We need to constantly remind ourselves that Denali is two, and sometimes, young wolves are just young wolves. Grizzer was the same, the only difference is, Grizzer had a dominant active pack leader that never let the antics of a 2-year old escalate. Denali has reduced the intensity of his testing this past week, but it is the nature of wolves to seek opportunities. Fortunately, Grizzer won the challenge and with it, won some confidence to deal with the pack. Denali should improve in the upcoming year, and by the time the new pups arrive in 2012, Denali will have something else to occupy his exhuberant personality.
Denali is back in the mix, and displaying some great social behavior. There are still the bouts of threat displays, but Grizzer doesn't respond negatively to these displays, he merely postures and reminds Denali who marks on the higher portion of the rock (that's wolf talk for dominance). It is good to have Denali back in the middle of things, and spending time with wolf care staff. Grizzer is less guarding of staff this week and we have noticed a calming effect on Denali.
Vermilion Community College students assisted with the straw removal, pond cleaning and trenching of the den site, in an effort to help drain an excessive amount of spring snow melt. The students did an excellent job in rainy, cool conditions, while the wolves stayed in retirement eating 3 beaver, and frequently checking on the progress. Upon returning to the enclosure, the pack did a lot of scent rolling in areas where pond water was bailed from the upper pond. Denali appeared to meet most of the beaver in the retired enclosure during the 4 hours he was out of the Exhibit, which doesn't surprise the staff, it may have something to do with the 108 lb yearling body size. He has calmed considerably, which is consistent with yearlings, and the onset of spring warmer weather. We expect him to start shedding his winter pelage soon. In his video clip this week, you will see Denali doing a "Stand-Over" Aidan, this is a sign of dominance.
Most of the pack received vaccinations this past week. Denali was the easiest wolf to vaccinate, with Grizzer coming a close second. He didn't even notice the needle, and after his second vaccination, stood waiting for another. This is the reason why we socialize wolves. Denali continues to initiate dominance behavior over Aidan, doing stand-overs and wrestling, but Aidan's tolerance is waning, and there may be a day when he doesn't take it anymore. We are working on brush training with Denali, he has a tendency to want to grab everything in our hands, but after a few minutes of muzzle grabs, he did let us successfully brush him last week.
Denali continues to be a pup with a good temperament, except when it comes to a possession. Wolf care staff must be very diligent to maintain possession of all tools. Staff took advantage of a warm day last week to wash the windows, and Denali tried every maneuver to take over the bucket, and window washing poles. He is still learning and testing, which is what young wolves do. By the end of the process, he did respect the staff, but it is a continuous process that must be consistent.
Denali continues to be very food focused, and the recent donation of deer from the Minnesota DNR's deer management activities in the Northwestern portion of the state has been a salvation to a freezer that was near empty. The food consumption here continues to be 100% by Monday, which results in 2 things, some very loose stools from wolves eating more than they can digest and some very calm wolves that are too full to do much chasing or following. Of course, by Wednesday, Denali thinks he needs another deer and checks later in the week are more active.
As the spring progresses here, Denali has become more testing of individual staff. This isn't uncommon behavior for a juvenile male, but something we are addressing. Grizzer had the same behavioral traits and managed to calm down when he was an adult, we are actively working on behavioral cues that trigger this response. One thing we noticed is that staff need to be mindful of turning their back on Denali, he likes to jump from behind, and there are some serious food possession issues. When Denali is hungry, there is no amount of conditioning that he retains.
This past week was a challenge for Denali management. As discussed, he is more testing than Aidan. Aidan will do more aggressive biting out of anxiety, but Denali does grab more as a common greeting. He also appears to be insatiable in appetite. With the change of seasons, it’s not uncommon to have some hormonal and metabolism changes. We’re not sure why, but last week Denali was ravenously hungry despite a Saturday night feeding of a 120 lb deer. So, on Monday, we fed a 35 lb beaver, and Aidan and Denali spent 2 hours eating that (we fed it frozen to keep them occupied). On Tuesday, Denali continued to be obsessed and agitated when we gave meds, and possessive over anything in wolf care hands. We took out another deer torso and fed it frozen again (see Denali and Maya’s video), by Wednesday, we finally saw a calmer satisfied pup. We hope this is short-term, our food budget can’t sustain a yearling that wants to eat 200 lbs of meat a week, nor is that good for his health.
Aidan and Denali are one year old today, and has you can see by Denali's weight, he had a good first year. In comparison, Grizzer was 93 lbs as a yearling and now he tops 120 lbs.. so if anyone studies algebra and calculates the ratio and if growth rate from yearling to full adult is consistent, then Denali will be ~130 lbs. If attitude toward food is any indication, then Denali will be all that… he has a focus on food that surpasses even Grizzer. Friday, there was a crane on site that stood 50 feet above the roof line, Denali was very afraid, as was Maya and Grizzer. Shadow ignored it, Aidan was more worried about Maya being on the move and Malik was looking for Grizzer. Denali bobbed his head several times to determine what it was, then ran for the hill.
Wolf care staff owe Denali an apology. When we do wolf care, we see Denali testing Grizzer, foreleg stabbing and pawing at Grizzer until he gets aggravated. What we observed during the wolf watch was a completely different scenario. Denali spent most of the observation period wandering the front of the enclosure, looking for Grizzer. Grizzer spent most of the observation period hiding behind bushes and rocks, in a ambush stance, waiting to pounce on Denali or at least make direct eye contact with him. Eamonn Briem wrote: "Denali seems a little nervous about Grizzer. He is skittish when Grizzer comes around. His ears are always back and turned sideways and his tail was as low as a T 3.5 (touching his haunches). Sometimes he was so focused on Grizzer that he ran sideways and ran over Aidan and Maya." We believe, when we do wolf care, we provide Denali some confidence to test Grizzer, but when the pack is alone, Denali has no confidence, and he won't take Grizzer on alone.
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