Three months ago, if someone would have told me that Grizzer would be leading this pack, I never would have believed it. Grizzer showed very little leadership qualities at least to the standard that Shadow set, but here we area, and what Grizzer lacks in direct interaction, he far exceeds the standard in body language. Grizzer makes Denali nervous merely by hiding behind a rock, perking his ears forward and appearing that an ambush is imminent. With Grizzer's size, his burst of speed are fairly limited, and even though Denali can outrun him, it is unlikely that Grizzer will catch him.
Shadow still seems to be tractable to certain people, and intimidating towards others. Some staff enjoy a greeting like no other, while others approach the fence to give the morning vitamins, and Shadow tries to engage in direct eye contact, growling while getting his morning meds. This is probably going to be the behavior of Shadow until he's too old to growl, he always had a way of proving his point that he was a dominant wolf, even from the time he was a pup.
Maya seems to be more relaxed since Grizzer has stepped up his role in showing Denali some status. Maya's relaxation is good for all pack members, especially Aidan. Now, the question remains, will Maya show associative pair bonding behavior with Grizzer like she did with Shadow? Wolves don't have any social rules about litter mates pairing, but there are times that Maya doesn't seem to respectful of Grizzer. But, if he keeps Denali in line, he must have some value.
On Wednesday, Aidan had an incident where he twisted his leg or hip joint after catching it in some rocks during dominance activity. This was very concerning as he was reluctant to bear weight on the paw, holding his back left leg up and immobile. After a few days of anti-inflammatory medications, a vet visit and several special meals of meat gruel, his attitude and condition changed, resulting in a wolf that was play bowing with pack members on Friday afternoon, sort of a celebration after being out of sorts for a few days. It is always concerning when an animal is injured, but it is important to note that wolves have some very specific rules about pack hierarchy, and even a short separation for medical care can result in a wolf not being accepted into the social structure upon their return. Unless the injury is clearly one that requires invasive treatment, we recover animals in the pack structure. One thing we have decided to implement is a specific nutritional supplement for Aidan, who as an omega, tends to have more joint and tissues issues from higher ranking wolves chasing and sometimes biting him. We have chosen Glyco-Flex Classic as a treatment and will provide status reports to Aidan's overall health.
Grizzer is again gaining some sympathy from wolf care staff, observations have shown Denali to be more assertive in his testing and be best described as obnoxious or in kinder terms, relentless. Grizzer has the tail structure that shows he is confident, but he lacks the effort to assert his position. He appears to want to avoid conflict, and only deal with dominance issues when his frustration levels elevate. This is probably not a good management style, don't react until you over react, but maybe Grizzer will learn some proactive techniques from Maya. One thing we have observed, Aidan and Grizzer were staying near each other in the den, and Aidan doesn't show nearly as much intimidation by Grizzer as Denali does. This should make Aidan's life a bit more comfortable.
This log written by Working for Wolves Participant: Michele Amacker During the Working for Wolves week-end, the retirement pack enclosure had their straw replaced with cedar chips and their den boxes and pond cleaned. Vines were planted on the outside of the enclosure in hopes to eventually decrease the noise from the road and improve the environment of the enclosure. Lucas was a little tense during the beginning of the project but relaxed somewhat as the morning went on. Signs of his years are showing, like stiffness while getting up and some unsteadiness walking. On Sunday, he was not pacing as much, but still did not join Mac and Lakota during wolf care.
Malik is the most tolerant of activity in and around the enclosure and the presence of visitors. He took the weekend in stride with very little stress or action against Shadow, when Shadow was feeling most vulnerable. Having a wide variety of personalities in the pack probably has a good survival influence in the wild.
Today Groan is 28 days old. During the 3 p.m. pup program, she became very anxious. Staff let her run along the ledge of the observation window, which calmed her down. Today, when Grizz and Nubee sought out Groan to lay next to, Groan got up and moved to another area of the pup pen. When they followed her, she again moved to another area of the pup pen. The precaudal gland on her tail is evident. This appears as a darker, diamond-shaped patch of fur located about halfway down the tail. At her noon feeding, she ate a 1/4 cup of weaning formula given in a bowl and did not feed from the bottle. She is exhibiting play-bows, pouncing, and stalking behaviors with her siblings.
Today Grizz howled with a nanny. Anxious during pen cleaning. Whined and paced a lot, recquired a lot of reassurance. Did fairly well during presentation. Was interested in deer hide. Became stressed towards the end of the program. Did well during program. Was interested in pine cone and deer hide. He also played with Nubee and Groan.
Nubee joined Grizz and Groan in chasing each other when one had the beaver tail. She also exhibited head-shaking behavior with the beaver tail. Nubee has been initiating dominance interactions with Grizz and Groan. She has been very vocal-growling at them. Stalking and pouncing behaviors were also observed. Nubee was very anxious during program and was whining and climbing on gate to get out of pup pen in auditorium. She was not easily distracted with stimulus items. Took pups out to outdoor pup pen. Nubee ran around and explored the enclosure. She also went into the den and dug some dirt and laid down. Went to fenceline and growled at Shadow & Malik. Malik brought a piece of beaver near fence and put it down.
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