As spring arrives, snow still falls in Northern Minnesota. The change of seasons can mean that snow holds more moisture and more ice sticking to the hair between the wolves pads. In this photo, Blackstone is working to remove those ice chunks. We are all anxiously awaiting spring, for a lot of reasons. The seasonal hormones of wolves change with the warmer weather, but with a -4 morning temperature on April 7th, we are not experiencing the benefit of warmer weather. Caz and Blackstone turned one year old yesterday and despite Blackstone being the larger of the two pups (weighing in at 100 pounds on his birthday), Blackstone is often the target of Rieka and Caz as they team up to assert some dominance. Last week, some of that dominance led to a bite wound on Blackstone, but within 24 hours of treatment, he was back to his usual activity, demonstrating the resilience of wolves. Blackstone does have his own team alliances. Similar to Grayson when he was a yearling, Blackstone has a significant social bond with Grayson.
In looking back at Grayson’s quote in 2017 about his alliances and leadership, we could modify that quote to fit Blackstone:
April 2023 Update: “What is most notable is that while Blackstone figures out his way in the pack, he has been observed being Grayson’s wingman, helping when Grayson shows some status over Caz or Axel. Watching and learning is what helps shape the leaders of tomorrow and what better wolf to emulate, than Grayson.”
