Maya is 93 days old today. She greets the staff extremely well with submissive rollovers, a wagging tail and great face lick. Of all the pups, she is most likely to howl with the Arctics. She was observed trying to stand over Nyssa and ride up on her hindquarters.
Today Grizz is 72 days old. Grizz gets more active every day, engaging in long bouts of running and playing with his packmates. His aggression towards nannies has also diminished, and he seems to be focusing more on attempting to dominate Nyssa and Maya. He explores a lot, and has become an accomplished climber and jumper.
Today Nyssa is 68 days old. Nyssa is gaining weight well, and is 3 pounds ahead in her development than Malik and Shadow were when they were her age. Nyssa continues to greet new people well, licking at their faces and presenting flat ears. Nyssa has been very hot the last few days, and has been observed panting frequently.
Lakota seems to have more spring in her step every day. Over the weekend, she started enlarging the pup den hole in the pack holding area. It is now 7 feet long, and a staff person can climb in and sit comfortably without touching the top of their head. She spends her days in and around the wolf lab, but her response to the recent heat was to dig a den in the cool soil and dig it deep.
Aidan and Denali had a successful neutering and were back in the pack holding area throughout the weekend for recovery. They did well, but were quite a hand full for the wolf care staff on 24 hour a day duty from Friday night until Monday morning, when the pups returned to the pack. The introduction back to the pack was similar to the first day, with all the adult males joining the pups in the pack holding are prior to release. The pups sutures are healing well, and they are on antibiotics for a full week. The pond was drained before they returned to the pack, so their sutures would stay dry. Unfortunately, temperatures reached 90 degrees today, so the pups stayed nice in cool in an underground den at the top of the enclosure.
As we've said in previous logs, Lakota has free range of the wolf yard when the staff is in the lab. After the fall season, when the lab is no longer staffed 24 hours a day, wolf care staff will be rotating shifts so Lakota gets to interact during the morning wolf checks, in the middle of the day and every evening. Even though she is 15, she is still a wolf, and needs to be monitored at all times. She enjoys laying in the shade near the main pack and spending time in the pack holding area. Web cam viewers will begin to notice enclosure improvement projects in the Retired Pack. Projects include a new pond, an insulated den, an increse to the enclosure size and additional trees. This will be completed over a series of work projects in the next 2 months, at a slow pace to allow Lakota time to adjust to the change. So far, she is always excited to return to the Enclosure after people have been working.
Lakota attempted to howl to the pack, but with the loss of vocal chords from age, no sound comes out. A recent howl with the pack did result in some dominance from Shadow, but while it initially startled Lakota, she continues to spend time at the fence line. Her photo this week shows Lakota in a full run as she comes out of the Retired Pack to spend time with staff in the wolf yard. She is eating over 3 lbs of meat a night and her weight remains healthy. The video clips posted with the wolf logs are very short, if you would like to see several minutes of the pack activitiy, we are now posting weekly videos on Youtube. To locate these videos, search for the International Wolf Center.
Shadow continues to be the wolf that keeps this pack together. He has a unique interaction with each member, but the most common interactions are between Shadow and Maya and Shadow and Aidan. It is a great time to watch Shadow as he establishes the pups role in the pack and oversees the project work within the enclosure. The video clips posted with the wolf logs are very short, if you would like to see several minutes of the pack activitiy, we are now posting weekly videos on Youtube. To locate these videos, search for the International Wolf Center.
Aidan and Denali both like the new densite recently constructed per USDA regulations. It allows them another place to climb and wrestle. Aidan continues to follow Shadow's lead, and he has become much more social with some of the staff, while staying aloof with others. He does loose out to Denali when it comes to food competition. On Wednesday mornings, an beaver is fed to the pups in the Exhibit. So far, Denali guards the food well, while Aidan will let Grizzer have it. To make sure they get enough food, the pups are still fed on a separate meal in holding on a daily basis. Aidan still loves his vitamins.
The wolf logs for the Exhibit Pack will contain the same text, due to extra time needed for Lakota (see Lakota's log). The Exhibit Pack is doing well, consuming a lot of food and spending quite a bit of time in and on the new den. The wolf care staff heard wild wolves howl several times on Saturday's overnight, which may explain why Shadow has been doing so many lone defensive howls lately. Aidan appears to be catching up to Denali's weight, and the pups continue to eat on a daily basis, either a carcass with the pack on Saturdays and Wednesday's or daily chicken, beef or venision during the other evenings.
The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future.