Written by Ethology Participant: Nathan Wihch<br> From my observations of Denali over the past week I have concluded that Denali is subordinate to Aiden. At times it appears that he forgets this fact as he is often observed sent marking and scratching even though he is not the dominant male. He sometimes engages in play with Boltz and Luna, but is often exploring on his own or lying on the greeting rock. It appears that Boltz tests Denali a lot and it would be interesting to see how that relationship develops in the coming years, as Boltz grows in size and confidence.
Denali has a great photo this week. What's so great about lying on the den? Well, he seems to know when it's best to just let the yearlings do their thing. It's the facial expression as he watches them that I find interesting.
Denali is the largest wolf we have ever managed and he is one of the calmest in behavior and interactions. He is most tolerant of any management activity from vaccinations to brushing and he is quite tolerant of the yearling exuberant behavior which sometimes borderlines on obnoxious. We weighed all the wolves this week and Denali weighed in at 130 pounds. Here's a review of his annual weights since he was a yearling. <li> 4/22/2009 Denali 108.03 lbs (YEARLING) <li>4/29/2010 Denali 107.36 lbs <LI>6/5/2011 Denali 124 lbs <li>6/14/2012 Denali 123.5 lbs <li>6/4/2013 Denali 130 lbs <br> The wolves will reach their peak size between 3 and 6 year of age.
We've observed several encounters in the last week that seem to reinforce Denali's role as subordinate to Aidan, but what's been interesting is the idea that he appears to be subordinate to Luna as well. Of course, this is highly influenced by Aidan's presence near Luna when she's asserting dominance, but the dynamics is increasing as the pups mature.
The logs will all be the same this week. The weather creates added challenges to the daily job of caring for wolves and we've had a variety of weather. The warm spell that melted a significant amount of snow led to standing water which later froze when colder temperatures returned. This week's Youtube video features some great demonstration of Aidan doing a stiff leg jump to crack the ice. Boltz is a bit hesitant on the ice since he fell through the ice into about 2 feet of water (thanks to Denali's hefty body size on the ice). Luna's displaying less stiffness as the temperatures warm and she's been spending a lot of time digging. This week is another special week as Grizzer turns 9 years old on May 5th and Shadow and Malik are 13 years old on May 8th.
Denali's so mild mannered in personality that he seems to be an easy target for the yearlings. This is very reminiscent of Grizzer's personality type when Denali was a pup. Denali seems to take it in stride with only the occasional tucked tail showing that he's overwhelmed with the attention.
Denali likes frequent feedings and if we don't monitor the food, he'll take his share and everyone else's share whenever we feed. When working with the wolves, we use handling techniques that mirror their behavioral patterns. We may stand over food to show that we possess it and signal to the wolves that they need to back off and stay out of our guarded space. Another technique we use includes showing a flat hand to indicate that we have no additional food resources. When we are doing intense feedings, it's always important to use body language to control the situation. Food aggression can escalate to more intense interactions. Due to this unique situation, I have rearranged the feeding schedule to ensure that, as the curator, I am directly hand feeding. This can be too risky for other staff and at times can be intense.
Denali has been on a pendulum of behaviors, one minute he and Luna are dominating Boltz and showing some increased status, the next minute Aidan forces Denali to the ground and Luna has one side and Aidan has the other. The life of a 2nd ranking male can be active, but these ritualized dominance displays are important to keep a clear indication of the order of the pack, and while it may look unpleasant for Denali to be pinned to the ground (or Boltz), there's no question of leadership. In the wild, when the pack needs a leader to hunt or defend territory, it's the critical behavior such as rank order displays that keeps a pack functioning. These ritualized displays are short, but they can be vocal. Some people may interpret it as fighting, but in reality, a rank order does the opposite. If a pack daily established the order and reinforces it, there is clear leadership and fights to run a pack are avoided.
Denali continues to act like a yearling and is often observed wrestling with Luna and Boltz. His size is tremendous when interacting with Luna, but fortunately, his personality trait is actually very gentle. The only exception is when food is involved. Denali shows no favoritism towards the yearlings when food is around. But, a recent feeding of a deer carcass had Luna possessing the carcass during the first 30 minutes, allowing Boltz to eat, but not Denali. Denali did manage to tug off a deer leg, then proceeded to guard it from Aidan. Aidan is very timid around the people who watch the feeding program from the window, so he often waits until the program is over to get his share. This is the advantage of feeding a large carcass, there is always food left over.
Denali shows very little inclination to assert dominance over Aidan when Aidan is dealing with the yearlings. Denali seems to avoid conflict an engage in social wrestling behavior rather than dominance rank order issues. This is a good thing for Aidan who is seeing some testing behavior from Boltz, but can manage any of the wolves with a one on one interaction.
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