Pigeons were donated by the Wildlife Science Center from an eradication effort at the Minneapolis Airport and were used in an enclosure enrichment. Text was written by Working for Wolves participants Wendy Watson, Andi Nelsen, Joyce Wells, and Ann Rasberry: Even though he is the omega Aidan still shows confidence with raised leg urinations, scrapes, and ears pricked forward. Despite being reminded by Maya of his status he is still an active member of the pack. Maya keeps stalking him and leaving him up in the woods but Aidan is becoming smarter about getting down to the front of the exhibit without her seeing him.
We had a little problem with video editing this morning, so all the logs will be the same and we hope to get video in the logs and a new Youtube video posted by the end of the week. The fall colors have been tremendous in the enclosure, and thanks to local moose hunters, we gave the pack a moose head mid-week. The pups were actively feeding on the moose head, but soon cached it, and have not been back on it since. They consumed an entire deer this weekend, despite the warmer than average weather conditions.
The introduction of Denali back into the pack occurred on Monday the 27th. The details of the introduction will be included on Denali's logs. From Aidan's perspective, he has shown strong interest in Denali, and has been very social to him. We also know things are calm because Aidan has no problems eating the extra food with the pack (Maya can be guarding of food when there's pack tension), and a surveillance video posting on Youtube this week shows Maya rolling on her back with Aidan.
Sorry for the delay, a power outage seemed to take out the internet connection on Friday night and it continued through the weekend. So, the wolf logs will be all the same this week as we have already moved into a new week and 2 snowstorms have resulted in another foot of snow to clear from the wolf yard, the gates, the fences and den sites. It’s been a calm week. We are trying four different techniques to keep the pack in a lower stress environment. We continue to feed the Exhibit pack small amount of chicken Monday through Friday with a deer carcass or beaver on Saturday nights. We also are using Dog Appeasing Pheromone spray in straw beds daily, making sure there is always fresh straw available. We have added a supplement to their daily meds called Anxitane® (L-Theanine) Chewable Tablets, a green tea derivative, donated by the manufacturer that promotes this product as an all natural product to reduce stress related responses to environmental issues. The 4th issue relates to wolf care interaction, we make sure Grizzer gets the attention first as the dominant male of the pack. The retired wolves have had a good week, despite a renewed spot on Malik’s cheek, they are active, play bowing, eating both chicken and deer legs, and overall, not acting like wolves approaching eleven years of age.
Aidan's focus on the pups has intensified. He is quick to come to the fence if the pups are whining and watches interactions frequently. His pigmentation on his nose is returning and it certainly looks like we are the right track to solving this Lupus condition.
Aidan has discovered confidence and he's showing some posturing over Denali, but Denali just ignores it as a littermate typically does. Of course, Maya doesn't tolerate much of Aidan's new found behavior. But, she may be the direct cause of his confidence. As I posted last week, there were several observations of Maya, probably hormonally influenced, in a "roll on back" posture doing an "Inguinal Presentation" towards Aidan. To get the full visual effect of that, you may want to check out the Center's Ethogram, but with that kind of interaction, Aidan's bound to feel good. Having a full compliment of food available has also made Aidan more social. With Grizzer focusing on Denali during the feedings and Maya taking her food up on the hill to hoard, Aidan eats his share in front of the Exhibit.
Aidan's confidence continues as you will notice from his photo this week. There's no sign of testing, just posturing when Grizzer is occupied with Denali. Fortunately for Grizzer he has back up. Maya is keen to Aidan's tail postures and is quick to respond. This will likely decrease as we move into February. It's nice to see Aidan feeling so good, but what we don't want is Grizzer to lose focus on Denali showing any weakness. So far, Grizzer is gaining skills as a dominant male, but he is new to the position and he is not a very active male, meaning he doesn't force submission by hard muzzle bites like Shadow did when he was in charge. Passive leadership is easy for wolves to see as opportunistic.
This week started with a 26 below zero morning for Monday's wolf care, and ends with a 32 degree evening on Friday. Spring is known for temperature variations, unfortunately, it's also known for snow. With the warm weather came another 4 inches and some good stimuli for the wolves. Aidan's photo this week shows what appears to be a wolf catching snowflakes. Aidan and Denali's size often makes us forget the juvenile nature of these wolves as they near three years of age. We have noticed Aidan spending a significant amount of time at the top of the hill with Maya and Grizzer, and even Denali joined in today.
On Thursday the 10th Staff observed the following: "Aidan did a stand over on Denali for quite a while then switched sides, no reaction from Denali. Later Aidan and Denali were wrestling flying all over the place. Grizzer ran over and watched then finally broke it up and chased Denali. Then Maya ran over and chased Aidan. Maya started rolling on her back and Aidan was on top of her then they took turns chasing each other. First Aidan would chase Maya then Maya would chase Adian, every once in a while she would roll around on her back and Aidan would jump on top of her." <br> This tells us two things, Maya may have some hormones surging and Aidan is getting some confidence. On Friday afternoon, circumstances changed and Maya showed some intense dominance towards Aidan and Aidan didn't back down. They got into an altercation that resulted in a lot of scruff grabbing, head shaking and a bites on Maya's leg and Aidan's lip, but I was able to stop it and Aidan again showed the signs of a submissive wolf.
We're witnessing continued confidence in Aidan, and decreased confidence in Grizzer. Maya seems to be indifferent to Aidan's behavioral change, which may be encouraging Aidan's behavior. When the weather warmed, the pack was extremely calm and sleeping in close proximity to one another, but as the wind chill returned today, Aidan appears to be using a following technique on Grizzer.
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