Aidan – The Stoic Leader

Wolf Logs written by Wolf Watch participants Steve Houglum and Marcia Mummau. 

Aidan is a stoic, quiet, but alert pack leader who doesn’t interfere with the pack dynamics unless he deems it necessary, which isn’t very often.  Aidan, Boltz and Luna had a howling session early Saturday morning, awakening the wolf watch group before dawn.  The howl seemed to originate with Grizzer as the first howl heard was off in the distance.

The Wolf Watch program is generally offered on the first Friday of each month, allowing participants to join wolf care staff as they observe the pack interactions and record any behavioral data that helps determine pack dynamics.

Boltz – Still Plays Like a Pup

Wolf Logs written by Wolf Watch participants Steve Houglum and Marcia Mummau. 

Boltz is still such a juvenile wolf at times.  During the Wolf Watch program, participants observed he and Luna jaw sparring, tail wagging, chasing each other with what appeared to be little regard for energy conservation.

The Wolf Watch program is generally offered on the first Friday of each month, allowing participants to join wolf care staff as they observe the pack interactions and record any behavioral data that helps determine pack dynamics.

Luna-The Sneak

Wolf Logs written by Wolf Watch participants Steve Houglum and Marcia Mummau. 

During the Wolf Watch Friday evening program, the “Wiley Luna” waited for the opportunity to take one of Denali’ deer legs.  she positioned herself near Denali and slowly made her move by getting a front paw on one of the deer legs.  At this point, she shares possession and all she needs is time and Denali moved away. 

The Wolf Watch program is generally offered on the first Friday of each month, allowing participants to join wolf care staff as they observe the pack interactions and record any behavioral data that helps determine pack dynamics.

Aidan- Caching in a Fresh Snow

Of all the wolves on Exhibit, Aidan displays the most caching behavior.  His pattern of burying food resources always involves a pile of untrodden snow, and his face shows the intensity of his task to keep his resources from the rest of the pack.

Boltz – The Face with a Thousand Expressions

Wolves are social carnivores and when we talk about social interaction, they can be very expressive.  Boltz is one of those wolves who seems to always have a look that indicates a complexity to an interaction.

Grizzer – Who are you Calling Retired

Grizzer may live in the Retired exhibit, but he is far from the view of a retired wolf… This week’s YouTube shows the famous Grizzer 500, where he excitedly races around the enclosure in response to wolf care interaction.  It’s enjoyable for both wolves and humans.

Luna – Subtle Posture

Luna is displaying a “Stand-Over” behavior to Denali.  This is typically a passive show of dominance and can be a method for getting another wolf to get up and leave a certain area.  Notice this behavior is occurring on the cover hay beds, which Luna possesses on a regular basis.   But, if you look closely, Denali is chewing on a bone, and this behavior could also be motivated by food possession.  Denali displays another common wolf behavior…Ignore.

 

Denali – Ears Tell the Story

Sorry for the lengthy delay, it took about a week for Denali to return back to his usual active self and another week for us to make sure everyone else was healthy.  Based on his blood work and symptoms, we believe it was a viral infection that caused his discomfort and lethargic behavior.  When dealing with pack animals, we are always worried about spread to the remaining pack members, but so far, the rest of the pack had no issues.  In this week’s photo, we see the ear posture showing a defensive threat over a piece of venison.  Attitude toward food possessions is another way we can tell Denali is feeling better.   It may be hard to believe, but while he was sick, Denali wouldn’t even take a meatball.  During his first few days of illness, any medical treatment he needed had to be delivered with a subcutaneous injection.  We know a wolf doesn’t feel well when they are easy to hand inject and they allow a blood draw. 

Boltz – With a Notorious Look

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and Boltz’s notorious eye stare has been featured many times in these logs.  It’s the classic look for a wolf that seems to assess the surrounding threats before making the “flight” decision.  As we have spoken before, some of this is the age in which we socialized him to our Exhibit, some is his personality trait.  Each wolf seems to bring something else to the pack, and Boltz brings a classic eye stare.

Luna – Resting in a Cushion of Snow

Snow has insulating value and for Luna, this is a comfort.  When temperatures decrease and the snow gets compacted, we also provide the wolves with a bed of cover hay in the front of the enclosure where the darker hay absorbs some radiant heat from the sun.  But, when a least weasel makes his way into the enclosure and hides in some rocks, Luna will plant herself on a cold shelf of ice to be there when the weasel decides to vacate the rocks.  This was the scenario during last Monday’s wolf check.  When we arrived, we noticed Luna resting in a rather odd posture and it appeared that she had been lying down for a while.  We physically checked her, but she became increasingly aggressive when we blocked her view of the rock pile.   It was then that we discovered a little white head of the weasel.  Luna was obsessed with the weasel and no amount of physical discomfort could distract her from her watch.   It wasn’t until later in the day that we managed to give the weasel an escape by lying a wheelbarrow over the rocks and within a minute, watched him scurry back into the garage where he has been keeping a good control of the rodent and shrew populations.  As soon as the weasel was gone, Luna’s obsession ended and she went about the routine of being a normal pack member.