All wolves are very calm, Lakota stayed near the den most of the day, but did come to the holding pen for vitamins. Shadow and Malik were very calm today, submissive to both wolf handlers Lori Schmidt and Andrea Lorek Strauss."
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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 Grizzer spent time scent rolling, checking out the strength of the den, and while he didn't discover the newly planted trees, we are sure that he will eventually. This is why the visits are supervised. Grizzer continues to be a calm and social influence with the pups, and they do seek him out while he is resting on the straw on top of the den. Of course, Grizzer does like his straw resting spots, so this might change as the winter progresses. A YouTube video was posted with the activity in the Retired Enclosure.
Aidan spent the weekend recovering from surgery that was performed on Friday, November 21st. In September, we neutered both pups, but unfortunately Aidan only had one testicle present, so we needed to reschedule him for surgery when it finally appeared. If it was a Crypt testicle, it could have been life threatening if it wasn’t removed. He did extremely well in the transport and recovery. He slept in the lab the first night, and went into the Retired Enclosure at 4 am the next morning, joining Denali, who had spent the day in the Retired Enclosure, but the night with the Exhibit Pack. When pulling one individual pup for surgery, it is important for pack dynamics to not isolate that individual, so by moving Denali around, the pack will be greeting both pups when Aidan is ready to go back into the group. Even though the incision was small, we felt it necessary to have 2 days of healing. To see more video of the reintroduction, check out our video on YouTube. This surgery and recovery was a great success and was critical for the long-term health of Aidan. Aidan weighed 87.5 lbs at the hospital and had a healthy blood test.
Aidan’s been getting a bit of dominance from Maya. There doesn’t seem to be any particular reason why Maya starts the dominance, but it can get quite intense at times. So, far she hasn’t shown the same behavior towards Denali. Aidan’s response initially was to growl and jaw spar with her, now, he submits and waits for her to back off, then leaves. In Maya’s video clip this week, you will see her doing a stand over Aidan, while Aidan continues to chew on a bone. The first snowfall of the year occurred on the 27th of October, and the pups enjoyed the opportunity to sniff and roll in the snow. With the snow, comes an increase in hormones and dominance displays are a normal part of wolf behavior this time of the year. The pups are doing well and interacting with the pack as a social unit.
Lakota’s been having a lot of raven activity in the Retired enclosure lately. The ravens show no fear of Lakota and actively try to get her food left in her den box each morning. She’s been observed chasing them away, but they don’t take her too seriously. Lakota continues to get excited about her wolf yard time and her lab time. As the weather cools, we will be working on giving her time in the lab with the door closed. We can’t continue to prop the door open for her to come in and out when the temperatures dip below zero.
Shadow is having a good winter, physically, he feels well even though he and Malik just turned 8 1/2 years old on the 8th of November. Maya is taking care of the discipline for the pups and Grizzer is their source of entertainment. He just needs to sit back and relax. We will continue to maintain a restricted access policy to the wolf yard to keep Shadow from being vulnerable by the influence of strangers in the wolf yard.
Grizzer showed a lot of excitement going into the Retired Enclosure to reunite with the pups, but the excitement may have been more about the enclosure than the pups. Since the Retired Enclosure was still a new stimulus, there were things to smell and things to investigate. Grizzer spent some time digging up old caches, but once back in the Exhibit Enclosure, he was back to his same behavior of being submissive to the pups and letting them climb on him. Aidan took out some of his frustration on him by doing a head shake, and Malik had a few jabs and quick bites, but overall, Grizzer took it in stride.
Malik is getting more relaxed entering the Retired Enclosure and immediately found a deer leg to occupy his time. He doesn’t interact with the pups as much, but was he was the first one the pups ran toward. The pups chased him back into the pack holding area; before they came back to actively submit to Shadow and Maya. Malik did rally with the pack as they ran around the Retired Enclosure. Malik continues to take advantage of Grizzer when he is down with the pups; you will see several jabs, and soft bites, until Grizzer finally gets up and chases him. Although, it is hard for Grizzer to run when Aidan is attached to his neck.
Maya was very intense in the reintroduction of the pups. In the first few seconds of filming, the camera had to be shut off as she was trying to jump the fence to get in to see them. We thought she would be far more aggressive, but when the door was opened, she ran to investigate the enclosure, while the pups ran out to chase Malik. She did continue to assert more dominance over Aidan than Denali, and she immediately investigated his suture site. Aidan and Denali both ignored the sutures, but once Maya focused on them, Aidan began licking and chewing. We distracted a bit and checked the site, and all is intact, but this is why we hold them off so there is at least 24 hours if not longer. This time, we waited 42 hours before returning the pups. We have to weigh the consequences of waiting too long and having the pack reject them versus letting them back too soon and having sutures compromised. One other management strategy is providing fresh straw. Maya does like to lay on the den site with fresh straw, and that helps keep her calm.
A temporary fence was constructed in the pen today, designed to keep the wolves in the back wooded portion of the main enclosure when the pond and den are constructed in front of the exhibit. The wolves were given a light sedative and did extremely well with the noise and traffic of construction and behind the scenes programs.
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