Aidan – Doing the Snowplow

For Grayson and Axel, the snowstorm on November 18th brought 16 inches of snow and after the wind quit, Aidan took the lead showing the pup’s the benefits of winter.  Two behaviors are typical for wolves when the snow is deep. The first is a “Snowplow” a behavior where the wolf pushes the snow with its’ face and may follow with a full “Roll on Back” behavior and the second is a “Face-wipe”, where they wipe their face with their front foreleg or wipe their face against the snow.  The Face-wipe is often associated with cleaning blood and debris from their face after feeding on a carcass.   In the last Youtube video, there were several clips of Aidan demonstrating these behaviors with Grayson right at his side.  Winter is certainly the season for wolves. 

Aidan – Regaining his Youth

We have noticed a significant change in Aidan’s activity level.  As we have written many times in the past, Aidan has some auto-immune issues that have required a special treatment and medications around the weekly carcass feedings.  We are always concerned about his health, but prior to the pup’s arrival, his activity level seemed to be on the decline and his digestive tract seemed to have more issues with bloating.  Since the pup’s introduction, we are seeing a spring in his step and a more youthful activity level.  He is often observed intervening when Denali and Boltz get too rambunctious, possibly protecting the pups, but more likely protecting his status by not letting the subordinate males get too confident.  This is a good age to deal with pups and one of the main reasons why we do pups on a 4-year rotation.  Aidan and Denali will be 9 year of age next spring and we have discovered that if we waited too long to introduce, the pups can take advantage of them.  At 8 years of age, Aidan is young enough to set the level of dominance and stern enough that the lower ranking wolves don’t question it.  

Aidan – Always Watching

Written by Wolf Photography Weekend photographer Alan Hensley

The alpha characteristics of Aidan shined through- responsibilities, diligence and mentor-ships. Aidan could be seen from surveying his pack from a high vantage point to controlling the behavior of Axel and Grayson. Last to eat, Aidan would be seen ensuring the predators did not interrupt the feeding of his pack.

Aidan – Enough is Enough

Without the assertion of Luna’s status over Denali, he’s been expressing some testing behavior and a few defiant moments for Aidan, with little to no response from Aidan.  In the last few months, Aidan has been stimulated by the pups and a likely increase in prolactin resulting in little effort to assert himself over Denali.  But, with the change of the seasons, there is a bit of change in the daily interactions.  While Denali is more fit and spry than Aidan, he still finds himself on the bottom end of a “Stand-Over”.  It is clear, that Aidan has command of this group of males and the pups are often right in the mix observing and when the opportunity arises, taking advantage of Denali while he’s under Aidan’s control. As the weather cools, hormones change and Aidan is setting the tone for the pack that is about to approach the most active season for wolves, Winter.

Aidan- Expressions Say It All

Adian continues to show strong leadership and associative behavior towards the pups as we are nearing a month since the introduction.  Grayson has had some issues with anxiety, but despite his intimidation, he seems to look to Aidan for reassurance.  Aidan has a very expressive facial responses when the pups interact, from licking to grinning, he definitely encourages interactions.  In a recent YouTube video production, there’s a video clip showing Grayson doing a submissive approach and submissive paw towards Aidan, followed by a clip showing Aidan as a pup displaying the same body posture and same relationship towards Shadow, the pack leader in 2008.   Aidan’s come a long way from those timid pup years, maybe Grayson will follow the same path. We recently built the pups a small, birch log area filled with wood chips.  We thought it would give the pups a comfortable resting place.  Within minutes of completing it, Aidan had claimed it for himself even though the dimensions are more aligned with a pup body.

Aidan – Relaxed But Firm

This week’s wolf logs are written by behavioral team members Christina Rizzo, Erin Ray, and Connie LaFondbased on their observations during the first week of introduction.

When Aidan hasn’t been resting, he has been very watchful and observant of ongoing pack dynamics. Aidan greets the pups with whines and allows them to submit and lick him, but not obnoxiously. Aidan has established clear boundaries for the pups in a calm assertive manner.

Aidan – a Satisfied Grin

While the photo doesn’t portray it directly, Aidan is displaying a satisfied “Grin” behavior when the wolf care staff massage a critical point.  As an 8-year old wolf, this type of specialized care feels good on older bones, and is especially helpful for a dominant pack member that tends to be in more physical and behavioral confrontations than a lower ranking pack member.  There have been many studies on the relationship with fecal and urinary cortisol levels and social behavior of captive and wild wolves.  In the past, we have applied for grants to support an effort to evaluate cortisol levels as another tool to help improve our captive management operations.  While we were not successful in the first grant application, we will continue to look at options.

Aidan- Cached for Later

Of all the wolves in the Exhibit Pack, Aidan appears to have the strongest tendency to cache food.  Regardless of how hungry he is, he will cache first and eat later.  In this photo, he is carrying a cached chicken which he quickly dispatched.  Aidan has lost most of his winter coat, likely a response to the fact that he spends a lot of time with wolf care staff either resting on his side or rolled on his back in a perfect posture for grooming. His auto-immune condition seems to have no reoccurring symptoms of pigmentation loss that we have seen in the past and his digestive treatments seem to be keeping him fit and trim.

Aidan- Hard to Keep Up with the Changes

Aidan has had a challenging year as the pack leader of the Exhibit Pack.  Life became a bit different when the construction started in February, not ending until late April.  After the construction ended, Wolf Care Staff needed to rebuild kennels, roofs and transfer chutes and gates that were impacted by the construction.  Added to this, we received a generous donation from a member, Anika Hahn, to help support our rock work around the new pump housing, providing rocks that will be misted and cooled for the wolves to enjoy in the summer heat.  To accomplish this project, we had equipment haul 20 pallets of rock into the enclosure and a skilled operator who carefully crafted the placement of each rock in a pattern that was efficient for wolves to climb and stable with no open gaps to catch a foot.  Then, on May 25th, the pups arrived.  We know from past history that Aidan is a great pack leader and willingly adopted Luna and Boltz.  On the 2016 pup arrival to the fence, Aidan willingly approached to greet, but was blocked and chased by Luna, who appears to have a pup obsession.  Aidan seems to be taking it in stride, and as staff enter the wolf enclosure, we are sure to give them plenty of pups smells on our wolf care jackets.  We recently weighed the pack and Aidan continues to maintain a 137 lb weight, same as last year.

Aidan – Been Here Before

Aidan is quite relaxed considering all of the chaos surrounding the enclosure.    Wolves don’t like change, and change is what these pups represent. Yes, the pups bring change and even chaos; new people, new behaviors from packmates, new gate panels and 24-hour a day activity are the new norms.  Of course, Aidan’s been through it before, but in addition to pups,  we have rock work being completed around the pup housing.  With heavy equipment coming into the enclosure, we are creating a whole new level of chaos.  Fortunately, Aidan is able to relax with wolf care staff while spending time in the pack holding area and during the morning wolf checks.