Staff have noticed an increase in Denali's testing, but overall, he's content to be a lower ranking male. We have been monitoring his interactions with Shadow and staff have noticed that every time Denali approaches Shadow, Shadow's ears drop. This could be a sign of waning confidence or just the mere acknowledgment that whenever Denali is around, it takes a lot of energy to interact.
Denali has been the most tolerant when brushing the dense undercoat. He still has an issue with the rubber handle, but after a few disciplinary handling techniques by wolf care staff (canine lip pinch), he give up and allows the staff to brush. His pelage is much thicker with longer guard hairs than Aidan. Coat condition can be influenced by many things, genetics, nutrition and stress. Since Aidan and Denali are littermates, and their diet is nearly the same, we may be seeing the influence of social status.
Denali is interesting to watch, unless you are one of the focuses of his many tests. For wolf care staff, a test can be a wolf jumping up, pushing or grabbing. This is discouraged, and generally doesn't occur, with the exception of younger wolves (let's say 2 year olds), that think they can test everything and anything. Wolf Care staff must always be alert to the fact that any wolf can test, but 2 year olds are more likely to find a place to practice rank order issues. In this week's photo, Grizzer is the focus of Denali's stand over and testing.
It's the start of the 25th anniversary celebration weekend, and the Youtube Posting will be delayed until Monday to show some of the weekend events. Denali's testing seems to have reduced this week, with the exception of Maya interactions. Denali shows little respect for Maya as dominant, and that is something Maya doesn't seem to tolerate. Denali and Grizzer still spend a fair amount of time in social wrestling, and overall, have the most significant interactions in the pack.
Denali continues to exhibit some very social behavior with Grizzer. If there's a chase around the enclosure, it's usually initiated by Denali. I also notice that he is more likely to assert status on Grizzer when Shadow is involved. During this last week, we have observed Shadow with some heightened dominance over Grizzer and Denali. This is concerning because the dominance definitely seem to be less social hierarchy behavior and more in response to their testing. The issue that concerns me is that Denali seems to really increase his intensity over Grizzer and we are concerned about Grizzer redirecting back to Shadow. The dynamics of a wolf pack can always change, but the pack seems to be keyed into the changes in Shadow.
The pups were given more items from the Exhibit Pack today, with new rocks, feathers, bark and logs. Both pups were very interested in the audio editing process, when they heard themselves whine and howl, they perked their ears in interest. We introduced some ground elk meat to their gruel today, and Red Paw was ravenous with initial bowl, and continued to show interest when small meatballs were put on a birch log during the program. It was very stimulating and is a good transition to a meat base diet in the upcoming weeks. Red Paw continues to show fearless behavior towards the Exhibit Pack, not bothered by their howling. The only exception was during a food scuffle between Maya and Shadow this morning that was extremely loud and intense (Maya eventually got Shadow’s beaver tail). After the 1 pm program today, Red Paw and Lakota went nose to nose at the pack holding area fence, and Lakota lowered her body, and rubbed her side against the fence and Red Paw’s nose. He was very calm with Lakota’s presence and the pups are good stimulus for Lakota.
Red Paw and Attila have been doing extremely well during programs, thanks to the deer tail and some patient Nannies. We are extremely happy with this portion of the socialization process. Red Paw does show some anxiety to the dog work, growling at Jake the Curator's dog today. He shows no anxiety toward Lakota and the main pack, and spends a great deal of time running up to the fences in a full tail wag and submissive ears.
You may notice some inconsistency with the length measurements, there is a standard for measuring a pup, from the Sagital Crest at the top of the skull (with the head facing down at a 90 degree angle) to the base of the tail, unfortunately, pups wiggle and make it difficult to measure. But, weights are accurate, and we can tell you that they are growing. The most noticeable growth is in their paws and their ears, they are starting that ackward stage, where pups trip over their feet. Red Paw continues to eat well, and enjoys the latest round of stimuli, the moose skull. Every day, wolf care staff bring new items that make them more stimulated, and today's item comes from a road kill moose acquired by the Vermilion Community College Moose class.
Denali has been enjoying the spring melt, and with it, water holes and old bones. He is still very engaged in wrestling with Grizzer, but his testing behavior has diminished. He is very submissive to Shadow and while he does test Maya and still growls at her, he backs down more quickly. It appears that Denali is going to remain the 3rd ranking male behind Grizzer. He is still up to his juvenile traits; he grabbed an unattended scat bucket from the Curator and carried it up in the woods. His high tail and demeanor definitely showed some pride in that maneuver.
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