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All relaxed today, Assistant Director, Gretchen Diessner, visited Lakota today. Lakota was excited about the new visitor and was a bit jumpy, but relaxed later. Mackenzie and Lucas came in later, but again spent time searching for cached food.
Lakota is very playful today, Lucas is observed licking Shadow's face, all appear in good spirits."
CVC's to all, Lakota received 2lbs of venison soaked in water since she hasn't been drinking a sufficient amount of water. She also received another pound of bone dust later in the day and is no longer growling at LS. Lakota is coming to edge of den hole, but is still hesitant.
We had a little problem with video editing this morning, so all the logs will be the same and we hope to get video in the logs and a new Youtube video posted by the end of the week. The fall colors have been tremendous in the enclosure, and thanks to local moose hunters, we gave the pack a moose head mid-week. The pups were actively feeding on the moose head, but soon cached it, and have not been back on it since. They consumed an entire deer this weekend, despite the warmer than average weather conditions.
We had a little problem with video editing this morning, so all the logs will be the same and we hope to get video in the logs and a new Youtube video posted by the end of the week. The fall colors have been tremendous in the enclosure, and thanks to local moose hunters, we gave the pack a moose head mid-week. The pups were actively feeding on the moose head, but soon cached it, and have not been back on it since. They consumed an entire deer this weekend, despite the warmer than average weather conditions.
Denali is certainly growing and his winter coat is very well established. He has also become very obsessed with food, easily consuming 6 – 7 lbs at a feeding and dominanting any food that is brought into the enclosure. He is also more actively involved in dominance rituals than Aidan, who tends to hold back when there's a lot of action.
Of all the wolves in the Exhibit Pack, Malik is most likely found sunning himself on one of the rocks. Maybe it’s the 8 year old bones that are in need of radiant heat, or it’s possible that he is more relaxed being at a higher vantage point when it comes to dominance interactions. His photo this week shows a full threat display when Shadow has Grizzer in a submissive posture. The bond between the littermates is strong, Shadow rarely shows direct dominance towards Malik unless there’s a big chase, and Malik uses Shadow to help him assert some dominance.
Aidan pup is still interacting well with Shadow, and continues to follow Shadow’s lead. When there’s a threat to the pack and Shadow shows aggression or dominance, Aidan runs and sits a ways from the action, only coming down when things calm or Shadow goes to greet him. It is interesting to watch the associations forming in the pack. Of course, the strongest bond is with the littermates, Aidan and Denali continue to wrestle and practice their dominance moves on each other. When the adults are very active, it’s a good thing they have each other. Aidan and Denali were 5 months old on Saturday, September 27th.
Grizzer spent the fall being extremely tolerant of the pups. Rolling over for them and interacting with them in a very social way, not showing very much dominance over them. Now that the pups are bigger, they are taking advantage of this. In recent observations, the pups are grabbing the scruff of his neck and tugging on him, still no real response from Grizzer. The unfortunate thing is that Malik takes advantage of this and charges Grizzer, which causes him to retreat with both pups in tow. Although, we have started to see Grizzer pin Aidan, maybe the colder fall weather will help Grizzer establish some boundaries.
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