On weekends, the wolf care staff may be in for morning med's and the evening feedings, but may not be on site during the day. So, staff that are working in retail or education will send email updates to the wolf curator, and of course, wolf care staff are on call for any emergencies. The following is the report from last Saturday: 4:00 PM on Saturday…Aidan is doing much better! The morning hours were very quiet with all the wolves resting up in the woods (including AD). Then throughout the afternoon it seemed all were social, including AD. MY didn't seem as intense. On Friday, GZ came up to AD on the Wolf Den and licked his mouth a few times… AD & MY came out of the den around 1 PM… It seemed that AD wanted to be social with all. A side note: At one point today, AD was laying on his back, legs stretched out and relaxed while surrounded by 5 or 6 ravens… Relaxed until they all took off!
There’s some great footage on Youtube of Aidan blocking and then asserting some dominance over Denali when Denali was trying to get a deer hide from Luna. Aidan has really taken the lead in this pack. He also has taken to licking Luna’s lips after she receives her supplement. Luna stands still while Aidan cleans her up. Every other wolf here seems to like Luna’s nutritional supplement except the one who needs it. This grooming behavior can also strengthen the pair bond between Aidan and Luna.
We've been noticing a trend in weight gain on Aidan. It probably has something to do with the protocol of keeping Aidan out with the pups when they feed. The pups are a lot calmer if they are not separated from Aidan, but the draw back is, when the pups are not very hungry and leave caches, Aidan gets the leftovers. With winter approaching and activity levels already increasing, he will likely burn this extra fat in the upcoming winter. His case of Discoid Lupus seems to have subsided without any further medication. The dynamics of the pups in the pack seems to have resulted in a more relaxed and often socially active Aidan.
Sorry for the break between log postings, I should be back on a regular schedule now. In the last few postings we've been referencing some cold weather limping on Luna. After consultation with the University of Minnesota, we decided to get an x-ray on Luna. The logs today will feature the reactions of each individual wolf. As we expected, Aidan showed some anxiety when we transported Luna to the Ely Vet Clinic and when she was in the medical pen coming out of the immobilization drugs. When she returned, he sniffed the areas that had some foreign sent, but resumed guarding her and had some food interactions, ultimately bringing her a deer leg.
The weather here has turned cold, with morning temperatures for the last several days ranging from -25 to -30 below zero. Wolf care staff have increased the amount of straw in the enclosure to give the wolves more insulation. Wolves in the wild bed in the snow for insulation, but in captivity, the snow is compacted, leaving it ice cold. Aidan enjoys the straw on the top of the den as well as a bed in front of the den. He was observed sharing his straw with Shadow and Denali in the last few weeks. He has another interesting behavior, when he's excited about joining in on pack activities, but anxious about Maya, he pounces, landing his front paws on a deer hide and surfs the hide a few feet. We haven't recorded it on video yet, but hope to capture it soon. The Youtube for this week has some 2009 footage, in comparison of pack dynamics a year ago to life today. Aidan definitely is more cautious, but he still gets social time, especially with Shadow.
Aidan has been far more active throughout the enclosure, still soliciting greetings from Shadow, and tolerating Denali's ever present testing. We have also observed him interacting with Grizzer, and despite Maya's diligence on keeping Aidan lower ranking, Aidan does follow Maya from the den. Staff also observed a very interesting behavior, while Maya and Shadow were walking the fence line by Malik, Aidan came down to the front of the enclosure and did a flexed leg urination in the straw where Shadow usually marks. Then scraped the ground in a confident marking behavior, and trotted back up the hill. Denali and Grizzer were watching the whole event and didn't approach or overmark. There may be more status in this wolf's future.
Sorry for the delay in the logs, the spring semester started at Vermilion on Monday, and the Curator has a full teaching schedule on Monday and Tuesday mornings. The Priority for time at the Center was placed on the wolves, leaving other duties to wait until Friday. We will transition the logs to be posted on Friday's throughout the spring semester. The pack has been good, Aidan has shown more social interaction with Denali, Grizzer and Shadow, as the male rank order is very active this time of the year.
This is just a reminder that the wolf logs are now posted on Friday rather than Monday due to a change in the Curator's teaching schedule. The last posting was Friday, January 29th, but on February 1st, the January postings are automatically moved to the archive section, which is why the main log screen has appeared empty since the 1st of February. To see archive data, just click the month/year that you would like to review and you can see the log postings. Aidan has been extremely social in the last few weeks, and we are noticing more time Grizzer. Differing than Denali's relationship, Grizzer doesn't wrestle with Aidan, but usually greets, and sniffs, which is fine with Aidan.
This pup is showing some signs of dominance. He has grabbed the stuffed wolf pup by the ear, and climbs and bites on pup# 1. We can start to feel their upper teeth breaking through, and expect them to have tooth development soon.
Attila is 19 days old today and has a slower development than Red Paw. Part of this is due to his temperament, he’s very particular about the bottle and the position he is held when feeding. If it isn’t a certain position, he gets frustrated and quits. He didn’t feed as much yesterday as he had in previous days. The Vet is coming today to do a check for any physical issues that might be occurring. Physically, his snout is elongating and his ears are showing more signs of being pointed and held upright, but the ears don’t stay up for long. One notable behavior is that Attila began to drag the blanket across the enclosure. While this may just seem like pup play, dragging carcasses is a common wolf behavior when feeding. We will also watch for these other carcass feeding instincts such as caching, tug of war and plucking.
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