointment out of Lori Schmidt (LS) pocket and demolished the container. LS retrieved it by putting Malik and Shadow in the holding pen and distracting them with meatballs. Vitamins were fed to all wolves.
Saturday night feeding program- Lakota approached carcass that Shadow and Malik possessed. Shadow began biting Lakota's rump and throat with intensity. All other wolves then came down and mobbed Lakota. Shadow dragged Lakota about 10 feet by Lakota's tail. Lakota retreated to den.
This will be Lakota’s last posting before she joins the others in the Gone But Not Forgotten pack. She was a pup who knew how to possess food, and this trait continued throughout her life. I thought I would write the most notable behaviors that come to mind when we think of Lakota. She was the omega or lowest ranking pack member and maintained this pack status throughout her entire life. This didn’t mean she was down and out, just that she served an important role at the bottom of the pack rank. She was often the instigator of dominance chases, with the pack close on her tail. She was also an efficient excavator, creating most of the den holes in the enclosures. The area for the new pond in the Retired Enclosure was primarily dug by Lakota, the staff just shaped it as a pond. The most notable was the last 6 months of management, when we gave her free reign of the wolf yard and lab. Having Lakota in the wolf lab did have its management issues; she became quite fond of taking items from the lab and running back into the Retired enclosure. Her list of larceny items included: pillows, backpacks, water bottles, bags of dog toys, sweatshirts, pizza’s, a block of cheese, compass, stuffed moose and a bag of grass seed, just to name a few. Her role as the instigator of chases did not diminish as the sole pack member, now, it was the wolf care staff chasing her to retrieve the many items she took. It appeared that this was the most enjoyable part of the interaction for Lakota. Lakota was the instigator of many things, and taught us that the bottom of the rank order is just as important as the top. The wolf lab will never be the same without her. I posted a video on YouTube as a tribute to the job she did as an ambassador wolf, to see the video, follow this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIRNpz9IEUU
In an effort to allow the wolves to investigate the Retired Enclosure after the loss of Lakota, the pack has been given supervised access to the Retired Enclosure several times in the last week. It is great stimulus for the pack, and is critical for Shadow and Malik, who are the next set of retirees. Shadow was extremely confident with a high tail and a lot of marking behavior. He did enter and exit the enclosure several times through the gate system, but was very relaxed and had a good series of visits. Retirement for Shadow and Malik could be several years away, as Shadow is a strong dominant male, but anything can happen in a wolf exhibit, and we want to make sure that our next set of retirees are as comfortable in their surroundings as the 1993 litter. A YouTube video was posted with the activity in the Retired Enclosure.
Maya has calmed a bit since her dominance behavior began in October. This could have just been a surge in hormones that produced this behavior, or it could have been a necessary part of the learning process for Aidan. Now that Aidan has learned to roll in submission for Maya, there is less intensity for him. Maya has also been observed showing some strong social interaction with Shadow, rubbing under his chin, riding up on his back, doing playbows and active submission behavior. This is all part of the winter pair bonding behavior for the dominant pair. Even though this pack is spayed and neutered, the ritualized dominance and bonding is an instinct. Shadow has been tolerant of Maya, but sometimes, he just wants to get away from her. After the loss of Lakota, we thought it was important for the pack to investigate the Retired Enclosure and to give them an opportunity to increase their stimulus by exploring. Maya was the most communicative towards Lakota, frequently whining at the fence when Lakota was in the wolf yard. It is hard to know what wolves perceive, but Maya's attentions toward the Retired Enclosure have decreased since the scheduled visits began. A video of their time in the Retired Enclosure was posted on YouTube.
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