The pups are 17 days old today. Here are some notes from the Observation Logs. <br> <br> 12:20 am – Woke from deep sleep to sound of Jess's motorcycle, stood up, walked around then curled up and fell asleep <br> <br> 9:10 am – Staff brought pine boughs, birch log and cedar log into pup pen. Pup explored and sniffed the new items. Both pups laid down underneath the branches for several minutes. <br> <br> 4:50 pm – Startled when Sherry Johnson went to pet him while in den box. Pup whipped around and snapped at her hand. The Pup sought comfort in Joanne. <br> <br> 10:00 pm – Voracious suckling on bottle. If he released the bottle he voraciously sought a finger or fabric to suckle until the bottle was placed back into his mouth. However, actual feeding seemed slower than previous feedings. Pup whined while latched onto bottle. <br> <br> The concern about feeding issues is critical, a pup at this age, can’t afford to waste energy struggling with the bottle, they may get worn out and fall asleep before they get the nutrients they need to grow. Weights of the pups are conducted every morning, to ensure that we continue to have the daily weight gain desired. The pups are consuming about 14 – 20 ounces of formula every day. The video you are seeing shows the pups in a dominance display, with Pup # 2 using a squash technique to assert status, followed by a genital sniff. The audio clip includes the pups whining in response to the adult wolves howling bout.
Attila is 20 days old today. Someone asked why we nicknamed him Attila? To sum it up, this wolf snaps first and asks questions later… meaning, he is quick to deliver a decisive response, regardless of the situation. He has begun to test staff, biting and grabbing them, which should result in a firm, but not aggressive roll-over by the staff. These are all behaviors that the mother wolf would encounter and a soft grab of the muzzle will show the pup that the behavior is not tolerated. Unfortunately, human handlers don’t have muzzles, so we must use our hands to grab the scruff and roll them over until they submit. Attila did a head on growl to the wolf curator again yesterday, looking directly in the eye and protesting about something, we really weren’t sure what. He rolled over and after a few seconds went on to grab the blanket. The vet did another check on the pups yesterday when he was on site for a Lakota post-surgery visit. The pups are in good condition, and their lungs are clear. We are waiting for warmer weather to get the pups outside in the sun, but spring has been cold here. We have been changing straw on a regular basis to keep the dust down in the lab. It also appears that the pups have discovered that the other pup has a tail, and they spent 10 minutes trying to grab the other pup’s tail. When one tired, the pup turned to chasing their own tail.
This week has been extremely warm for Ely, Minnesota standards with temperatures nearing 90 degrees and humidity exceeding 80%. It has been extremely hard on the wolves, and wolf care staff are doing what they can to make them comfortable. Wolves have are covered in hair and don't have sweat glands at the surface of their skin, resulting in a cooling mechanism of panting to evaporate heat and moisture off the surface of their tongue. This isn't a very efficient method in high humidity. Each wolf has distinct tolerances of heat, and has their own method for cooling. <br>Aidan is a den dweller, whether above ground or below, he seeks out the coolest protected ground he can find. The protection may have something to do with his status, being lower ranking, it's not just the heat that he's escaping, but the focus of the dominant female.
Despite being the omega, Aidan has a significant amount of tail wagging greetings with Maya. It's always hard to separate the human emotion from the wolf reality, no doubt, as humans, we are always sympathetic to the plight of the underdog. But, the one thing we have learned about working with wolves is that wolves have social rules and a wolf pack has a top and it has a bottom. As wolf care staff, we need to be cognitive of the social rules. If we greet Aidan first out of sympathy, we can create redirected aggression towards Aidan from Maya and sometimes Grizzer. When we enter the enclosure, we greet Maya first, then deal with Denali, which is a whole other set of logs, then if Grizzer chooses to interact, we greet him. By the time this cycle is done and the other wolves move off, Aidan has some quiet time with staff. The best thing we can do for Aidan is keep the wolf yard quiet and avoid too much outside stimulus that gets Maya excited. Calm is best in a wolf yard.
Aidan can deal with Maya's dominance, and even though she is hard on him at times, he comes back to follow her and engage her in contact. Grizzer is another story, when Grizzer gets tense, he has been redirecting to Aidan and Aidan is showing a fear response from that interaction. For most of Aidan's 2 years of age, Grizzer has either been the source of wrestling, chasing or resting behavior, not aggression. Grizzer is going through a transitional stage on his role in the pack, and this uncertainty makes Aidan nervous. This relationship will be the focus of our upcoming wolf watch.
There has been a bit of activity in the pack that affects Aidan. Grizzer has finally had enough with Denali and proceeded to do a chase throughout the enclosure which lasted several minutes. How does this affect Aidan? Initially, it gets Maya excited, so she redirects to Aidan, then Maya joins the chase, leaving Aidan to hop excitedly at the front of the Exhibit. He knows he could get some dominance if he joins in, so he stays at the bottom of the hill, waiting for the pack mates to run by, so he can join in.
Fall has arrived to the north country with temperatures near freezing at night, and a frost warning for the upcoming weekend. The wolves pelage continues to show the growth of the winter undercoat with Aidan showing the least amount of coat development. This may be characteristic of his genetics or could be a response to stress of an omega. As caretakers for these wolves, we make a concerted effort to provide straw bedding when the ground freezes and temperatures dip to sub-zero weather. At this time, we're in the transition time, where straw bedding may be too warm during the day, but within a few weeks, that may change. Aidan's photo shows the wolves natural response to cooler temperatures. He does a curl rest, which means his body is curled in a tight posture, sometimes, wolves will tuck their tail under his belly, covering the parts of his body with the least amount of hair.
During the Wolf Watch program on September 2nd, observations were made on the pack dynamics by program participants, Raquel Pfaff, Eamonn Briem, Awen Briem and Lori Schmidt. Overall, Aidan didn't have a lot of dominance towards him due to Grizzer's focus on Denali. The weather consisted of a hard driving rain and Aidan was the least tolerant, often running towards the den, then running back to the pack, but the other wolves showed no concerns with the passing thunderstorms. Aidan displays social behavior towards Maya, including frequent foreleg stabs, ride-up's and grooming Maya's face for several minutes. Aidan has also seemed to develop a new behavior, backing into other wolves, possibly as a protection for anyone coming behind him. He does this to Denali on several occasions, but was also observed doing this to Grizzer. A few weeks ago, Aidan seemed to be intimidated by Grizzer, several times during the wolf watch, Aidan chose to sleep near Grizzer and backed into him (staying in contact for several minutes), many times during the observation. It appears that Aidan has accepted Grizzer as higher ranking, and shows respect for him, resulting in less focus from Grizzer, and more social interaction.
On Wednesday, Aidan had an incident where he twisted his leg or hip joint after catching it in some rocks during dominance activity. This was very concerning as he was reluctant to bear weight on the paw, holding his back left leg up and immobile. After a few days of anti-inflammatory medications, a vet visit and several special meals of meat gruel, his attitude and condition changed, resulting in a wolf that was play bowing with pack members on Friday afternoon, sort of a celebration after being out of sorts for a few days. It is always concerning when an animal is injured, but it is important to note that wolves have some very specific rules about pack hierarchy, and even a short separation for medical care can result in a wolf not being accepted into the social structure upon their return. Unless the injury is clearly one that requires invasive treatment, we recover animals in the pack structure. One thing we have decided to implement is a specific nutritional supplement for Aidan, who as an omega, tends to have more joint and tissues issues from higher ranking wolves chasing and sometimes biting him. We have chosen Glyco-Flex Classic as a treatment and will provide status reports to Aidan's overall health.
Staff have observed the pack in the last week, and there seems to be a pattern of Maya lying closer to Aidan and Grizzer associating with Denali. Aidan still has some anxiety, and receives some dominance when there is excitement in the enclosure such as enclosure enrichments or delivery of fly ointment. Overall, Aidan does seem to tolerate the situation, even though he is vocal about the attention. After he receives dominance, he follows Maya and begins soliciting attention almost immediately. He has displayed more fore-leg stabs than any other wolf on exhibit.
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.