I hope you all had a great holiday season. The wolves weathered the holiday well considering the December 26th – 9 am wolf check was -34 degrees below zero. On New Year's day, nearly 10 inches of snow fell creating a great diversion for the wolves (the pups love fresh snow) and many hours of work for the curator. Enjoy the winter photos…
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Grizzer spent quite a bit of time in the morning dominating Nyssa and Maya. When he got them on a submissive posture on their backs, he would do a stand over posture over them. Grizzer also decided to get involved in the dominance actions of Malik and Shadow, riding up on Malik as much as possible. After the dominance activities settled down, Grizzer responded to Maya's initative to play steal and chase.
The retired wolves had their medical exam on Friday October 8th. The rain held off until after the exam was complete and made for a nice cool recovery rather than the warmer than normal fall we've been experiencing. The injections went extremely well with all wolves essentially lying down and showing limited response to the injection. The immobilization was extremely smooth, I would classify it as textbook. I don't think the drugging could have gone off better. The lab was fantastic to have tables set up to process the wolves, much better than the auditorium floor or outside in the slightly drizzling day. Lakota was in excellent health for an 11 going on 12 year old. Lakota showed some laxity in the right hip, and her right knee was a bit stiff, but otherwise her movement was good. Both eyes showed signs of Grade II cataracts. The IOP (glaucoma test ) was 16 mm hg which is considered good. She had very healthy teeth with limited tartar. The Vet's took a sample on a small mass on her right leg, will wait for the results.
Lakota is also doing well, there’s been no sign of the abscessed tooth issue reported earlier. In her video, she is also caching extra meat. As fall approaches, the raven population increases and the wolves seem more likely to cache food.
Lakota Lakota is doing well, the abscessed tooth seems to have subsided. She continues to be very mobile and has no problem jumping, climbing or racing around the enclosure. Her appetite is good and she has been enjoying the many scraps from the local deer hunters.
Sorry I didn't get to this yesterday, live wolves take as much time as virtual wolf logs. So, as reported in Lucas and Lakota's posting, the medical exams went extremely well. We were very pleased with the calm nature in which the wolves allowed hand injection and how well they responded to the immobilization. One of the main issues of this immobilization was to determine the status of MacKenzie's eye. Dr. Larry Anderson confirmed that the the cell growth in her eye is caused by calcium/lipid deposits. Dr. Anderson injected 5 cc's of meds on 3 sites of her eye to prevent pigmentation in cornea and slow inflammation. Dr. Anderson estimated that her right eye would be swollen for 2 -3 days after the treatment, but by Saturday morning, her eye looked great. She had no sensitivity to light and was extremely active and playful. She definitely reminded Lakota that she was still top ranking, no matter what had been done the day before. The IOP (glaucoma test ) was 16 mm hg which is considered good. During the exam, Dr. Hanson discovered a 2 cm+ smooth mass on her right tonsil region, very pedunculated. It appeared benign, and given the possible bleeding problems, and post treatment issues that may have made MacKenzie weaker, it was not removed. She was in great physical condition and appears to have no problems consuming food. Similar to her retired packmates, She has some restricted range of motion in her right shoulder, but her hips are doing well with limited change from the last medical exam.
This week's logs were written by Walter Loesberg, a regular visitor to the wolf center from the Netherlands: Maya displayed a fair amount of curiosity towards the new holding pen arrangement this week, which features double fences to separate the wolves. Gradually, she got comfortable with this novel addition and was moving in and out with ease. When wolf care staff came in today, the pack appeared anxious, and kept glancing upwards, possibly indicating that they may have been focused on the numerous ravens that have been in within the enclosure.
In this week’s video, Shadow continues to assert dominance over Grizzer. These postures are very noisy, but very ritualized in behavior. The expression of dominance on a daily basis makes it clear to the pack that’s leading the pack. Again, this wolf behavior is critical to a social pack animal that makes it’s living hunting prey and needs a packs support.
Maya has been good support for Grizzer during this time, and is showing the signs of a dominant female who gets right in the mix. Her face has some old scars, and her ear and lip show a recent issue with Aidan. Please don't think poorly of Maya, it is the role of the dominants to ensure the pack understands rank, and Maya shows this role well. Winter hormones influence this behavior, and we can always tell when there's a surge in hormones.
Maya seems to have settled the idea of who will run the pack. She is sleeping with Grizzer and parallel gating with him, good indications that she supports his status. In the last few days, she's been much calmer. Of all the wolves on Exhibit, Maya responds with anxiety when there's change or uncertainty and anxiety usually means redirection. Aidan's noticed the change and we are seeing far less concern about her presence. We even observed Aidan howling with the pack on top of the hill today, something that wouldn't have occurred even a few weeks ago.
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