On last Monday's wolf check, staff noticed the Aidan and Denali at the top of the enclosure, hopping and tail wagging with hackles. They were not interacting with each other, just running the fence line. When staff went to the top of the hill, they spotted a wild wolf at the secondary security fence, looking in at the Exhibit Pack. When staff yelled, the wolf ran back in the woods. Aidan was most territorial in his behavior, posturing along the fence and doing an RLU near the tree line after the wolf left. He then proceeded to assert some dominance over Denali.
You may have noticed a little discoloration of Aidan's nose in recent photos. Initially, we thought that he may have scraped his nose trying to cache in the lack of snow. The ground is frozen and without a protective layer of snow, the wolves try to cache and push frozen soil. But, we also experienced another similar condition with a wolf in 2001. Lucas, the dominant male of the Exhibit Pack, had a similar condition that advanced to a stage of total pigmentation loss on his nose and on the pads of his paws. A medical exam in 2001, with the help of a tissue biopsy, diagnosed this condition as Vitiligo. There are several possible causes, but there is some evidence that this is an auto-immune disorder. We have been inspecting Aidan's paws, and see no evidence of pigmentation loss on his pads. Both Aidan and Denali are scheduled for a complete medical exam in 2012, and a tissue biopsy can be collected. At this point, there appears to be no other issues or problems. We will certainly review Lucas's medical files to understand the progression and our successful treatment of this in the past.
I hope everyone has a healthy and happy New Year. The wolves are all doing well and are having a calm winter. We have not experienced temperatures in the sub zero range, which usually drives a bit of wolf aggression. We would like to announce that the Pup Care Program Applications are online at www.wolf,org. Select the Programs Tab, click on Educational Programs and you will find the applications under the Seminars title. We are adamant that special training and an understanding of wolf behavior is critical before interacting with wolf pups. This program is only available to individuals who have been previously involved in the pup care program or who have participated in the Planning for Pups prerequisite seminars offered during the summer of 2011 or 2007. Applications will be accepted until February 1st, and teams will be assembled and notified by March 15th.
Aidan continues to be a challenge with one of the handlers. There appears to have been some negative conditioning when Aidan was about 4 weeks old that causes him to be particularly aggressive with one of the handlers. Wolves have a very strong place and person association that is difficult to overcome. He remains the calmer of the two pups with other staff and is doing well. Maya's dominance over Aidan continues, but is not as intense as earlier in the fall. If wolf care staff keep the pack calm, there is a noticeable difference in Maya. This is why the winter season is very restrictive on Behind the Scenes program or visitors to the wolf yard. As you can see by video, the pups continue to wrestle on a daily basis. To stimulate the pack, we did two enclosure enrichments last week, one was scent based that resulted in scent rolling behavior, the other was food based that stimulated the wolves to search and find treats. A YouTube video showing both enclosure enrichment activities will be posted.
In this week's video and YouTube posting, you will see Shadow rolling in the fresh snow. This brought a different response from each wolf. Denali was more inclined to jump on Shadow, while Aidan was more timid, reaching for Shadow and grooming him, but not attempting to assert dominance on him. Aidan still remains strongly bonded with Shadow, and is often observed with Shadow on the den sites or interacting throughout the enclosure.
Aidan pup is still interacting well with Shadow, and continues to follow Shadow’s lead. When there’s a threat to the pack and Shadow shows aggression or dominance, Aidan runs and sits a ways from the action, only coming down when things calm or Shadow goes to greet him. It is interesting to watch the associations forming in the pack. Of course, the strongest bond is with the littermates, Aidan and Denali continue to wrestle and practice their dominance moves on each other. When the adults are very active, it’s a good thing they have each other. Aidan and Denali were 5 months old on Saturday, September 27th.
The pups are 6 months old today. We didn't get a weight on them since we woke up to 2 inches of snow and ice on the ground and the scale needs a clean, level place for the legs. We will not likely weigh them again until spring. So, the update for the week relates to the stimulus provided to the pack.<br> Every Wednesday, we give some supplemental food to the pack. Even though the pups are fed on a daily basis, an extra feeding during the week is a good distraction and adds calories as the wolves prepare for winter. This past week, we had a bison hide donated from a hunt in the western US. The pups were very excited about the head, and it made for some great behaviors for several days. Aidan was not as aggressive as Denali or Grizzer when possessing the carcass, but he did a lot of food begging behavior towards the entire pack. Aidan uses a very soft muzzle bite to encourage interaction from one of the other pack members. He was quite relaxed as Maya did a ride up behavior on him, and made him submit (see Maya’s log video). In Aidan’s video, you will see him in a submissive posture, rolling over for Grizzer as they approach the bison head.
Aidan is getting a bit of dominance from Maya, but pups understand dominance, and he does everything right, rolling over, submitting, letting her sit on him until she’s done, then getting up and going about your business. What’s important to understand that Maya’s not being mean, just keeping a rank order that is critical to wolf pack cohesiveness. If the pups didn’t have any limits or boundaries established, they would be testing everyone and chaos would be likely. The pack is actually a lot calmer because of the short rank order displays that give a clear message of the order within the pack. Maya may perceive Aidan as more of a threat, which is why she focuses on him. We do know that Aidan has a stronger alliance with Shadow and is a much more intense predatory pup.
Aidan continues to display some testing on some of the staff, which has resulted an adjustment to wolf care checks. It is not unusual for pups to test and push limits. The job of wolf care is to teach pups their boundaries, sometimes easier said than done. Grizzer is facing the same issue with the pups, after spending the fall as their social companion, they are now starting to take advantage of him, grabbing and tugging on him. Grizzer is showing more tendency to make the pups submit, and has been pinning them, especially Aidan.
Aidan is doing well in the enclosure, despite some dominance from Maya. Finding a position in the pack is based on individual personality, associations with pack members and perceived threats from the other pack members. Maya must see something in Aidan that she doesn't see in Denali to make Aidan the focus of her attention. It could be the alliance with Shadow that makes her perceive his threat in climbing rank, but it's all part of wolf communication. The pack is much calmer if everyone knows their place, and Aidan knows that his place is on his back when Maya shows the sign of active dominance. In an effort to allow the wolves to investigate the Retired Enclosure after the loss of Lakota, the pack has been given supervised access to the Retired Enclosure several times in the last week. It is great stimulus for the pack, and especially the pups, who spend a great deal of time looking for cached items. A YouTube video was posted with the activity in the Retired Enclosure.
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