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.
The decision to hold Denali was not an easy decision. Anytime we pull a member of the pack, they could have issues with being accepted into the enclosure, and we want to always make sure the wolves are compatible. The issues we are having with Grizzer are rank issues, and Denali's opportunistic behavior. Socially, the wolves are engaging as a pack, rallying, howling together, but if there's any tension at all (strangers in the wolf yard, noise from the building, extreme cold, food competition), there is a escalation of this underlying rank tension. We know that winter hormones play a major role in this situation, and this tension is short-term, and we will do all we can do to get through this. Denali is the most relaxed wolf we've ever had in a holding situation.
I have also been asked the question, if you retire Grizzer, can he join Shadow and Malik in the Retired Pack. The answer is, no, not while Malik is a member of Retirement. If you recall, Grizzer aggressively deposed Malik as a pack member, and putting them together may result in injuries to Malik, not a risk we are willing to take. Malik does well intimidating Shadow and taking all of his chicken caches, and we don't want to change these dynamics. Malik finished his last course of antibiotics for the abscess, if it comes back, he will have an immobilization and a vet visit.
Aidan seems to enjoy the fresh snow. He has a lot of opportunity this year, as it seems we are getting a new base of snow every other day. The exhibit takes on a whole new level of work in the winter. Gates need to be shoveled, snow is removed from the wolf yard to allow for access of wheelbarrows and overhanging security fences need to be cleared of snow. These tasks generally result in wolf care staff being covered from with snow, somehow, we don't seem to enjoy it as much as Aidan.
Last Saturday at 4 pm, there was a short dominance interaction between Denali and Grizzer. There was an observation of Denali guarding a beaver carcass from Grizzer earlier in the day, which is a wolf social rule, regardless of rank, but may have caused Grizzer a little tension. All wolves had been fed 5 lbs of chicken the day before, and had a 120 lb deer waiting for the feeding program, but the night time temperatures had reach – 27 below, and cold weather can cause the wolves to be less tolerant. Maya also had a chase of Aidan right before Grizzer and Denali started, possibly increasing the tension. Regardless, Grizzer's sutures reopened, and even though the altercation was less than 6 minutes, and Grizzer was maintaining position of high tail and calm interaction after the scuffle, Grizzer needed to have veterinary treatment. The procedure was smooth, and we also looked at the tendon that seemed to be causing him a limp, and he was back in the pack within a few hours. But, we couldn't take the risk of having these sutures open again, so we moved Denali into the pack holding area and he will stay there until the Vet's give an OK to Grizzer's head. We are anticipating about a 14 day healing process. Denali is adjusting well, tail wagging with the pack through the fence, and is sleeping quite well with a significant amount of straw in the kennel. He has his daily meals, and has his own heated water dish. He howls to the pack, and is showing submissive posture when Grizzer is at the fence.
Maya is usually very graceful, but this week's video shows her falling of the rock into the pond. There's not much to report for Maya except that she is still very bonded to Shadow and during a recent rainstorm (over 8 inches in 6 hours), she again was laying under the eaves of the building sleeping next to Shadow.
Denali's introduction back into the pack occurred on Monday,December 27th. We scheduled the introduction for noon because it is a calmer part of the day. Video clips from the introduction day are featured on the Youtube channel this week. Basically the plan included feeding Denali, Grizzer and Maya each a full 10 lb turkey at 9 am after Grizzer’s vet check, hoping to fill them up. After the release, there was some chasing behavior, but Denali was submissive and showed no signs of targeting Grizzer. The pack all bedded down at 2 pm, with Grizzer, Maya and Aidan sleeping together and Denali sleeping on a straw bed by the pond. At 3:30, they got up and Denali and Grizzer had a short 15 second dominance altercation in the pond, instigated by Denali, which we expected. They settled back down and video camera surveillance shows that they rested all night. On Tuesday morning wolf care, the pack was rallying together, with only slight tension between the group. We are feeding a bucket of chicken every morning, and all wolves are getting their fair share. We are not using the typical holding pens right now, as even a short separation gives Denali confidence to push his status. As I’ve said before, this is a combination of winter hormones and a young wolf that is trying to take an opportunity to climb rank. Grizzer is getting much better showing his status a dominant male, and our job is to keep things calm, and give each wolf the confidence to feel comfortable with their rank. My goal is to keep the pack together, but we have to know that all wolves feel comfortable in the enclosure. We judge that by the rallying behavior, and especially howling, so far, Denali howls right with the pack, and is tail wagging with the social group.
Shadow's photo this week again shows him possessing and carrying a deer leg. He has had many more observations of feeding behavior when we feed deer legs or a torso, but something about competition with Malik makes him display some obsessive behavior. At this age, he can display whatever behavior he wants. We are very tolerant of old age quirks, and we modify our management plans accordingly. Shadow did eat 8 lb of chicken on Thursday morning, and while we haven't weighed him since the winter set in, he looks like he's filling out.
One of the staff members recently wrote: "This morning when I came in and I opened the office door to go out to the viewing area they all came running and wagging their tails and looked in the window at me. Then, Aidan started jumping in the snow and play bowing to Maya and jabbing her." This observation best describes the change we've seen in Aidan. He is a very social omega, and even though Maya shows him dominance, he wants to engage her in activity. Aidan seems very satisfied with the excess food, and is usually observed throughout the day eating among the ravens (no, not eating ravens, but feeding on beaver carcasses while the ravens scavenge).
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