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.
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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.
Today Maya is 55 days old. Unlike Grizzer, Maya has been displaying very positive behavior towards unfamiliar stimuli such as large crowds and weedeaters. When the pup nannies are with the pups in the outside pen Maya often sleeps nearby and she enjoys a good belly scratch. Maya also tends to do very well during pup 101 programs in the International Wolf Center's auditorium. During the program she either sleeps or is interacting with her littermates. Maya's behavior also tends to dictate Nyssa's behavior. When Maya responds negatively to a given stimulus than Nyssa becomes bothered as well.
Today Nyssa is 48 days old. Nyssa remains to be a very aggressive pup with her littermates. When she interacts with them she is often the aggressor. To date Nyssa has yet to high stress levels during pup programs. She is readily able to distract herself by either interacting with her littermates or playing with the various chew toys staff provides. When Nyssa greets her human caretakers she often runs up to the them with a wagging tail and gives them a facial licking while rolling over on her belly. This type of a greeting which Nyssa displays is an ideal social greeting with wolf care staff. Nyssa is the most responsive to the nurturing whines of Malik and Shadow. When the two arctic wolves come over to the puppy pen fence Nyssa runs over to greet them with lots of enthusiasm. Today, however, the weather was a little warm and humid so Nyssa spent most of her time outside sleeping on the cool soil under a balsm tree.
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