Today Groan is 41 days old and it was a unique one in her life. She was officially named "Maya" to coincide with her May 5, or "Cinco De Maya," birth date. Young Maya displayed an interesting behavior in her still distant relationship with Shadow and Malik, the Center's adult Arctic wolves. During the "Morning with the Pups" program, Maya showed keen interest in the Arctics as they began to howl in recognition of the pups' presence through the glass on the floor of the Center's Auditorium where she entertained and interacted with a group of 30 visitors to the Center. After the program, she was taken to the outdoor enclosure and greeted the Arctics at the shared fenceline with a wagging tail and flat ears. As we continue to wean the pups off bottled formula, Maya's interest in the bottle continues to diminish.
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Grizz is 42 days old today. Grizzer and his littermates all received their vaccinations (DHLPP-5 way). Grizz did very well during programs as he was occupied by a beaver foot throughout the duration of the programs. While Grizz was outside he played keep away from Maya and Nyssa with one their toys. Very tolerant of Nyssa's dominant behavior over him. After the morning feeding Grizz became anxious and began whining and howling, and trying to climb up to the windowsill and gate. In general Grizz shows increasing signs of wanting to go outside
Today Grizzer is 61 days old. Today he was agitated and began pacing the perimeter of the puppy pen, whenever someone wanted to aproach he ran the other way. His ears were flat and sometimes had a tucked tail. Grizzer was anxious during the filming inside the enclosure, and he wanted to go out of the pen and did not respond to stimuli.
Today Groan is 40 days old. Recently, her dominance attempts over Nubee have declined, and she has been observed in full submission with Nubee standing over her. She has been anxious during the 11 a.m. programs and is not easily distracted with stimulus items. She seems to settle down and do better in the afternoon programs. Groan shows increasing signs of wanting to be outside. She whines, howls, and makes attempts to climb up to the windowsill in the pup pen. When taken out to the outdoor pup pen, she explores and investigates the pup enclosure with vigor. She also greets Malik & Shadow at the shared fenceline with a wagging tail and flat ears. Groan is a "climber" and likes high places. She likes to climb atop logs and rocks, both in the indoor and outdoor pup pens. Groan is also exhibiting head-shaking behaviors when grabbing Grizz and Nubee.
Today is Grizz's 41st day, and he officially became "Grizzer," the name selected by nearly 3,000 votes in the 'Name the Pup Contest.' As you can see in the picture, Grizzer continues to more and more resemble an adult wolf with his lengthening muzzle and distinctive ears. He continues to be the most anxious of the three pups during the three daily "Pup 101" programs. His sense of movement and awareness of changes in noise levels appears to be more acute than either of the other pups. Even when he shows interest in play objects, his attention is quickly diverted if even one or two visitors to the Center pass nearby. Grizzer, more so than the other pups, becomes excited by the howling of the adult wolves and makes aggressive attempts to escape the temporary indoor pup enclosure to join his elder ambassador wolf-mates.
Today Grizz is 43 days old. His physical features continue to take on the wolf characteristics-elongated muzzle, long legs, etc. His eyes are also starting to lighten in color. During the pup pen cleaning early in the morning, the pups are taken into the auditorium to run around with their leashes on, in order to begin conditioning them to wearing a leash for future programs. In the auditorium, Grizz whines when he sees Shadow and Malik at the window and attempts to climb up to the windowsill to see them. He appears to be doing better during pup programs and has been chewing on stimulus items such as beaver feet and beaver tail. He shows increasing signs of wanting to be outside by trying to climb up to windowsill and pup pen gate. Pups are taken out everyday to outdoor enclosure, and Grizz enthusiastically greets Shadow & Malik at the shared fenceline. He has been exploring the den dug previously and will attempt to dig in it and lay in it with his packmates. Grizz seems to submit to Nyssa during domination attempts.
Today Maya is 43 days old. She is quickly becoming weaned from the bottle to weaning formula. In the past week, she has appeared to be less dominant over Grizz and Nyssa and more tolerant of their domination attempts. When she is in the auditorium during pen cleaning or in the outdoor pup pen, she greets Shadow and Malik enthusiastically with a wagging tail and flat ears. Maya exhibits more confidence in new situations than Grizz and Nyssa and does not appear to be bothered by large crowds during programs.
Happy President’s Day, Due to the Holiday, all of the logs will be the same posting today: The Nanny selection process has been completed and award letters were mailed on the 15th of February. We are still in the selection process for the Behavioral Observation program, and have extended the deadline until April 15th. We intend to have the Behavioral Observation award letters for those current applicants sent by February 22nd. Please be patient, as this is a very important task. We want to make sure we have a good fit for each crew to have the most positive experience for the pups. One other comment relates to a new face you may be seeing on the Exhibit Pack webcam. After 6 months of training, work with the Retired Pack and an opportunity to gain Shadow’s trust, Don Gossett and Sharee Johnson have been successfully integrated in the Exhibit Pack as a Level I wolf care staff. Shadow was a bit hesitant at first, but has been very responsive to the newest staff members. Being a Level I handler means that they must always be accompanied by a Level III for safety, with a Level 2 for backup. So, when new staff are in the enclosure, you are likely to see 3 or 4 staff. We want to make sure that all staff that will be handling pups are perceived as part of the program by Shadow and Maya. If a staff person is not trusted by Shadow, and they are observed handling the pups, it can create an aggressive situation. This is why we are so stringent on the Nanny program, it is critical to the social dynamics of the wolf yard that all people interacting with the pups respect the adult wolves, especially Shadow. Remember, this pup introduction’s purpose is to maintain a socially cohesive pack.
This week can be described as the highest level of dominance rank order behavior this winter. Grizzer has had some very intense interactions with Malik as he continues to assert his status as teh second ranking male. What has been very noteable is Grizzer's response to Shadow. While we would expect Grizzer to continue to gain confidence with his status over Malik, he continues to readily submit to Shadow, and doesn't appear to show any signs of testing Shadow like he did earlier in the winter. Some of this behavior may be related to Shadow's more social interactions in recent weeks and the attention he receives from Maya may be reinforcing Shadow's status. The warmer conditions over the weekend certainly calmed behaviors dramatically, but this would be considered the peak week for hormonal influences.
Lakota is having a good season, there's been no indication of the facial growth returning, the growth on her leg has not increased in size in the last several months and she continues to race around the enclosure during staff visits. As you may know, the retired pack turns 15 in April, this is a real milestone for the Center and the wolf care staff.
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