shadow – Oct 18, 2004 12:00 AM

Of all the wolves impacted by the pup introduction, it would have to be said that Shadow shows the most change in behavior. Normally timid towards strangers and classified as low ranking to Malik last year, Shadow has taken on a new tolerance for wolf care staff in training and has been observed in high tail quite frequently. The latest observation of him putting Malik down during a program may be an indication of our winter to come. Information Specialist Jess Edberg wrote: After my 4pm program I noticed some interesting behavior: We observed what looked to have started out as playing between Malik and Shadow. They were wrestling and standing up against each other while biting. I looked away for half a minute and when I looked back, Shadow had Malik on the ground on his back, the pups where milling around them. When Malik got up, he was in a very defensive stance with his tail wrapped under him, body hunched, hackles up, head down, ears back and teeth bared. Shadow continued to nip at him and the pups got involved as well – kind of mobbing but the pups weren't as persistent as Shadow. After about a minute, Malik took off and Shadow began chasing him (the pups followed but, distracted themselves with each other). This lasted approximately 1-2 minutes. Then the situation seemed to diffuse.