As Shadow feels better from his ear treatment, Malik seems to be getting more dominance. The pups are ususally right there to assist Shadow. At this point, the intensity is still low and the pups are easily distracted, but as the winter approaches and the most aggressive time of the year approaches, we expect Malik to get more attention. Right now, Malik can usually outrun the pack, but every so often, they catch him at the top of the hill.
The most noteable point in the log about Maya is the increased focus on Nyssa. Originally, staff thought Maya's submissive behavior would make her a natural omega of the pack. But lately, Shadow has been paying a lot of attention to Maya and almost favoring her in interactions. This seems to have boosted Maya's confidence and her response is to show more dominance over Nyssa. Maya has been observed stalking Nyssa and doing hind quarter grabs as Nyssa runs with the rest of the pack. The establishment of the female role may go back and forth until the pups reach maturity between 18 and 24 months. It is clear that the influence of the other wolves may have an impact on the outcome. If Shadow favors Maya, this may help Maya establish her dominant role.
Malik has been getting attention from Shadow as the cooler weather approaches. This is a normal time of year for wolves to begin asserting dominance over one-another. The information specialist observed the following: After my 4pm program I noticed some interesting behavior: We observed what looked to have started out as playing between Malik and Shadow. They were wrestling and standing up against each other while biting. I looked away for half a minute and when I looked back, Shadow had Malik on the ground on his back, the pups where milling around them. When Malik got up, he was in a very defensive stance with his tail wrapped under him, body hunched, hackles up, head down, ears back and teeth bared. Shadow continued to nip at him and the pups got involved as well – kind of mobbing but the pups weren't as persistent as Shadow. After about a minute, Malik took off and Shadow began chasing him (the pups followed but, distracted themselves with each other). This lasted approximately 1-2 minutes. Then the situation seemed to diffuse.
Of all the wolves impacted by the pup introduction, it would have to be said that Shadow shows the most change in behavior. Normally timid towards strangers and classified as low ranking to Malik last year, Shadow has taken on a new tolerance for wolf care staff in training and has been observed in high tail quite frequently. The latest observation of him putting Malik down during a program may be an indication of our winter to come. Information Specialist Jess Edberg wrote: After my 4pm program I noticed some interesting behavior: We observed what looked to have started out as playing between Malik and Shadow. They were wrestling and standing up against each other while biting. I looked away for half a minute and when I looked back, Shadow had Malik on the ground on his back, the pups where milling around them. When Malik got up, he was in a very defensive stance with his tail wrapped under him, body hunched, hackles up, head down, ears back and teeth bared. Shadow continued to nip at him and the pups got involved as well – kind of mobbing but the pups weren't as persistent as Shadow. After about a minute, Malik took off and Shadow began chasing him (the pups followed but, distracted themselves with each other). This lasted approximately 1-2 minutes. Then the situation seemed to diffuse.
Lakota really enjoys cooler weather. She's been howling more frequently on the mornings staff come in and she's been more excited to see staff. An excess of roadkill deer this week (staff picked up a truckload from the Wildlife Science Center in near Forest Lake, MN) meant that Lakota had 2 deer to possess over the weekend. She was busy chasing ravens from her possessions.
One indication of animal health is the condition of their pelage. The retired wolves have as glossy of a coat as the main exhibit, probably due in part to the daily vitamins given to all the wolves at the Center. In this week's photo, Lakota is shown getting a coat check by wolf care member, Nancy Jo Tubbs, who also serves as Chair of the International Wolf Center Board. This is also a good opportunity for staff to look for an skin abnormalities or external parasites on the wolves. These checks are done daily by a team of approximately 7 handlers rotating checks.
The logs this week show a high number of dominance displays between Grizzer and Nyssa. When these two interact, there seems to be an equal chance that one will be victorius over the other. There also seems to be very little snapping or growling during the interactions, they just tend to grab onto each other and pull each other around. The only issue I see is when Nyssa is vulnerable, Maya takes advantage of it and try to take a few cheap shots to gain some status.
On Thanksgiving morning, Wolf Care Staff Jen Westlund, Matt Fetterer and Jess Edberg came in at 8 am to do wolf care. They noticed Lakota was lethargic, a bit humped over and seemed to be suffering some discomort to the stomach area. Jen Westlund contacted the Vet, Dr. Chip Hanson and he came up for an examination. There was concern that there may have been an intestinal blockage, so she was chemically immobilized and brought to the Vet Clinic. Xrays, bloodwork and a scope of her stomach revealed no signs of a blockage, but her elevated temperature was a concern that she was fighting an infection. She was started on Intramuscular antibiotics twice a day for 7 days. Wolf care staff monitored throughout the weekend and more bloodwork will be done on Monday. She is up and moving around, but remains a bit lethargic and uninterested in food. Treatments are ongoing to deal with dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. She remains in the denbox resting most of the day, but twice daily, the curators dogs are brought on site to provide stimulus. She always gets up to see the dogs and seems to be improved after their visit.
The retired wolves are doing well with several straw beds available. While there may be concern about Lakota as the omega of the Retired Pack, she is doing extremely well and she actually spends a lot of time racing around the enclosure, play bowing to the other wolves, trying to initiate a chase.
Nyssa and Maya spent the week alternating between raucous play and noisy dominance behaviors. She is still very vocal in both play and food defense. Nyssa spent some time this week watching visitors to the center through the auditorium window, and was observed jumping up to capture an icicle dangling from the center's roof.
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.