Maya is 52 days old today. Maya still initiates dominance interactions over her packmates. With staff and nannies, however, she has become much more affectionate, sometimes seeking out their laps to sit on. She will also seek out staff and/or nannies to sleep next to. The staff and nannies recently started playing classical
ature music in the indoor pup pen in the wolf lab. Maya seems to respond to the music, as she frequently falls asleep when it is playing. Today Nyssa urinated near the entrance gate, then Maya went there, sniffed and urinated on top of it. This is one of the heirarchical behaviors that is developing between the puppies. Pups spent much of the morning in the outdoor pup pen. Maya ran around, explored, and greeted the arctics vigorously with a wagging tail and flat ears. Maya was kept occupied during the 11:00a.m. program with a beaver tail. During the afternoon program, Maya was anxious and was whining & climbing on the gate to get out. She was not easily distracted with stimulus items. Maya's appetite continues to be very good; she consumed her venison mix in a matter of minutes.
Today Grizzer is 53 days old. In the morning he started becoming anxious and wanted to be outside. Outside, Grizzer greeted arctics vigorously and then went to explore the dogloo dog house in the overnight outdoor kennel. Grizzer did well througout most of the 11 am program, then became anxious near the end and climbed on top of the log and tried to jump on the fence. He has been actively seeking a way out of the pup kennel during the programs and has learned how to jump from the log to the fence. Grizzer was anxious throughout 1 pm program. This time, he was not easily distracted and also he was very aware of the people and audience movement. He was panting it may have been too hot in the auditorium. Upon his return to the outdoor enclosure, he immediately ran to the pool and splashed water around. His appetite has been increasing, he gobbled down his portion and the left overs from Maya's. During the 3 pm program, he was anxious and he could not really be distracted by anything. He did a lot of pacing, but no whining or howling. He seemed to be a little warm as well.
Today Maya is 53 days old. When she was taken into the outdoor pen, she greeted the arctics vigorously and responds to their whining by putting her ears flat and rolling over in submission at the shared fenceline. Maya did well during the 11 am program, she chewed on a beaver tail and fell asleep for the rest of the program. On the 1 pm program, shewas calmed throughout most of it. She spend most of her time investigating some fruit we had set out as new stimuli. Maya showed some dominance by grabbing Nyssa by the throat and kept presuring for a while until shewas distracted with a pig's ear and left her. She still looks for nannies to cuddle up with and tries to steel Nyssa's bootle whenever she can.
Maya is 62 days old today. She seems to be following Grizzer's lead, being anxious, wanting to get out window and pawing at the fence during programs indoors. She dominated Grizzer, not letting him have a deer bone, and standing over him.
Today Maya is 72 days old. Maya has been playing more with Grizzer, becoming an expert stalker and runner. She has been seen running around the pen in hot pursuit of Grizzer and Nyssa, pouncing or tackling them in the end.
Maya is 59 days old today. Maya continually becomes more submissive towards staff and her packmates, often lowering her ears and tucking her tail. She also does well during the programs, occupying herself with deer feet and ears. She has also been observed carrying a stuffed wolf puppy around in her mouth.
Today Nyssa is 42 days old. When music has been playing, she has appeared interested, with her ears perking up. When she is taken out to the outdoor pup pen, she greeted the artics vigorously with lots of tail wagging and play bowing. Nyssa has been initiating dominance with both Nyssa and Grizzer. She will run after them and pounce on them during their interactions, and will also grab the scruff of their necks and exhibit head-shaking behavior. She is very vocal when her packmates try to dominate her. Nyssa is still having some anxiety during programs and paws the gate to get out. Her stamina and mobility improve daily.
Nyssa is 44 days old today. Nyssa has been very protective of the new toy which was given to the pups today. Despite the efforts of Grizz and Maya to steal the toy away from her, Nyssa has protected her toy with aggressive growls and biting. While Nyssa was outside chewing on a beaver carcass she vigorously defended her portion from Maya. Nyssa quickly settled down and fell asleep in the outside puppy pen. When the pups were brought back into the wolf lab she again defended a deer ear from her littermates with just as much intensity as she showed earlier on the beaver carcass. Nyssa's personality remains that of being aggressive with her littermates which is exactly what she needs to successfully compete with them. She also remains very gentle with the wolf care staff, often greeting them with intense facial licking.
Nyssa is 47 days old. Nyssa showed great curiousity in the puppy pen. She actively stalked and dominated Grizzer and Maya. She showed no fear of the new water tank in the puppy pen, and actually ate a piece of venison off the edge of the tank. She was very fearful of the weedeater. Nyssa exhibited food guarding behavior by growling when Grizzer came near her bowl. Nyssa's facial features are taking on wolf characteristics with elongation of her muzzle.
Today Grizzer is 55 days old. Grizzer has been exhibiting fear avoidance behavior towards people he's unfamiliar with. When Grizzer is in the outside puppy pen he tends to isolate himself from the people as well as his littermates. It is very important wolf care staff help Grizzer work through this fear avoidance behavior rather than isolate him from them. When Grizzer and his littermates get older, they will need to deal with the many things on site such as weedeaters, lawn mowers, facilities maintenance workers, large crowds next to fence and more. Positive socialization and conditioning pups to a variety of stimuli is crucial when raising captive wolf pups. The experiences they have now whether positive or negative will play a big role in shaping their behavior when they are adults. With the weather being on the warm side today there was little in the way of play behavior. Grizzer spent most of his time sleeping near his new pond which he would periodically climb into.
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.