Aidan – Bring on the Pups

We coordinated the first face to face meeting (through the chainlink fence) with the 2016 pups and their future packmates, the Exhibit Pack.   Luna dominated the scene, but Aidan, despite some trepidation (as displayed by his ears pricked and turned sideways ear posture) had some fence time and showed the same possessive behavior toward the new arrivals that he did in 2012 when Luna and Boltz were introduced.  After the Pup Care team had a shift change, staff witnessed Aidan keeping watch at the fenceline and he initiated a howl to the pups.  That’s the kind of pack leadership that will help the pup introduction be successful.  The pups will have the next 2 months to develop a bond with the human handlers and the adult wolves through the fence before they join the pack in early August.

Aidan – A Different View

Aidan’s displaying a behavior we term “Roll on Back”.  This behavior may look like a scent roll, but it lacks the characteristic rubbing along the cheek bone that is observed in most scent rolling behavior.  This “Roll on Back” posture seems to have some social components and staff have observed Aidan displaying a submissive pawing motion trying to engage another wolf in social interaction.  With Aidan’s rank as a dominant male, this view of Aidan is certainly different than the posturing high ranking interactions typically encountered.  The pack members seem to understand that this social behavior is independent of rank.

Aidan- Thought Patterns?

In the world of Ethology (the study of animal behavior), there are many debates about the influence of individual personalities, especially with a social pack animal like the wolf.  One of the challenges we face is to interpret behavior without becoming anthropomorphic (using human terms to  describe animal behavior).  In this photo, Aidan seems to be expressing a particular thought towards Luna.  There are days where the “pair-bonding” behavior between the dominant pack leaders is not quite evident.

Aidan – Maintaining the Dominant Leader Role

This has been a challenging winter season for the Exhibit Pack.  We have had years of concern for Aidan’s physical issues with his diagnosis of an auto-immune disorder, then we met another challenge with his digestive system this fall.  Both of these medical conditions seem to be under control with our treatment choices, but we know that Aidan is showing his age and there’s a 4-year old wolf watching his every move.  No doubt, we were concerned when we started a construction project in February, which is the height of the winter dominance, but we couldn’t wait on the Wolf Care Center expansion, it’s potential to improve the lives of our ambassadors is too important.  So, we watched, fed extra food resources as distractions and made sure that Aidan had staff attention first.  All of these efforts were necessary to maintain his confidence.  Our efforts seem to have worked, as this photo demonstrates Aidan’s dominant status and Denali shows his active submission.   Our goal was to get this pack through the winter season with no change in leadership.  Aidan is a great dominant male and an excellent leader for pups.  We know there will come a time when he loses confidence, but it doesn’t appear that will happen in this winter season.

Aidan – Showing his Age

A wolf in the wild may be considered old at eight years of age.  In captivity, a wolf may be considered middle age considering a captive lifespan of 15 – 18 years of age.  As a pack leader, Aidan seems to be aging more than his litter mate Denali who is a lower ranking wolf.   As the pack leader, Aidan is often showing more activity when maintaining his dominance, responding to external stimuli, whether they be human or animal visitors outside the perimeter fence and guarding food from the scavengers that frequent the exhibit.  There have been several studies in both wild and captive wolf projects assessing the level of stress in individuals based on their social rank hierarchy.  These studies assess the level of fecal cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal gland.   People often think that the lower ranking wolves may carry more stress because they are being dominated through hard muzzle bites or being pinned to the ground, but actually, some studies have shown more dominant wolves with higher cortisol levels.  This is no surprise to our wolf care staff, we see how hard Aidan works to keep this Exhibit Pack in line. 

 

Aidan – Protecting the food

Though Aidan is the dominant male of the exhibit pack, it does not give him the right to take food from other members of the pack, or to eat first. Food possession is separate from the pack hierarchy, if you possess it, you can guard it from any other member of the pack, even from a more dominant animal. This means that Aidan doesn’t always get on the carcass first. Luna has been known to possess the food in the enclosure for upwards of several days, and so Aidan has come up with some interesting methods in protecting his food from Luna. As we’ve seen in many of our feeding programs now, Aidan is getting into the habit of pulling the deer into the den the following morning, so that he can more easily defend it perhaps. This seems to be quite effective, as he tends to come out with a full belly after.

Aidan – Back in Action

As we’ve mentioned in previous logs, Aidan has been going through treatments to assist his digestive system. Several weeks ago we saw a wolf that was, while still a social and strong leader, was less inclined to greet and exert a lot of energy. As of recent, we’ve seen Aidan return to his more normal self, actively participating in, and even starting many chases. With the treatments, his digestive issue seems to be improving, and his confidence appears to be much higher. We’re very pleased with how Aidan has responded to the new medications, and will continue treatments for now.

Aidan – Making Progress

The challenge of working with animals is that they can’t tell you when they’re not feeling well.  An added challenge of working with wolves is that pack dynamics often prevents us from taking a wolf out of a pack structure to run a slough of diagnostic tests to find an answer.  This is the dilemma we have with Aidan.  We can observe symptoms and behavioral interactions and work on improving both.  The latest treatment is designed to help him process partially digested food as it exits the stomach.  He has had two treatments and so far, he seems to be responding well.  This photo shows a relaxed and comfortable wolf check with Aidan. 

Aidan- Greeting with Uncertainty

This week’s photo doesn’t show Aidan’s face, but the ear postures of these two both show a little submission.  In our interpretation, some of this submission may be the uncertainty of the impending interaction.  This isn’t just a Luna and Aidan situation, we have several images of Shadow and Maya, our former pack leaders, with similar postures.  The relationship of the dominant pair involves far more close encounters while greeting.  With a young exuberant wolf like Luna, Aidan takes a cautionary stance until he see’s the next move. 

Aidan – Confident and strong leader

The following is written by Night at the Museum – Wolf Watch participant Anna Toenjes

Aidan is greeted by the other wolves occasionally. Reinforcing his position as dominant male. The other wolves do not try to steal from him and even Luna takes his lip curls seriously. If Luna possesses something though, she’s fine with lunging into him. Luna greets him somewhat assertively and his ears are usually pricked forward but turned out in uncertainty. When Aidan had possession of the cow leg that was fed during the program, he only needed to growl/snarl once and Luna or Boltz would move along. He likely had the prized leg most of last night, until Denali had it this morning.