Luna – Active and Sturdy

There are few things that can stop Luna when she decides she wants to guard food, or begin a chase, or in general roughhouse with another wolf. In this week’s photo you can see Luna leaping away from Denali during one of these playful sessions. She’s standing with her weight completely on her back legs, her back right leg being the one she had injured as a pup. As we mentioned last week, her Vitamin D levels are finally in a normal range, and she certainly shows it. Now and then we still see joint aches, but overall, Luna has not been slowed down by her condition.

Grizzer – Retirement’s Spa

One of our wolf care staff commented that Grizzer’s pond in retirement is beginning to look like a tropical spa, what with leaves and berries hanging closely over the clear water. Grizzer often takes advantage of his cool retreat during the last few hot days of the summer, which seem to have finally caught up to us here in Northern Minnesota.

Denali – Face-Wiping: Nature’s Napkin

Face-wiping is a common behavior seen in wolves, and it involved the wolf wiping their muzzle, and portions of their face, on an object to remove debris. This is often done in grass, on tree trunks, or in the snow, and it serves to clean a wolf’s face quite well after a meal. In this week’s photo, Denali demonstrates the messiness that comes with feeding off of a beaver carcass.

Boltz – The Importance of Sibling Bonds

Though Luna and Boltz are not related by blood, they were indeed raised together, and in their puphood formed a sibling bond. This often results in more play behavior between the two, but at times it can also mean support in the pack. We saw this same behavior between Maya and Grizzer, two siblings from the 2004 litter. When Grizzer was the dominant male of the exhibit pack after Shadow’s retirement, Maya would continuously reinforce Grizzer’s rank by dominating the other wolves in the exhibit. It is very possible that Luna will do the same, should Boltz begin to climb in his rank.

Aidan – The Leadership of a Dominant Male

There is little doubt that Aidan maintains himself as the dominant male of the exhibit pack. Through the stresses and excitement that comes with living along-side two growing juveniles, Aidan carries a high tail when interacting with the rest of the pack. In this week’s photo, you can see Denali in the process of rolling in submission towards Aidan, while the two year olds roughhouse in the foreground.

Grizzer – So Many New Things

Grizzer had definitely benefited from the additional space added to his world.  Wolves spend most of their time exploring and Grizzer has plenty of room and plenty of new things to investigate.  He has certainly shown more activity and has shown more relaxation surrounding events such as Behind the Scenes programs.  We even witnessed the Grizzer 500, but with so much vegetation, he had a few more obstacles to maneuver.  He was still too fast to film during the event, but I did get his ending at the top of the den.  The staff think he did a bow… Take a look at the Youtube this week and let me know what you think.

Denali – Inhibited Bite

Wolf Care Staff captured this photo of Denali displaying an inhibited bite on Luna.  If you look carefully, Denali’s mouth is open wide and he has half of Luna’s body in his mouth.  Inhibited means that the wolf restricts the pressure on the bite, which is a good thing considering Denali’s size and strength.

Luna – About to Take on a Deer Leg

Don Gossett captured this photograph on a recent Photographer’s Only session.  Luna displays a sideward glance before pouncing and tossing the deer leg in the air.  Wolves are incredibly expressive and Luna is more expressive than most.  She has several antics that simulate the pack to be active.  We did have great news from the blood draw that we did last week.  For the first time since we met Luna, we finally have her Vitamin D, Ionized Calcium and Parathyroid hormone values in normal ranges.  All of her other blood work showed good nutritional status and we think we are over the challenges of her youth.

Boltz – May I Please?

Boltz shows a great submissive approach to gain acceptance in the male rank order.  Wolf Care Staff member Don Gossett captured this photograph of the male rank order in the Exhibit Pack, from right to left, Dominant Male Aidan, 2nd ranking male Denali, and bottom of the rank order, Boltz.  Boltz shows all the right body language to be accepted as a lower ranking pack member.

Aidan – The Dominant Male Pose

It wasn’t long ago that another dominant male gracefully posed on this rock with his front legs crossed.  Aidan seems to have acquired the same graceful pose as Shadow.  Aidan’s had some relaxing summer days, enjoying the fresh wood chips, the daily enclosure enrichments and some quiet time as Luna and Boltz seem to be occupied with other things.  We have noticed two light spots on Aidan’s nose and are concerned about a return of discoid lupus, but they are small and not advancing at any speed.  Since we’ve been through this before, we will be quick to respond with the appropriate treatment to reduce any additional pigmentation loss.  The best thing we can do is help him relax, and this weeks wolf care had a lot of
Aidan massage time.