Denali continues to be the stimulator of wrestling behavior, with many short bursts of chasing around the enclosure. He has increased his activity dramatically since the cooler weather arrived, and continues to interact with Grizzer. It's interesting to watch more mature behaviors develop, he has become much more skilled at posturing, and using his body to block other wolves. He is attempting to use direct eye contact as a testing behavior, but his juvenile mind is easily distracted, and he doesn't hold the stare very long.
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 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.
Lakota’s pond was completed on Saturday morning, and she had to stay in the pack holding area on Saturday night. We installed a secondary gate system tighter than Fort Knox, so there is no way that we can have a repeat performance from last week. She finished a week of antibiotics and is back to eating 3 – 5 lbs a day, sometimes accepting hand feeding from staff, sometimes eating from the bowl overnight. We know she is feeling better, as I write this, she just stole a shoe from the lab and ran off with it. She still wants to be near the pack, and as I reviewed the photos from the mishap in the enclosure, it did appear that Lakota was trying to walk a parallel gate with Shadow, seeking acceptance in the pack. But, we couldn’t leave her in the enclosure with the younger ones, she just couldn’t keep up and the focus on her weaknesses would have increased as the winter approached. Lakota is physically doing well, but every day is an effort to make sure she is psychologically doing well. Improvements to the Retired Enclosure will be great stimulus for her, and we are grateful for the upcoming “Workin' for Wolves program. To those participants registered, bulk up on food, there is A LOT of work planned for the weekend.
Shadow still holds a strong dominant position in this pack. The work we are doing on the Retired Enclosure is partly to enhance the remaining time Lakota has with us, but also to prepare for the inevitable retirement of Shadow, but at this point, that doesn’t seem likely. The most impressive social relationship in this whole group appears to be Shadow and Aidan. It is apparent in his facial postures that Shadow is tolerant of the pups, and especially Aidan. He uses controlled muzzle bites when dealing with them and is always quick to stop when the pups submit. It doesn’t seem possible that someone will take his status, but he is 8 years old, going on 9. This is old for a wolf in the wild, and about the time that captive wolves start to show their age. This is why any wolf over 6 is on a glucosamine supplement, anything we can do to maintain joint health will increase the lifespan of a wolf on exhibit.
Written by assistant wolf curator, Donna Prichard:<br> This past weekend, Aidan did well with the activity from the Workin’ For Wolves weekend. He and Denali spend countless hours wrestling and chasing each other, and this behavior oftentimes gets directed at Grizzer. The wolf care staff have observed that many of Aidan’s behaviors and characteristics are similar to that of Shadow, the dominant male in this pack. Aidan also displays many predatory behaviors such as stalking and pouncing. This past week during wolf care, the wolf care staff observed Aidan stalking a small bird and attempted to lunge at it, to no avail. Aidan continues to maintain and good growth rate and recently lost an upper canine milk tooth due to teething. This is typical of the time frame of tooth development in wolves; replacement of milk teeth with permanent teeth generally occurs at approximately six to seven months of age.
Written by assistant wolf curator, Donna Pichard:<br> Grizzer continues to be extremely tolerant of the pups and their rambunctious behaviors. He is often the focus of their attention and interactions. This, in turn, directs the focus to him from the rest of the pack members. We have seen Grizzer being chased around the enclosure by his packmates, while Maya tends to stand by and not participate. As cold weather approaches, wolf care staff are starting to see the intensity of interactions increase, which is typical of wolf behavior during seasonal changes. The pack dynamics will be interesting to watch with the addition of the new pups this year. Grizzer has been a great caretaker to the pups, and we expect that he will continue to be so.
Written by assistant wolf curator, Donna Prichard:<br> Malik did well this weekend with all the activity in the wolf yard from the Workin’ For Wolves weekend. Of all the wolves in the Exhibit pack, Malik is observed to be the most opportunistic of them. For example, when Aidan and Denali are chasing and biting at Grizzer, Malik will see an opportunity to come in and try to nip Grizzer. This usually results in Grizzer defending himself by snarling and chasing Malik around the enclosure. Despite the seemingly intense dominance interactions between these two, this is a very cohesive pack that get along well with each other.
MacKenzie is doing well. She seems to have settled into to possessing food in her corner of the enclosure. She has her own special straw bed and a few cache's she likes to defend. She is scheduled for a vet check in the near future to monitor the lipid deposits in her eyes, but everything looks good.
CVC to all. Lakota spent time lying on the straw in the sun while the yearlings were in the pack holding area. When the yearlings were released, Lakota went uphill, while the yearlings were intent on pig ears that the staff provided as a distraction.
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