Nyssa did extremely well during the introduction. She reached 35 lbs and seems to be able to hold her own. The Arctics are dominating her less than they are dominating Maya. This is likely due to her very confident behavior. She also seems to be a little less cognitive of the activity in the pack, merely following along and going her own. When food was provided, Nyssa had no intimidation in pushing Malik out of the way to get her meat.
Maya is described by staff as being very sweet natured. When staff enter the enclosure, Grizzer tends to dominate the staff's time. As he's teething, he attempts to use staff arms as a chew toy. This behavior is strongly discouraged. So, staff tend to spend a lot of time with Grizzer. Maya patiently waits on the rock or by the fence until Grizzer's lessons are done, then approaches for a greeting. Maya seems to seek the arctics attention actively face licking them to get a greeting, which usually results in her rolling over on her back for them. There was some concern that Maya's coat wasn't developing as well, so she gets a can of tuna on her food twice a day. This seems to have helped and she enjoys it. The task is to keep Grizzer and Nyssa's face out of Maya's bowl.
This week's photo is a clear demonstration of the wolves ability to blend in with their backgrounds. Grizzer is still in his full winter coat, and while the grayish coloration of the rock is a bit atypical of some of the Great Plains subspecies, the concept of camoflauge is easy to understand.
Pups were selected at the Game farm today. Staff concentrated on getting the pups to eat. Grizz liked to bury his head in people's hair – suckling. This is how he was first convinced to take a bottle.
Nubee let out a small howl on her own. It seemed to have been stimulated by hunger or irritability.
Warmer than normal weather in late August and early September has brought a reoccuring presence of biting flies to the site. Wolf care staff do daily checks on the wolves to look for fly bites, evidence of any injuries or abnormalities. This is especially important for the retired wolves that are going on 12 years of age. Lakota seems to have developed a small lump on her left hind leg. The veterinarian has looked at it and will likely take a tissue biopsy during the October medical exam. It doesn't seem to hinder Lakota's playful personality. She continues to race around the enclosure enticing Lucas and MacKenzie to chase her and has dug herself several tunnels in the enclosure to stay cool on the warm late summer days.
Despite Grizzer's large body size, he still is rather tolerant of sharing food with his siblings. During a recent feeding, Grizzer and Maya ate their deer carcass rather peacefully, while Nyssa decided to take on the arctics. Grizzer has been suffering from the erruption of his permanent teeth. Last Thursday, Center Intern Jen White observed Grizzer franticly pawing at his mouth. Curator, Lori Schmidt went in and checked Grizzzer for obstructions, only to find one of his premolar milk teeth, partially dangling from his gums. Lori extracted the tooth without incident. Thank you to all the Nannies who faithfully conditioned the pups to gum and teeth work. There's also been a bout of allergy/or pond algae based ear infections in the Exhibit pack. This requires ear cleaning and ointment. The puppies are great to work on. They sit patiently while staff cleans their ears with cottonballs and deliver drops. Again, a big thank you to the Nannies who helped condition the pups to this type of handling. Shadow and Malik are another story. We did find that if you wanted Shadow and Malik to run the other way, just pull out the bottle of ear ointment.
Malik has been having trouble with his back right leg. It appears he may have a sprain or a possible ligament injury. Center veterinarian, Dr. Chip Hanson was on site on Thursday the 23rd to deliver the pups vaccinations and inspect Malik's leg. Malik was stared on a 7 day dose of anti-inflammatory, in hopes to relieve some of the pain he's experiencing. He hasn't been putting weight on his foot and hops on 3 legs when he runs. Dr. Hanson will be back on Thursday to reassess the course of treatment. The hope is that this is just a sprain and time will heal this injury. In the meantime, he's been a bit cranky with the puppies. He seems to travel the opposite direction of the puppies.
Maya is incredible sweet natured. When wolf care staff enter the enclosure, she patiently waits for everyone else to finish, then rubs up against the staff's legs to get attention. As suspected, she's showing signs of being the omega of the pack. So far, there's been a few chase scenes with Maya as the focus of the pack, but her timid nature causes her to roll over and submit easily, giving the pack no more reason to chase. She seems to seek out the other pack members looking, following them and actively seeking dominance. It seems important to her to be part of the pack. Nyssa on the other hand….. check her logs to find out.
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