Denali has definitely returned to his high energy, rousing and sometimes over excited behavior. He often wrestles, and bounds after any object that moves. The spring migration of song birds has been keeping him stimulated, and Aidan is the frequent recipient of Denali’s energy. This may be why Aidan has been a bit more subdued, the constant wrestling of a littermate may make anyone tired. Denali has a strong interest in investigating the many objects coming out of the snow banks. The Youtube footage this week shows him finding an old deer hide in the melt water of the pond. The wolf care staff (and Working for Wolves Participants) have a busy spring trying to clean up all the straw. When there’s a winter with this much snow, there are bound to be layers and layers of material that needs to be removed.
Personalities can vary and Denali is proof of that. Aidan is much more stoic and doesn't often let loose and race around the enclosure. Denali, on the other hand, seems easily bored and needs distractions. We did receive a comment on one of the Youtube posting that suggested that we couldn't analyze captive behavior because they were captive and prone to boredom. No doubt, that's a challenge for captive managers to provide a stimulating environment, but the behavior I see in Denali is similar to behaviors I observed in video footage of young adults in Yellowstone. When I teach Ethology, I require students to observe wild wolf footage first before observing captive footage. The reason is to provide a good background to the functional nature of that behavior, but this exercise also reveals similarities in captivity that indicate instinctual behavior. Captive wolves do display wolf behavior, and I hope people respect captive wolves and learn from their behavioral observations as ambassadors for wild wolves.
Denali has been exceptionally active lately, having some great chase behavior with Aidan as well as doing some shallow pond swimming. They are easily stimulated into social behavior. Now that the wolves have started to shed, Denali's long, tall appearance is exaggerated.
The pack has had a quiet week, so there's not much news to report and all logs will be the same. The Center is moving forward on an additional habitat for Grizzer with a design that will allow continued access to the current pack holding area. He has become quite comfortable in this area and its' location is right in the Center of Wolf Lab activity which seems to be of interest to Grizzer. This is a bit reminiscent of Lakota.
This weekend is the Working for Wolves weekend, and due to the significant amount of preparation work, we will be posting the same text for all the logs. The main priorities for this weekend include straw removal, cleaning and filling the ponds in the Exhibit and Retired Enclosure, putting a roof and protective walls on the medical enclosure and starting the fence layout for Grizzer’s new enclosure. It will be a busy weekend, and work will continue in the upcoming weeks on Grizzer’s habitat. The goal is to get him into the new area by June 15th. All the wolves are doing well. Aidan and Denali are having no problem eating their entire deer carcass on weekends, and Shadow and Malik are transitioning to more food carcass meals with chicken on Tuesday and Thursdays. Grizzer gets chicken on a daily basis as he has a small area left to heal from his head and we want to maximize his nutrition to keep is immune system strong. Someone emailed with concern about Malik in the den, because he sleeps so soundly, they were concerned that there was something wrong. Old wolves do like their sleep, but we keep the camera on the wolves and staff are aware of their condition.
During the Working for Wolves weekend, we pressure washed the pond and have refilled with clean water. We still have a little frozen line and haven't been able to pump to the upper pond yet, but Denali enjoys the chance to get back to swimming. He's still wrestling with Aidan and is usually on top doing a squash while Aidan submits. The crew did a tremendous job hauling the old straw to the enclosure edge to serve as mulch for a future seeding project. This provides many opportunites for small rodents to burrow in the straw and gives Denali a lot of opportunity for hunting.
Denali continues to wrestle with Aidan, but he doesn’t win many points when it comes to wolf care staff. Aidan still determines who gets to greet staff first by showing guarding behavior. At this point, Denali doesn’t question his authority, so it’s really hard to define who’s in charge. The addition of pups next summer will be the definitive test of leadership.
This past weekend was the first in a series of three Planning for Pups programs. Denali and Aidan did an excellent job of demonstrating the value of socializing pups. Grizzer was tolerant, although we were very careful to give him his privacy. Shadow started a bark howl on Sunday morning, but that was probably more directed at the Curator for applying fly ointment to his ears. Due to the extra work load this weekend, all wolves will share one log posting.
The pups had a busy today with a media event at 4 pm and an open house for Ely residents at 5 pm. Red Paw showed some anxiety with the camera crews, but relaxed a bit, but didn’t calm down until he returned to the lab. Earlier in the day, after Attila did a head-butt at the gate, the staff let the pups out to explore the lab. Red Paw was very calm and explored every corner of the lab, as it’s a familiar place. In contrast, Attila, who deals with unfamiliar things well, became very nervous and whined. Red Paw ignored him, and continued to explore. Jess Edberg was raking straw in the pup pen, and neither pup showed any anxiety to the motion of the rake. These are all conditioning items that the pups need to be exposed to, as raking is a big part of wolf care. The pups started lapping formula from a bowl today, and will be getting a gruel mix of weaning formula and esbilac. This will help the bottle feeding issues and should increase the pup’s weight gain. The video clip for today shows Red Paw dragging the stuffed wolf pup into the den box, doing a head shake. His audio includes the sounds of both pups lapping formula for the first time.
Red Paw is 22 days old today and continues to be a bit more timid than Attila. In anticipation of the summer pup programs that begin on Thursday, wolf care staff have been taking the pups into the auditorium each evening to get them used to the environment before they meet a crowd of people. So far, Red Paw has demonstrated some whining behavior, seeking comfort from wolf care staff and the stuffed moose, although he was less anxious than the first time he entered the auditorium. If he continues to have positive experiences, he will adjust to the program schedule well. This is a significant difference between wolf pups and dog pups. These wolves are 3 weeks of age, and the fear avoidance behavior, or what some term as Flight Response is very strong. Dog pups generally don’t start showing this type of behavior until 7 – 8 weeks of age. The stuffed moose was brought in specifically as a distraction for programs, and is the same moose we used for the 2000 and 2004 litters. It has served its’ purpose as the pups are very intent on grabbing the moose aggressively, pawing it and biting it. Red Paw attempted to pounce on the moose, but his coordination is still lacking. There is one new behavior to report today, both Red Paw and Attila demonstrated a Play Bow, a behavior where they lower themselves on their front legs, and spring up to pounce on something. Red Paw did this to the moose, and he also did it to one of the wolf care staff. With the growth rate of the pups nearing nearly .5 lbs per day, they need all the rest they can get. In the audio clips this week, you will hear snoring, and moaning when the pups are sleeping in the dream response.
The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future.