Luna – Alert Posture

Luna has certainly taken on an alert posture to the pups, especially since they are now spending a fair amount of time chasing each other around the pack holding area.  I have previously mentioned that this focus seems to be more than interest, almost bordering on obsessive.  One of the things we work on during socialization of pups is to provide distractions when they become obsessed with movement and noise that might cause some fear avoidance behavior.  Luna will need the same work in this circumstance, almost like we are repeating socialization that she missed as a pup.  There may be a correlation with Luna’s obsession about pup wresting and interactions and the restrictions she had as a pup, not engaging in any chasing behavior with Boltz and Oscar due to her bone density issues as a pup.  We are also doing some massage work to help with some tension and working on some anti-inflammatory treatments since she spends a majority of time camped out in front of the white pines watching for pups. 

Denali – New Scents

Summer brings a variety of scents to a wolf exhibit, some welcome and some not so welcome.  We typically see a complete food consumption from our wolves, but sometimes, they may bury a cache that tends to linger during the summer heat.  In this photo, Denali happened upon a cache that stimulated the response to scent roll and mark the odor.  Other smells during the summer are fly ointment, human presence that relates to maintenance, construction and repairs and of course, the ever stimulating smell of the pups.

Denali-Airplane Ears

Boltz has had a variety of behavioral displays since the pups arrived and since he spends most of his social interactions with Denali, Denali is the recipient of those interactions.  In this photo, Boltz had been food begging from Denali and expands the behavior in what we term, “Obnoxious Submission”.  This display includes continue licking and greeting of the face of another wolf often blocking their path of retreat.  Denali displays another classic wolf posture termed “Airplane Ears”, where his ears are off to the side resembling the wings of an aircraft.  This is usually interpreted as a bit of intimidation; we have often witnessed this posture with new and novel stimuli as well.  Denali tends to interact best when there’s no conflict and no subordinate pack members pushing their nose in his mouth.

Aidan- Cached for Later

Of all the wolves in the Exhibit Pack, Aidan appears to have the strongest tendency to cache food.  Regardless of how hungry he is, he will cache first and eat later.  In this photo, he is carrying a cached chicken which he quickly dispatched.  Aidan has lost most of his winter coat, likely a response to the fact that he spends a lot of time with wolf care staff either resting on his side or rolled on his back in a perfect posture for grooming. His auto-immune condition seems to have no reoccurring symptoms of pigmentation loss that we have seen in the past and his digestive treatments seem to be keeping him fit and trim.

Boltz – Food Begging

The influence of hormones is certainly evident this summer.  While Luna continues to guard the pups, Boltz seems to have reverted to pup like behavior.  In this image, Boltz is food begging from Denali and attempting to get as submissive as possible.  Denali has an ear posture we term “Pricked and Turned Sideways”  this usually is displayed by an individual that is not at ease with the interaction.  Boltz’s behavior is quite confrontational and can be a bit overwhelming, especially for a wolf like Denali that tends to avoid conflicts.  I will be posting video of this interaction on Youtube in the upcoming days.   Certainly the pup introduction in August will be interesting to see how Boltz responds to pups that will likely try to food beg as well.

Grizzer- Food Varieties

Grizzer has had some significant grooming to remove most of his undercoat.  He has the benefit of some dense vegetation in the East Side Retirement enclosure and a new level of shade cast by the Wolf Care Center.  Grizzer is not selective on his diet and easily consumes 3 – 5 lbs of meat a day, while still receiving a Saturday deer leg or beaver and the left over pup gruel and formula.   We vary the offering to keep him stimulated between chicken, beef, beaver, venison and even a bit of bison.  We will get another weight on Friday to see if we are making some headway on his weight gain, but at this point, Grizzer enjoys all the varieties and all the attention during a summer of pups.

Luna- Pup Watching

Luna definitely has the most interest in the pups.  The pups are coming in and out of the auditorium 4 times a day for programs and there isn’t a moment when Luna is not at the window or lying in the sand watching. Her focus may not all be maternal, she does have a tendency to guard her food from the pups and even shows some intense pawing when they are near.   The good news is that the pups are becoming accustomed to her interactions and are spending more time near her and the interactions are becoming calmer.  The not so good news is that there is a drawback in spending a significant amount of time lying in wait for the pups to arrive, joints can get stiff without a consistent amount of activity.  Even though people may think cold weather is hard on joints, for Luna the heat, humidity and inactivity for summer is worse.  To help ease her discomfort, we started her on an anti-inflammatory medication for the next few weeks.

Axel – Attitude Abound

Axel is frequently posturing with a dominant attitude.  These behaviors include the chin rest as shown in this photo, a T-1 tail displayed high above his back and new found confidence while Luna postures at the fence.  Initially, both pups were a bit reserved about greeting Luna when she was showing some focused and often vocal behavior towards the pups.  In the last few days, Axel seems to seek her out and stand his ground, keeping his tail erect despite the noise.   We always document the pup interactions and are interested in how each pup processes experiences.  We know from experience, what we see now may or may not be the behavioral response when they mature to adulthood.  But so far, Axel is showing some behavioral patterns that might indicate his pack interactions when he becomes a permanent member of the Exhibit Pack.  We have a new saying in the lab that is somewhat prompted by Axel’s interactions:  “I don’t have an attitude problem, you have a problem with my attitude and that’s not my problem”…  Wolf care staff get the benefit of seeing these individual personalities develop through the socialization process.  Along with attitude, Axel is gaining some size.  Yesterday morning’s weight for Axel was 11 pounds, today (June 18th) he weighs 12 pounds, a gain of 1 pound in a 24-hour period.  This is certainly the stage of a pups life where we see the fastest weight gain.

Grayback – Predatory Drive

As we have said many times before, the most valuable component of a socialized wolf pup is that they are relaxed enough to display natural behaviors among the many distractions of a captive facility.  In this photo, Grayback displays a stalking behavior as he is about to ambush his littermate.  These social interactions may be described by some as “Play Behavior”, but every practice predatory encounter is honing the skills necessary to be successful in capturing prey.  Of course, in captivity, prey is delivered in many forms, but these are instinctual behaviors and they emerge long before pups are ever exposed to a hunt.  We had a significant growth rate in the last 24 hours.   Yesterday morning he weighed 10.3 lbs.and this morning, he weighed 10.8 lbs, gaining .5 pounds in one day.  This is a great weight gain, but he is a bit behind Axel and we are working on some additional supplements to help him catch up.  He is certainly active and healthy, we just need to monitor the calorie output with the calorie input.

Pup Update – 14 June 2016

The pups have peaks and valleys when it comes to weight gain and can be based on activity, stimuli, amount of time resting and the basic metabolism of an individual pup.  Pup Care Staff and Participants monitor all food consumption  so we know every detail about their diet, but pups can vary. We look closely at the weight gain of each pup to ensure that they are always gaining or at the very least, not losing weight.  Earlier in the week, they gained around .3 – .5 lbs. a day.  From 6/12 to 6/13, Grayback’s weight remained the same at 9.1 pounds with a slight gain up to 9.2 pounds on 6/14.  Grayback continues to have a good appetite and is very active, this may just be a reflection of his own metabolism.   Axel continues to gain on a daily basis, from 9.9 pounds on 6/12 to 10 pounds on 6/13 to a 10.2 pound weight today.   

They have several evening bouts of howling between the pups and the pack (including Grizzer) and seem to want to go outside in the middle of the night. One of the great design features of the new Wolf Care Center is the guillotine gate that connects the building to the outer enclosures allowing the pups a bit more freedom.  Staff will start experimenting with evening excursions to stimulate the pups to key in on their future packmates.  They will be restricted to the vestibule until they form a more protective set of guard hair and can spend evenings outdoors in the Pack Holding Area.  From our past experience, the pups are spending most of their time outdoors by the 1st week in July.