Denali has the most winter hair remaining and is the least bothered by the black fly season. I would also have to say the Denali is the idea wolf for management. Not only does he just stand and allow a full job of brushing, but he does the same thing for his vaccinations. It's a real challenge to vaccinate a wolf with a subcutaneous injection when he has so much hair.
Written by Pups at One Year Program participants Deb Lewis and Kelly Godfrey: An entire deer was brought in for Saturday night's What's for Dinner program. Denali, as usual, was food-focused at first on the deer. Actually he was the only wolf interested in feeding on the carcass. Having it all to himself while the other wolves ignored the meal, he extracted the entire liver first and devoured it. He continued to feast, solo, on the deer for another 15 minutes before walking away satisfied.
Denali has been on the receiving end of some dominance. Most of it is stimulated by Denali wrestling with the pups and Aidan putting an end to it. These are increasing in intensity as indicated by the tucked tail and hackles on Denali, but they are short-lived. Biologists theorize that these short dominance displays clearly identify a rank order and can actually prevent more intense struggles in the pack hierarchy and provides leadership when the pack needs the support.
Denali has a behavioral pattern very similar to Grizzer when he was an Exhibit Pack member. Denali doesn't seem to show much leadership over the pups and the pups don't seem to have much respect for Denali. Grizzer displayed the same behavior (or lack thereof for Aidan and Denali when they were pups) and it became a problem when Denali reached two years of age and seemed to want to climb some status over Grizzer. It will be interesting to see if Boltz has that same tendency or if Aidan's control over Boltz will help Denali.
Denali has had less dominance lately, possibly a result of Aidan's increasing social behavior. This late spring cold has had an impact on the wolves behavior including an increased appetite. Of course, eating is one of Denali's favorite things to do, so we have increased the amount of food and just did a mid-week beaver feeding for all.
Dome people think that Denali will eventually lead this pack due to his larger size, but size isn't everything. We see Aidan's influence over Denali has more to do with body language than with brute force. Denali may be large, but if Aidan gives a direct eye stare, it's enough to make Denali back off.
Denali's been the lower ranking wolf since he was a pup and he seems to willingly accept Luna's dominance. Fortunately for Luna, Denali is a mild mannered subordinate, since he probably weighs 50 pounds more than Luna. We should have up to date weights on the wolves early next week.
The text for today will all be the same for each wolf. Why? Well, for the first time in my nearly 27 years of wolf care, we are sump pumping the water in the wolf yard. The snowmelt and day of rain has left a 10 inch deep layer of water. This usually happens in April, when temperatures are near 40 and the ground is still frozen, but in April, we know it will drain in a week. It is January and the weekend forecast is for temperatures in the single digits Fahrenheit with a wind chill and more snow coming. If we let this pond freeze in the yard, we will have a serious safety issue for wolf care working on slick ice. The wolf enclosures all have good topography and other than wet from the rain, they have no issues with standing water. They’re just standing on the edge of the fence watching us pump and sweep as the roof keeps dripping. Hence, I don’t have a lot of time to write wolf logs. All wolves are doing well and the warmer temperatures have been kind to Luna.
Denali may want to review footage from the Grizzer years. Grizzer used to let the 2008 pups climb all over him and showed limited dominance, then Denali and Aidan turned two and Grizzer had a lot of testing. So, 4 years later, Denali is doing the same thing as Grizzer. We'll wait and see if Boltz will find an opportunity to move up in rank or if Boltz's calmer and more timid personality will reduce his tendency to climb rank as a maturing adult. For now, Denali is taller than all the other wolves which gives him an advantage and he can climb the double stacked raven rock, which is out of reach for Luna.
Many of the staff call Denali a gentle giant. He is one of the biggest wolves we have managed, but unless you are involved with a food possession, he is very calm. Denali is observed spending time with Boltz and Luna, but typically it's to jaw spar or wrestle. The other day, I heard some high pitched whining from the Exhibit. When I came to the fence to see the issue, I found Luna on top of Denali doing a head shaking scruff bite. It was Denali letting out the distress whine.
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