Pups have been more inquisitive, licking rocks and chewing on paws, staff arms, staff hair and birch bark. The pups started to transition to a gruel mix, Red Paw took a few bits from staff fingers, but then became more interested in staff hair. He is lapping formula from a bowl, but the bottle is still a source of comfort. Red Paw takes the bottle from just about any staff, but Attila is pretty particular about who feeds him. Red Paw did a stand-over Attila in play behavior, and rolled him over on his back. Red Paw did a headshake, and Attila pulled Red Paws ears and responded with a whine and a growl. The pups ears are about to stand up, and are showing more ear postures, especially during play behavior, turning the ears back in submissive behavior. We’ve been having some database issues when posting the audio. Hopefully, you will hear Red Paw snoring, and in the video, you will see Red Paw doing a head shake, as a predatory behavior during play behavior. These play bouts help wolf pups develop skills that they would need as an adult.
The programming with the pups is going well, we do need to have some modifications about protocol. Shadow is not taking to any new people in the wolf yard and is bark howling when Nannies are present. So, nannies wait inside the auditorium, while wolf care staff who are on a pup shift, walk the pups to the back door of the auditorium, through the wolf yard. Layers of fencing were added around the Exhibit Pack fencing to keep the pups from getting direct access to the adults at the fence. The pups run up to the edge of the fence and greet, but have a safe distance to avoid any noses or paws through the fence. Red Paw has had a full tail wag when greeting the adults. Attila is a bit more nervous. While waiting for the program, the pups have a chance to urinate and defecate before going indoors. They also start wrestling when they are outside the auditorium, and are getting a more positive experience walking to and from the wolf lab. In an effort to get them used to canids larger than themselves, we have introduced the Curator's dog Jake, he is very tolerant of pups and will help apply discipline to the pups and get them used to the sounds of growling and dominance before they enter the Exhibit Pack. The video clips you see today are of that introduction. There are no audio clips today.
Red Paw is 24 days old today. The pups hearing is getting keener, although their ears are not fully erect, making it difficult for them to determine directional sound. A deep rumbling noise of a motorcycle on the highway woke up Red Paw instantly, alert and in-tune to the sound. (No, it wasn’t Jess’s motorcycle; Jess doesn’t have a motorcycle, only a loud muffler). Other behaviors developing are the predatory skills such as growling, headshakes when wrestling. While this may be interpreted as play behavior, these are all skills that would eventually be used by a wolf in a predatory action. The pups went out on the grass between buildings for 10 minutes, at 5 minutes, Red Paw became anxious, there was a short dominance display initiated by Red Paw, then the pups came back into the lab and slept in the den box for several hours. Another social behavior that has really developed is the play bow, and tail wag. Both pups are displaying this behavior. The pup’s premolars are irrupting and causing some teething pain. Both upper and lower canines have erupted, but are still too small for the calipers to measure. For the first time, staff have recorded grooming behavior. The audio you are hearing is more sounds of pups in the dream mode.
The socialization process seems to be working. Red Paw greeted the 6 am Nanny/staff shift with wagging tails and submitted to Assistant Curator, Donna Prichard, rolling voluntarily and greeting her by licking her face. The pups are displaying much more predatory behavior including stalking, pouncing and pinning each other. Red Paw always greets the Exhibit Pack with playbows and tail wags, and after the last program, was grabbing the fencing and pulling to get closer to the Exhibit Pack. There seems to be a good association between the adults and the pups. Grizzer is still whining toward the pups, but there is less intensity and focus. He still has his ears perked forward, when the pups are near, whereas all other wolves show submissive ears. The public programs in the auditorium are going well, the pups slept during all of the programs today with very little whining, compared to just a few days ago. Red Paw has his right ear nearly fully erect, and Attila has his left ear nearly fully erect. In the next few days, they should be both fully erect. Pup prints were taken today, and in comparison to the pup prints taken at 22 days old, they are clearly double the size. There appears to be a problem with the new video software compression format, we have ordered another software package and hope to resume video postings soon.
Red Paw is 26 days old today. The pups had a busy day on Thursday with a media event at 4 pm and an open house at 5 pm. The media event was outside in the grassy area adjacent to the building. The pup program for the open house only required 15 minutes in the building, but Red Paw was a bit nervous after about 10 minutes. Staff calmed him down a bit and he was confident enough to dominate Attila between the legs of a wolf care staff person. After the programs, the pups were tired. The audio you hear for both pups reflects this desire for sleep, Red Paw lets out a sigh in his audio and Attila is snoring at the end of the day. The pups are starting to explore more, and have had several jaunts outside of the enclosure into the office portion of the lab. A pillow was stored on top of the den box; Red paw was struggling to get on top of his enclosure and stepped on nannies hard to get up on it and on the pillow. The pups did additional programs on Friday, there was no whining from pups, and they went after birch bark with hair stuffed inside. They favored deer hair over wolf hair, pulling both out of birch bark. Starting this weekend, the pups logs will only include an image and growth data only. Video and audio will be processed during the week only.
Red Paw is 31 days old today, and we have noticed a considerable growth in his paws. His photo today gives you a glimpse of this growth. Other noteable behaviors is their increased comfort with the Exhibit Pack, and now with Lakota, who is free to roam the pack holding area and comes to the edge of the fence when the pups are in the wolf yard. The pups have a secondary fence that keeps their paws and nose protected from direct contact, but Red Paw gets extremely excited with a full tail wag and whining toward any adult wolf. He was so excited to see Shadow and Maya that he started biting and pulling on the fence to get in. These are good indications of pack cohesiveness. The pups have been displaying much more grooming behavior today, and after Curator, Lori Schmidt picked up two roadkill, both Attila and Red Paw grabbed the edge of her shirt (it had deer blood on it), and tugged at it and did a full headshake. Attila growled defensively when Lori tried to get her shirt back. The video problem relates to the Codec used in the compression. A new software is on the way, some people are able to download the video. If you cannot, you may try to upgrade Microsoft Media Player. We will resume video and audio recordings when the new software arrives.
Red Paw is 33 days old today. Staff and Nannies documented an increased amount of urinations, so a urine sample was taken to the vet to check for a bladder infection. He is down in weight by a tenth of a pound, so we will wait for the results and treat accordingly. The programs are going well and the deer leg is a great distraction. They dominated each other and displayed food possessive behavior with the deer leg, with some growls being intense. Red Paw is just as defensive as Attila, and staff couldn’t get the deer leg back from Red Paw after the 3 pm program. The pups have been doing a lot of chasing and ear biting behavior in the wolf yard, before and after a program. They have good energy levels and usually jaw spar after eating.
Red Paw is 29 days old today. One physical trait that is very noticeable in the video is the positioning of the ears. Red Paws ears are beginning to stand erect. Within a week, their ears will continue to raise until they are nearly fully erect. The pups can also focus their hearing better, and will direct their heads towards sounds. Red Paw continues to be the most interested and social with the adult wolves, wagging his tail with excitement when he gets near their enclosure. Both pups are lapping from a bowl and eating gruel mix, but Red Paw still likes to suckle from the bottle. Red Paw has a very impressive weight gain. At 29 days of age, Grizzer was 8.3 lbs, and he turned into a 110+ lb adult, so Red Paw is likely going to be a similar size, if not bigger. The audio clip attempts to get the sounds of two pups wrestling, you will hear pushing against the straw, growling and a snap. The video clip shows Red Paw playing with birch bark, and you will notice his ears are noticeably different than just a few days ago.
Red Paw is 32 days old today and continues to show good pack association with the Exhibit Pack, and is very relaxed in the public programs. A deer leg was introduced to the program today, to calm Attila, and both pups became very aggressive, trying to possess it. It was a great distraction and they conducted an entire program without becoming intimidated. Other notable behaviors from the logs: <br> Play bow before program out in wolf yard. During program howled and whined. Positive interaction with pack. First digging in soil while waiting for a program. <br> Good play behavior during program. Jaw sparring with Attila. <br> Pups walked into program on their own. <br> Did ride up on Attila. Was content on Shadow's blanket (as a note, we took the curator’s coat and let Shadow rub up against it, and use it for when the pups are anxious). <br>Play bow to Attila and nanny. Head shake and pulling on pheasant. <br> Approached fence to Shadow. Nosing through fence. Played in wolf yard on the way to program. Shadow was at ease. <br > Pups woke in response to adults howling. Did not howl back.
Red Paw is 34 days old today. His coordination has improved greatly. Early in the day, Nannies and Staff noticed Red Paw carrying the football toy from one corner of the pup pen to the other. At the one o’clock program, he picked up a piece of birch bark about 6 – 8 inches long and carried it around. He also carried the deer leg outside of the program again. Something really important that happened was Grizzer regurgitating for the pups while they were waiting for the program to begin. This care giving behavior is normal in the wild, where pack members help raise the pups.
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