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.
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.
The pack is definitely displaying summertime activity patterns with activity beginning at dawn (usually with a howl), and fading by 10 am, then picking up again at sunset. Since we started the probiotic, Aidan is definitely in a much better physical and mental state. He is very social and despite Luna’s “in your face style of greeting”, Aidan has displayed several roll on back greetings to the pack. His pigmentation remains dark on his nose and shows no other signs or issues with his health. When we moved Shadow into the lab, we did bring him next to the Exhibit fence, and while Aidan was whining at the edge of the fence, he didn’t show any signs of anxiety or withdrawal from social behavior. I’m not sure why the last logs didn’t post, but we did take weights on June 13th. Aidan weighed 136.25 lbs, making him the largest wolf currently on display at the Center. It doesn’t beat the largest weight ever recorded at the Center, that goes to Denali, who weighed in at 138.6 lbs last fall. Of course, these weights are subjective, a wolf can gorge and carry 20 lbs of meat in their stomach, but we try to weigh on Friday’s before a big meal. This is also when we have the most staff available to accomplish this multi-tasking event. Getting one wolf on the scale to stand still before the others try to join in is a challenge for the whole wolf care team.
Aidan was born on April 27, 2008. Here is a chart of his weight progressions by year:
11/21/2008 Aidan – Pup 87.2 lbs
4/22/2009 Aidan – Yearling 106.70 lbs
4/29/2010 Aidan – 2 years 106.92 lbs
6/5/2011 Aidan – 3 Years 124 lbs
6/14/2012 Aidan – 4 Years 123 lbs
6/4/2013 Aidan – 5 Years 129 lbs
6/13/2014 Aidan – 6 Years 136.25
Last year, you may remember or may have witnessed Aidan’s tendency to have a bit of a distended belly at times. I even had a visitor ask me if Aidan was the “pregnant female”. I didn’t tell Aidan that, but the Vet’s were testing for a variety of conditions that may have had a symptom of a distended abdomen. Cushings, parasites, growths etc, but to no avail. After my bout with Lymes disease last year and having months on doxycycline, I started to wonder if we didn’t have a problem with Aidan’s long-term use of antibiotics for his Discoid Lupus condition (which now appears to be in remission). So, after a complete parasite treatment for the entire pack, we decided to put Aidan on a probiotic to improve his digestive enzymes. To say that his condition has improved would be an understatement. Any post-feeding distension has dissipated, he is in an improved state of social behavior and less aggressive to the touch after a Saturday night meal. He has returned to a trim abdominal view and will appear even more fit once we can get rid of the extra hair.
Aidan’s was photographed rubbing up against Denali. His submissive ears and partially closed eyes indicates a calm, social greeting. As true littermates, Aidan and Denali have displayed these behaviors since they were pups, and continue to have strong bonding moments as adults. You may notice the dark pigmentation has returned to his nose and he definitely seems to be in better shape than this time last year.
Spring is great for two reasons, we get rid of snow and the migration of birds makes for a lot of stimuli. Aidan is watching a flock of songbirds that have decided to land within the enclosure. If you recall the fall migration, that’s not a good choice for to take a break. Aidan’s more tolerant than the other pack mates, Denali, Luna and Boltz frequently stalk and chase, Aidan just watches. Although the tongue sticking out might signify a bit more action.
As you can see in this week’s photo, Denali has experienced some mild mobbing from pack mates. “Mobbing” is a typical behavior defined in the International Wolf Center’s Ethogram as “two or more wolves crowding around another wolf in a noisy, harassing manner”. While Aidan is tolerant of various types of testing behavior, he asserts his dominance clearly when necessary.
Aidan sure does seem to take the events of the pack in stride. His pigmentation has completely returned on his nose and he is extremely relaxed. It does seem that he invites Boltz to interact and willingly allows Boltz and Luna to pin him, but when it’s too much, there’s no doubt a serious lip curl will get Boltz to back down. Luna needs a bit more vocalization, but Boltz and Aidan seem to have a strong bond. Aidan is very tolerant of Boltz and displays an inhibited bite as a form of greeting.
Aidan has been spending a fair amount of time posturing over Denali. This behavior has been observed multiple times in the last week. It’s hard to say if it has any correlation to the changes here, but all the howling from Shadow and Grizzer may be influencing him.
With the loss of Malik on Saturday, staff have recorded very limited effect on the Exhibit Pack. We certainly wonder if the situation included a loss of Shadow, would Aidan respond. The Exhibit Pack has had a lot of social activity as the snow keeps piling up. We have observed some reduction of dominance towards Denali. This is the time of year where testosterone begins to wane and the wolves become a bit calmer. Of course, calmer behavior is also influenced by your packmates, and Luna keeps Aidan on the move.
