Denali spent the year avoiding conflict and trying not to be the center of Luna and Boltz’s attention. It appears, that is how he is spending the end of the year as well. The best way to describe Denali is a mild- mannered wolf that likes to avoid conflict and never wants to miss a meal. He is very responsive to his litter-mate, Aidan and as you can see in this photo, he often shows social displays while greeting.
Denali seldom gets a chance to eat in peace. His pack mates, primarily Luna and Boltz, commonly beg for, or try to snatch meals whenever they can. In this week’s photo you can see Luna soliciting some attention from Denali. At first this just appears social, but it most often ends with Luna rolling between Denali and his food, only to snatch it and run off with it.
Denali is relatively good at guarding his food, but every once in a while he misses out from Luna’s tactics.
Denali had a relatively calm week, participating in a few chases, guarding a few meals, getting said meals stolen from him by Luna. We’ve noticed Boltz and Denali interaction very well on a regular basis, typically with Boltz fully submitting to Denali. It is interesting that Boltz so willingly submits to Denali, the second ranking male, but is less likely to submit to the dominant male Aidan.
Denali does have his limits, you can only be the focus of a mobbing for so long before it becomes much more irritable. In this week’s photo we have Luna in the process of pushing a few of Denali’s buttons, with another wolf already on his back. Currently Denali maintains himself as the second ranking male, and though Boltz shows few signs of really testing Denali’s position, the ranks could easily shift this winter.
When getting dinner ready for the wolves, we will typically try to pull them into our medical pen so that we can place the food in the enclosure with ease. Recently however, Denali seems to be the only one that goes into the medical pen when we need them all to. This has resulted in us just holding Denali off while we place the food in the enclosure. Recently we’ve done away with that method, it forces Denali to be the last at the carcass, and in the wolf pack, it’s not always the largest or the most dominant that eats. Any wolf that possesses food has the right to defend it, so a lower ranking animal may guard the food from the rest of the pack if they possess it first.
When activity spikes in the enclosure, Aidan will often redirect his dominance towards Denali, and the two-year-olds will often join in the dominance as well. Denali is probably the most unlikely to test Aidan, he is very quick to roll for the dominant male whenever the focus turns towards himself.
Denali tries to get some rest, but stays alert to the actions of the younger pack members. Denali is lower ranking than Aidan, so he is the first test for Boltz to climb rank as he matures. Every wolf has a personality and Denali is the most mild mannered of all the wolves on Exhibit. His size may be misleading as he is the biggest wolf we have ever maintained in the ~25 years of Ambassador Wolves. but as we see from Luna’s behavior, size does not dictate hierarchy.
Denali is lower ranking and that is a fact. We knew it from the time that he was a pup and we saw it when he was a two year old and showed no signs of leadership, when there was a vacancy created by Shadow’s retirement. He willingly let’s Luna establish dominance and rolls as soon as Aidan applies some pressure. He takes it in stride, but the question is, is he willing to be at the bottom of the rank order in a position often called the “Omega”. This will be the dynamics we are watching as the pack matures in 2015. Boltz is currently the Omega because he was a male pup that grew up with some strong male pack mates. But, Boltz is growing up and Denali is such a mild-mannered personality. We have learned a great deal from our previous omegas; Lakota and Malik, even Aidan played this role in the 2008 – 2010 Exhibit. We know that the Omega is important. Without the bottom of the rank, the top aren’t reinforced. The Omega often stimulates the social behavior that keeps the pack interacting. Malik, Lakota and Denali all seem to share the same wolf grin, paw at the ground, and invite chase behaviors that lead to a lot of activity and a lot of tail wags.
Denali has become the focus of the two year old practice tests. They practice ride-up behaviors, chin rests, dual confrontations and eventually get a scruff bite and submission from Denali. Certainly, Denali shows some threat displays in response to this attention, but Denali spent the last two years wrestling and chasing with Boltz and Luna, as if he were a pup mate, not a higher ranking pack member showing any leadership. The consequences of interacting as an equal versus as a wolf with more dominance is that the two year olds are less intimidated by threat displays. This same situation happened to Malik when Grizzer was maturing, Malik eventually lost status to Grizzer and was the bottom of the rank order until Aidan and Denali were introduced in 2008. While each wolf has their own personality, sometimes the scenarios repeat themselves.
Denali doesn’t seem to mind who’s watching him do his business where, in this week’s photo we see him urinating in the pond while standing halfway in it. When we say he tends to have a laid back personality, we really mean it.
In this photo you can also see the beginning of the fall colors. As I write this, we’re closer to the full swing of autumn, the leaves are changing and falling now, making for great photographic opportunities at the International Wolf Center. The wolves are in full winter coat now as well, which can be difficult to manage when we still hit 70 degrees on a regular basis, but soon enough those warm days will be far behind us.
