Denali has been quite expressive in his excitement towards Aidan's behavior. He continues to do play bows and springs away from Aidan with his long lanky frame. He has no problem outrunning Aidan and appears to be much more agile when it comes to climbing the log across the pond. Staff have been trying to develop strategies to ensure that Denali gets equal amounts of socialization during wolf care, but Aidan is making that a challenge.
As one of the wolf care staff mentioned today, Denali is like teflon, nothing sticks. He is able to do what he wants when he wants, and this includes grabbing Grizzer, riding up on Shadow, foreleg stabbing Malik, wrestling with Aidan, but doesn't include looking at Maya. Maya seems to be the only wolf showing limits to Denali. Shadow must not take him as a threat, or he would be showing him more status.
Denali gets a bit nervous when Aidan follows him, but he maintains a high tail and with his long legs, can outrun Aidan, so he probably doesn't perceive much of a threat. When there are two wolf care staff in the enclosure, Denali does get his share of attention, bounding towards the staff in excitement. His conformation is much different than Aidan. Aidan is much shorter and bulkier, Denali is tall and lean. Denali does seem to get colder easier, probably due to the long legs and surface area of veins exposed. Denali always seems hungry, but never puts on the weight like Aidan.
Denali really displays a lot of play bows. A play bow is when a wolf (or dog), places their front legs on the ground and their hind legs remain ready to spring into action and run. He seems to want to engage Aidan in a chase behavior, but it seems that he is uneasy when Aidan becomes too intense. This doesn't stop him from wagging his tail and play bowing or pawing the ground when he comes near Aidan. This is especially true when Aidan is getting attention from Wolf Care Staff.
Denali is best known for his food defense. He is definitely able to guard food from any member of the pack, including staff. He is not as likely to participate in chase scenes, he just stands by and watches as other wolves race by, trying to catch up and figure out the action. He remains the larger of the two pups, and is active all day long, wrestling with Aidan. His winter pelage is very thick, and he shows no problems dealing with the cold temperatures.
The wolves did well with the recent cold snap last week. Wolf care faced temperatures of – 39 below on 2 mornings, – 32 below on one morning and a warm spell of – 26 below and Friday's balmy – 16 below… The wolf care staff are here 7 days a week, 365 days a year to ensure that the wolves have the best care possible. Denali is turning out to be a young version of Grizzer. When Grizzer was a pup, he was famous for jumping on people's backs to get attention. Denali is like a spring board when he wants attention. Of course, Grizzer turned out alright, so staff will continue to discourage this behavior and show Denali the proper way to greet a wolf care staff. Denali is very relaxed around the snowblower and all the tools necessary to keep this wolf yard open. We are having a plentiful amount of snow and Denali has learned to climb on the retired enclosure camera platform. We have since removed it to keep him out of trouble. The Exhibit Pack is still allowed access into the Retired Enclosure every week to keep it familiar to the next set of retirees, and to give wolf care staff some time to do work in the Exhibit Pack without the help of Denali.
Denali is the less aggressive of the two pups, and when adult dominance behavior occurs, he doesn't seem to keep up with the pace. That's a good thing, as Aidan does enough aggressive grabbing for both of the pups. Denali and Aidan are displaying a special bond of littermates, usually lying together in a separate straw bed. It is interesting to watch them continually wrestle, one would think they get sick of each other, but when it's time to rest, they seek each other out.
Denali is increasing in height and is now as tall as Shadow. He also has some bad traits of jumping that wolf care staff are dealing with on a daily basis. These are traits of young wolves, but they need to be shown boundaries and limits. Shadow is also working on this, but he tends to have more success than the wolf care staff, possibly having something to do with his growl and tooth display. We've discovered that Denali has a bit of a strong streak. When he doesn't get what he wants or someone takes something away from him, he is very physical. This is a behavior displayed toward wolves and humans alike.
Denali seems to have missed the lecture about adult wolves allowing pups to eat and keep possessions. It's like we're managing a 126 lb pup. We are trying to get a fecal on Denali to make sure he doesn't have a tape worm, but Denali will eat everything presented to the pups and he's not shy about it. Our first preference is to put the pups into holding and leave the adults out, but Denali has quickly discovered the buffet table we set for the pups and is first in line to come into holding. This actually works out well since Luna doesn't come in and Aidan doesn't bother the pups. The next 3 months of management are crucial to maximize the pups weights and feeding the pups twice a day takes patience and coordination in the arrangement of all pack members.
Denali continues to develop a personality trait that mirrors Grizzer, not to mention his size. He is likely over 90 lbs by now, and has mastered the acquisition and defense of food. In his video this week, he shares the den with Grizzer for a while, but when both pups try to share the straw, Grizzer says enough is enough. Denali and Aidan are still spending most of their time wrestling with each other and jaw sparring, the littermate bond is extremely strong.
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