Denali's so mild mannered in personality that he seems to be an easy target for the yearlings. This is very reminiscent of Grizzer's personality type when Denali was a pup. Denali seems to take it in stride with only the occasional tucked tail showing that he's overwhelmed with the attention.
Denali likes frequent feedings and if we don't monitor the food, he'll take his share and everyone else's share whenever we feed. When working with the wolves, we use handling techniques that mirror their behavioral patterns. We may stand over food to show that we possess it and signal to the wolves that they need to back off and stay out of our guarded space. Another technique we use includes showing a flat hand to indicate that we have no additional food resources. When we are doing intense feedings, it's always important to use body language to control the situation. Food aggression can escalate to more intense interactions. Due to this unique situation, I have rearranged the feeding schedule to ensure that, as the curator, I am directly hand feeding. This can be too risky for other staff and at times can be intense.
I'm sure I've covered this before, but it's worth mentioning again. Food possession in wolves is not necessarily tied to rank order. In the Retired Pack, Shadow is clearly dominant by the chin rests, tail postures, stance and direct eye contact that is displayed towards Malik. But, if there's food, Malik is far more active in guarding and food threat behavior. This occurred earlier in the week when we were feeding some chickens. Malik attempts to take all of them and keep Shadow away. I did have to do a stand over some chickens to allow Shadow time to gain possession. For some reason, Shadow doesn't assert himself over food and Malik takes advantage of this. I normally don't interfere with rank or feeding issues, but when there's smaller quantities, it's my job to make sure they get enough.
The logs will all be the same this week. The weather creates added challenges to the daily job of caring for wolves and we've had a variety of weather. The warm spell that melted a significant amount of snow led to standing water which later froze when colder temperatures returned. This week's Youtube video features some great demonstration of Aidan doing a stiff leg jump to crack the ice. Boltz is a bit hesitant on the ice since he fell through the ice into about 2 feet of water (thanks to Denali's hefty body size on the ice). Luna's displaying less stiffness as the temperatures warm and she's been spending a lot of time digging. This week is another special week as Grizzer turns 9 years old on May 5th and Shadow and Malik are 13 years old on May 8th.
The logs will all be the same this week. The weather creates added challenges to the daily job of caring for wolves and we've had a variety of weather. The warm spell that melted a significant amount of snow led to standing water which later froze when colder temperatures returned. This week's Youtube video features some great demonstration of Aidan doing a stiff leg jump to crack the ice. Boltz is a bit hesitant on the ice since he fell through the ice into about 2 feet of water (thanks to Denali's hefty body size on the ice). Luna's displaying less stiffness as the temperatures warm and she's been spending a lot of time digging. This week is another special week as Grizzer turns 9 years old on May 5th and Shadow and Malik are 13 years old on May 8th.
As the Curator for the Center, I spend the most time with the wolves, and since Shadow and Malik are the oldest and Shadow is dominant, we can assume I have spent the most time with Shadow. Since I've been a bit under the weather lately, Shadow is the wolf that seems to pick up on the difference. I must be careful about all the wolves because this sign of weakness can lead to a challenge, but from the 13 year old retired wolf, the connection seems to be more of a calm, resting posture than one of testing behavior. There may be some sympathy from one set of old bones to another.
Luna's had a complete shed and her summer coat does nothing to protect her from bugs. She's very restless and irritated in the early morning when the bugs are the worst, but she finds relief in the den and in the woods. She continues to be very dominant with all of her pack mates, and has some intense face-off's with Aidan. She seems stiff when she's been resting for an extended period of time, but once she's mobile, she has few limitations.
Boltz is experiencing an increase in dominance from Denali. As yearlings approach adulthood, the tolerances of the adults decrease and they start assuming a role within the rank order. Boltz is very timid when he's the focus of the other wolves and because he and Luna still wrestle like pups, there's many times when he is pinned by Luna. This makes him an easy target for Denali to assert some dominance. The factor that influences this male rank order is that Aidan seems to actively stop Denali if there's a heightened level of activity. This is more likely to be a move to keep Denali from gaining too much status rather than a protective behavior towards Boltz.
Denali has been on a pendulum of behaviors, one minute he and Luna are dominating Boltz and showing some increased status, the next minute Aidan forces Denali to the ground and Luna has one side and Aidan has the other. The life of a 2nd ranking male can be active, but these ritualized dominance displays are important to keep a clear indication of the order of the pack, and while it may look unpleasant for Denali to be pinned to the ground (or Boltz), there's no question of leadership. In the wild, when the pack needs a leader to hunt or defend territory, it's the critical behavior such as rank order displays that keeps a pack functioning. These ritualized displays are short, but they can be vocal. Some people may interpret it as fighting, but in reality, a rank order does the opposite. If a pack daily established the order and reinforces it, there is clear leadership and fights to run a pack are avoided.
We began pond treatments this week and for smaller ponds, we use a barley straw liquid concentration that works well on algae. Grizzer likes the smell, but unfortunately, it's difficult to scentroll on water. We will be doing some concrete work in Grizzer's enclosure in the upcoming weeks, Grizzer seems to have created quite a tunnel system under his concrete den compromising the support of the walls. He cached a beaver in the tunnel. Facilities maintenance is a significant part of our job in wolf care.
The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future.