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.
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.
As you know, Grizzer lives alone, but he still displays possessive behavior and a desire to cache his food. Why be possessive when you have no pack mates? Scavengers are likely the motivator to protect his food resources. When we feed either pack (Retired or Exhibit), a significant amount of ravens take advantage of the food resources and roost, waiting for the perfect opportunity to land and feed. We also know that Grizzer can display his possession rights against the staff. If staff are picking up scat and step on a cache, this can stimulate Grizzer to display threat behavior defending his cache. He has the right to guard and possess food from the staff, it’s our job to look, listen and learn from the behaviors displayed by the wolves.
One thing about Denali is that he is extremely alert, especially when food resources are leaving the freezer or entering the enclosure. When training staff about wolf behavior, we focus on three main features:
1. How are they holding their ears
2. How are they holding their tail
3. Where are they focusing their eyes.
These three observations will give a good insight into a wolves attitude and Denali’s typical attitude is “Where’s the meat?”
Today, we aren’t seeing as much focus as we normally do from Denali. He seems to be a bit lethargic and has lost his appetite. For a wolf like Denali, that’s definitely a sign that warrants a call to the Vet clinic. We gathered a fecal sample, have run through the symptoms and our veterinarian has developed a course of treatment to get him back on track.
Aidan’s feeling good and in the best physical shape he’s been in for a while. His pigmentation changes caused by his Discoid Lupus seems to have diminished with no residual discoloration on his nose or lips. He’s an active pack leader and is always aware of the pack’s interactions. It’s been a long trip from the bottom of the rank order as a yearling, to a strong pack leader 6 years later.
Luna has been somewhat of the focus of many mobbings recently, perhaps because of her crazed personality. She’s often the instigator of the many interactions with the pack, but the focus of each interaction may shift back to her every now and then.
Learn more about the behavior of our captive wolves, and wolves around the world through our…
webinars: https://wolf.org/events/seminars/
And Lecture Series: https://wolf.org/events/lecture-series/
Denali shows us an excellent snowplow in this week’s photo, taken by wolf watch participant Steven Houglum. This behavior is commonly done to clean off excess blood or other grit on the wolf’s muzzle, but it has also been seen in a more ‘playful’ context.
Learn more about the behavior of our captive wolves, and wolves around the world through our…
webinars: https://wolf.org/events/seminars/
And Lecture Series: https://wolf.org/events/lecture-series/
Our wolf watch participants witnessed a number of testing displays from Boltz towards Aidan, often involving him charging up to Aidan with a high tail and giving him a direct eye stare. Aidan appears to be ignoring these behaviors however, which could be a sign that Aidan is not concerned with Boltz’ rise in testing.
Learn more about the behavior of our captive wolves, and wolves around the world through our webinars and Lecture Series.
This time of year sled dogs are commonly fed and let out to use some energy across the street from the International Wolf Center. It’s always interesting to see how the wolves react to all of the activity. As you can see in this week’s photo, Grizzer is very alert to the activity across the way.
Learn more about the behavior of our captive wolves, and wolves around the world from your computer through our…
webinars: https://wolf.org/events/seminars/
And Lecture Series: https://wolf.org/events/lecture-series/
Data and photo provided by wolf watch participant Steven Houglum.
Early in the night of our monthly wolf watch program, participant Steven Houglum reported a bark-howl that occurred in the enclosure. It was up the hill in our enclosure, so we could not see which wolf performed it. The bark-howl is a defensive form of communication, often letting its target know that they need to back off, or stay away from a territory. It’s possible that Aidan performed this bark-howl, perhaps to ward off a wild wolf that may have been near the fence.
Learn more about the behavior of our captive wolves, and wolves around the world from your computer through our…
Webinars: https://wolf.org/events/seminars/
And Lecture Series: https://wolf.org/events/lecture-series/
