Aidan has a new quirk that the wolf care staff must solve. Well, it's not really a quirk, more like self-preservation, he doesn't want to go into holding with Maya. Of course, we certainly understand, Maya continues to remind Aidan that he's gaining no status as a yearling. We wouldn't mind this situation, if it wasn't for the fact that he is not afraid of the wheelbarrow, and when we feed, he meets staff at the gate and tries to drag the deer away from the viewing windows and public program. Last week, he not only dragged the deer, but the staff and the wheelbarrow as well. Of course, this is a problem we created, someone thought it was cute to let the wolves climb in the wheelbarrow when they were pups. Bad idea, now we will deal with this problem for the near future. At tonight's feeding, the curator stayed in the pack holding area with Aidan and provided him some security, but this is not a long term solution. The curator does not have plans for living in the enclosure.
We started Aidan on a Derm Cap supplement this weekend. This will be a daily supplement to improve his coat condition. Compared to Denali, his guard hairs are not as thick or smooth. This may be related to added stress of Maya's dominance, but we notice issues with his digestion as well. Last week, we fed some beef to the pack, and Aidan had some significant digestive problems. The pack is back to the standards of deer and beaver as the main source of food.
Aidan was observed socially interacting with Maya prior to the last feeding, this included behaviors of submissive pawing to her, jumping up on her and generally wanting to greet her. Maya was doing a playbow, lowering herself on her front legs to spring up in greeting. This relationship continues to have extremes of dominance and social behavior, but it is clear that Aidan respects Maya's position and follows her lead. Of course, Aidan still has littermate interactions with Denali, who is testing everything and everyone in his world.
Due to the fact that we're a bit short staffed, and it's been a busy weekend with the Alpha Member's/Board Meeting weekend, we will be posting the same log for all wolves. The video this week will be featured on the International Wolf Center's YouTube video channel, and will include a video on the factors we monitor when deciding a wolf needs to be retired, and a feeding program that we did without public viewing. Usually, when we feed, the public is on site with people at the windows. Shadow is a bit shy about feeding in front of people and cameras. On Tuesday night, September 8th, the Vermilion Community College Wolf/Deer Interaction class did a deer dissection, and Curator, Lori Schmidt fed the torso after everyone had left the site. Shadow was the actively feeding the entire time, and was very dominant on the carcass. All wolves are doing well, although this unexpected 80 degree weather in September has been keeping the wolves calm. They have grown in their winter coat, and are adapting to the heat by staying down for most of the day.
Aidan has been calmer since pack activity has calmed down. Finishing the roof project has helped significantly reduce pack tension. Aidan is very social to wolf care staff, seeking out their attention more than any other wolf, although, he still has a tendency to nip people from behind when he's nervous, or if people don't pay attention to him. This is a potentially serious behavioral problem, and we need to be consistent in handling. He does give off behavioral cues when he is anxious, so wolf care staff need to be diligent in observing these cues.
Written by Kristin Radermacher – taken from the pup logs. The pups are alternately hard playing or hard sleeping. They spend equal amounts of time doing each. The nannies spend time handling the pups ears, feet and mouths every shift. This will make caring for them as full grown adults much more easy for the IWC staff. The pups are very accepting of this handling by now.
Aidan continues to be the focus of Maya, wolf care staff are trying to identify the trigger that creates Maya’s intense dominance. At this point, it appears howling bouts and tension between Malik and Grizzer are situations that can predict dominance for Aidan. At this point, Aidan does effectively run away, uses the den for protection and submits. These are all the right things, then, he seeks out Shadow and the wolf care staff for reassurance. We weighed the wolves this week and Aidan is down to 104.9 lbs from an April weight of 106.7.
Written by program participants Jim LeBlanc and Andi Nelson: During the weekend program, Pups at One Year, participants logged behavioral observations of the pack for an extended period of time. Aidan was out of view in the den, perhaps to avoid the persistent dominating behavior from Maya. When released from holding, after enclosure enrichment was done, Aidan was noted to be watchful of Maya’s location. However, this seems to contradict with this week’s video where the two were quite playful… almost as if Maya is “testing him to see if he would be an appropriate replacement for Shadow when he is eventually retired. In anticipation of the future retirement, the program participants also finalized the preparations of the retired pen.
Aidan had a full meal during the Sunday night feeding program. He had a rock hard stomach on Monday, found a cache and started eating it, only to let out a low howl of discomfort since his stomach couldn't fit anymore food. The yearlings are certainly making the most of the feeding programs, although you wouldn't know it by looking at them, they are both lean in body structure. It must be all that exercise Aidan gets by wrestling with his litter mate and avoiding Maya.
The summer heat finally arrived, and most of the wolves did fairly well, with the exception of Aidan. The heat alone wouldn't have been an issue, but during the warmest day, with the highest humidity, the new fence construction contributed to his stress level, and overheating. First, I will talk about the fence. We have always had an issue with people ignoring the no trespassing signs on the far side of the fence, walking up to the pack, howling to the pack and bringing dogs next to the fence. This has caused the wolves a great deal of anxiety, and unfortunately, redirected aggression. Wolf Center Board members generously contributed money for the funding of a permanent, 9 foot tall cedar fence, blocking the public from accessing the wolf enclosure. This is especially important as the building construction is funneling all visitors into the entrance door adjacent to the enclosure. So, the fence was needed, but the timing of the fence with the heat and humidity caused Aidan to display some of the first symptoms of heat, rapid panting with thick, sticky and foamy saliva. Wolf care staff initiated several days of enclosure enrichments with chicken filled ice blocks thrown in the pond, to encourage the wolves to swim. This helped the wolves tremendously, and Aidan managed quite well. By the way, the fence is nearly done, and it is a great improvement for the wolves security.
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.