Red Paw gained .6 lbs in 24 hours, this is when pups start really having a growth spurt. Red Paw is 21 days old today and wolf care staff began conditioning the pups to the auditorium where they will be featured in an open house for the surrounding area residents. Red Paw is showing some fear avoidance behavior and it is very critical that he has some positive associations with the building before he enters it with a large crowd. In order to accomplish this, staff waits until the facility is closed, and brings the pups into the auditorium with their familiar blankets, stuffed animals and anything else that makes for a positive experience. Assistant curator, Donna Prichard and wolf care staff member, Jen Westlund brought the pups in during their shift. They exhibited a lot of whining and Red Paw was a bit nervous before settling down and playing with Attila. During the first few days of working with this pup, he demonstrated some independent and timid behavior, where he would retreat to a corner when anxious. While he occasionally reverts to that behavior, in the auditorium, he sought comfort from Jen and Donna, and fell asleep by Jen. These nightly sessions will continue until the Open House on Thursday, May 22nd. The Wolf Curator brought in a stuffed moose that was originally purchased when Malik and Shadow were pups. Red Paw was curious and attempted to dominate, but was intimidated when he rolled off the moose. The audio clip for today is an example of what we term "Exploratory whining", when a pup is walking around checking things out, but gets intimidated by the new environment.
Denali continues to test and bears the brunt of Grizzer's frustration with his behavior, usually a chase around the pond. Grizzer has yet to physically dominate Denali, he does a good enough job through body language and eye contact to keep Denali on the run.
The following log was written by Wolf Watch Observer:Joanne Wessels<br><br> Denali continues to instigate the majority of the chases and wrestling matches within the pack. He was also observed performing RLU's, and following up with ground scrapes, several times after marking. Denali urinated on a log and Maya immediately went to the log and over marked his scent. Not to be outdone, Denali returned to the log 3 minutes later and over marked Maya's scent, Maya did not return the message. Finally, Denali was observed standing beside Aidan for almost 7 minutes licking Aidan's leg's in a grooming behavior. <br> Note from the Curator <br><br> As a reminder, the Wolf Watch program will be scheduled the first Thursday of the month until the pack dynamics settles into some defined leadership. For more information, check out the Program tab on the website under Seminars…
This week has been extremely warm for Ely, Minnesota standards with temperatures nearing 90 degrees and humidity exceeding 80%. It has been extremely hard on the wolves, and wolf care staff are doing what they can to make them comfortable. Wolves have are covered in hair and don't have sweat glands at the surface of their skin, resulting in a cooling mechanism of panting to evaporate heat and moisture off the surface of their tongue. This isn't a very efficient method in high humidity. Each wolf has distinct tolerances of heat, and has their own method for cooling. <br>Denali is very tolerant of the heat, which may be related to his long legs, and the long expanse of his vascular system close to the surface. Denali deals with heat by finding some spot under the dense vegetation, but will share the den with Aidan. As the heat spell continued, there was far more agitated wolves in close proximity to each other, the warmer it was, the less tolerant they were in touching each other while sleeping. So, Denali would often get booted out of the den, usually by Grizzer.
Denali has been triggered into a testing machine. This probably has one main cause and it relates to the routine of the wolf pack. This week, the curator has returned back to Vermilion Community College as a full-time employee. What this means for the Center is one, delayed logs and Youtubes, and two, a change in schedule for the wolves. It's the change in schedule that has probably influenced Denali. The reasoning is not because Denali is at a loss for wolf care staff, but more likely due to Grizzer's response to the change. If Grizzer shows anxiety, Denali picks this up as a weakness, and that is the likely scenario observed this week. The good news is, Denali is two, going on three. He should grow out of some of this obnoxious youthful exuberance. The bad news is, winter is coming and the hormone increase of the winter season usually results in more intensity. So, for the wolf care staff, we are in for an interesting season.
Denali is one of the easiest wolves to manage when it comes to fly ointment. He will stand still and allow staff to apply ointment to ears, feet, legs, toes etc. He is the model wolf when it comes to physical care, but behaviorally?, that's another challenge. Denali seems to have no consistency to testing, whether it be staff or lately Maya. When Maya is engaged in dominance over Aidan, Denali has been actively grab biting Maya, creating more tension for Maya. When Maya does address the issue directly with Denali, he either runs, or does a face off with high tail. These are two significantly different responses. With staff, Denali will either test by grabbing anything near him, or he will rest his head on staff's shoulders and just sit there. This is why wolf care staff are trained to expect the unexpected, and why there is no such thing as an expert in captive wolf management because every day is different and every wolf personality as well as pack dynamics can influence a wolf's behavior.
Denali is still very social, interacting with Grizzer and Maya in chase behavior, and also Aidan when Aidan is showing confidence. Denali allows Aidan to show rank over him, but is using direct eye contact towards Aidan. So far, the pack is showing no clear leader, nor any indication that dominance other than Maya is defined. As a reminder, the summer season is the calmest season of the year, and rank activity may not be apparent until fall. The following observations were made by Ethology Students: Sarah Bruskotter, Jocelyn Faydenko, Steve Dibble. <br> Denali and Aidan have spent a fair amount of time playing this week. The increased amount of play behavior suggests relaxed wolves. Denali has been experiencing dominance from Aidan this week, something he hasn’t experienced from Aidan in quite some time.
Denali is definitely testing his position in the pack, and the Youtube video this week shows him doing chin rests, ride up behavior, pinning, whirling, and squashing behaviors, usually to Grizzer, but sometimes Maya. Denali is an active individual that will continue to test his limits and at this point, Maya is the only one showing any resistance to those limits.
As a general rule, Denali is not very submissive to Maya's dominance. He is more likely to raise his tail, posture his long, lanky body to face off with Maya. Of course, Maya increases the dominant growl, until she eventually moves away. Although, when watching the video for this week's Youtube posting, there was a short parallel gate between Maya and Denali, which is a social bonding behavior. The upcoming months will be interesting. The Center is re instituting a program called Wolf Watch. This program occurs the first Thursday of every month, and involves training program participants in data collection, and having the observers camp out in the auditorium for a night of observation. We hope to offer this program the first Thursday of every month, and be able to interpret the pack dynamics without the influence of wolf care staff interactions with the wolves.
On Saturday, Danielle Solberg and her grandmother Barb, volunteered to do some pack observations to help interpret the current pack dynamics of the Exhibit Pack. These type of observations are valuable, as they help give a perspective that doesn't involve wolf care in the enclosure. Danielle did an excellent job taking notes and observed Denali doing a number of poses in front of the windows, social greetings between Aidan and Denali, and with several food defense displays of lip curls and snarls, as he has no problem controlling the deer carcass. One behavior that was very interesting was Denali's (and later Maya and Aidan) sweet tooth. He was filmed picking cherries and eating them. It was interesting behavior as the research team had discovered some wolf scat with evidence of berries in the scat. In an effort to learn more about the pack dynamics (post Shadow retirement), we are resurrecting a program called Wolf Watch, which occurs on the first Thursday of every month. Check out the Programs tab on the wolf center home page, Wolf Watch programs are posted under the Seminar tab.
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