Meet Our Wolves - Boltz

Boltz – Out of the Snow, into the wind

 We still see a bit of the direct stares and tail postures from the testing phase Boltz went through, but there’s not much follow-up now. We’re still working on trust and confidence issues with Boltz, in this week’s youtube you can see Boltz approach wolf care staff, but not necessarily interact with them. He has his good days, and his weary days. As I write this, we’re experiencing some gusts of wind at the center, which makes for a nervous Boltz. He has calmed down for now, and is resting atop the slate den in the enclosure.

Aidan – What’s in the Pile…

There’s no shortage of scraps now that spring is arriving. We quickly transitioned from temperatures below zero, to reaching highs in the 50’s. As I write this, we’re forecasted for 60 degree Fahrenheit weather today. With all of the snow caches surfacing, there’s a lot to possess and re-cache. In this week’s photo you can see Aidan investigating a scrap that Luna had hidden in the straw. This straw pile will remain in the enclosure until our Workin’ for Wolves crew comes later this spring to help us clean up (We’ve got a lot of work to do!).

Luna – A hint of a maturing dominant female

We were hoping to see some more pairbonding behavior from Luna towards Aidan this winter, she still has many of her juvenile traits, mixed in with her more dominant personality. We have seen some pairbonding behavior, mixed between Aidan and Denali. Some days we see her rolling around with Denali (Though it often appears to be motivated by a piece of food he’s possessing), other days we see Luna resting very closely with Aidan. During the breeding season, it’s been noted that the breeding pair often rest closer to one another, and generally interact with each other more often than other pack members. We’ve seen only a little bit of the pairbonding behavior this year, and it will be interesting to see how Aidan and Luna may fall into their roles as we bring in new pups for 2016.

Grizzer – New items in the enclosure

Wolves are very quick to pick up on new things in their environment. We’re reminded of this whenever someone comes into the enclosure with new boots, pants, gloves, or even a shampoo. New items often become the focus of the wolves very quickly. In this week’s youtube, you can see Grizzer’s fascination with some new pants one of the staff was wearing. It’s important for wolf care staff to understand safety protocols regarding captive wolves’ interest in the items we bring into the enclosure. This could be gloves, hats, cameras, etc. There have been many times the wolves have gotten an item or two from wolf care staff, which is why we often have zippers on our pockets!

Denali – The focus of the pack

One could see Denali at the bottom of the male rank order this week, as he’s been much of the focus for the pack’s dominance displays. Most of these interactions are social, or ritualized dominance, we see that in Denali’s tail posture, often still wagging, or untucked during the activity. Nevertheless, Denali seems more content resting in the upper portion of the enclosure with his meals over the past few days.

Boltz – The subsiding of winter

While much of the winter was spent testing the dominant male, Boltz’s testing seems to have calmed down a bit. We still see some following behaviors, direct eye stares, and high tails now and then, but the interactions do not appear to be as intense as in previous months. Younger animals will often test their older, aging counterparts for quite a while. In some instances this will continue until the older animal’s retirement here at the International Wolf Center, but in other cases, testing may be put to a halt by the dominant animal. It’s hard to say how Boltz’s story will go, only time will tell.

Aidan – The excitability of spring

Aidan has been seen in a great deal of excitable interactions with the other pack members. Some of this is general play behavior, and a lot of it is ritualized dominance. The focus of the domination has primarily been on Denali this week, but Aidan and Boltz have also had their dominance bouts a few times. As spring approaches, hormones will slowly die down, and a calmer energy will often come over pack as the warmer weather warrants it. Perhaps the change in the air, or the suddenly melting snow has done it, but for now, the wolves remain quite excitable and active.

Boltz- Stalking

Boltz is showing an increase in predatory drive with ravens, but in this image, he was photographed stalking Luna.  I certainly see Boltz showing some tendency towards more dominance, but I also see him in social behavior with Denali at the bottom of the order.   We have another year of status before the pups arrive, our goal is to keep Aidan strong, let Boltz be comfortable with his position.  Wolves tend to be Neophobic or fearful of new things, but Boltz tends to take his intimidation to a higher level.  He’s calm when Aidan’s calm, and when there’s some intimidation, he tends to redirect.

 

Aidan – Resting with EPTS

What is EPTS – in our Ethogram code, EPTS means Ears Pricked and Turned Sideways.  This ear posture is usually an indication of tension in the wolf.  Most people assume the dominant wolf is always in control and has a carefree life, but there is a lot of research that indicates that high-ranking individuals tend to have higher metabolic rates and higher levels of cortisol.  In our captive facility, Aidan is the only individual wolf with an auto-immune disorder.  We have witnessed the impact of aging on our other pack leaders, and some days, Aidan looks much older than Denali.

 

 

 

   

Grizzer – Howling in the Night

Since the loss of Shadow, we have been experiencing less howling within the social groups.  Recently, Grizzer has been observed by webcam viewers howling in the late evening. Someone had recently asked about Grizzer’s right eye.  It is slightly misshapen and doesn’t have the same blink reflex as his left eye.  This was the result of some dominance issues between Grizzer and Denali starting in the winter of 2010, and eventually lead to Grizzer’s retirement in March, 2011.  His antagonistic behavior towards Denali resulted in some threat displays from Denali, and with Denali’s added height, lead to some head scrapes on Grizzer.   Grizzer received several sutures to the top of his head and by the last incident, it appears that there may have been some nerve damage.  He shows no pain response, but seems to have limited blink response in his right eye.  His 3rd eye lid, called the Nictitating membrane, does blink, but not at the same rate as his upper eyelid.  This is hard to see during the daylight, but can be viewed by our night vision camera.  When his 3rd eyelid blinks, the tapetum lucidum (a layer of tissue in the eye that reflects light) shows his blink response, slower than his left, but still present.