Exhibit Pack Update – 1 January 2024

As we enter the new year, we look back at 2023 and review some of the highlights and key moments during the year:

January started off with the arrival of our curator-in-training, Giselle Narváez Rivera. She has been a perfect fit here at the International Wolf Center, and we could not be more pleased with the incredible work she has done thus far. She will be taking over as the role of Wolf Curator starting this month, still with the invaluable guidance of Lori Schmidt, Wolf Curator Emeritus.

By February we had seen Rieka growing confidence within the pack, but still displaying some juvenile behaviors with the yearlings, Caz and Blackstone. No doubt having younger individuals in the Exhibit Pack has given her the opportunity to engage in some of the social juvenile interactions that she missed out on being a singleton. The wolf care team also diligently monitored Axel’s coat condition, noticing discoloration and dryness that would eventually be determined as symptoms of a much larger issue.

March brought an abundance of snow. We had seen a lot of young wolf activity around the Exhibit Pack’s secondary fence to this point. Deep snowpacks can be tougher on younger animals compared to the more matured, experienced adults. Our wolf ambassadors had plenty of cover hay to help keep them warm, as well as multiple areas of shelter to utilize in inclement weather.

Caz and Blackstone turned one year of age in April, kicking off the start of our Ambassador Wolf Birthday Fundraiser. This fundraiser allowed us to install two additional surveillance cameras that aid us in monitoring the dynamics and safety of our wolf ambassadors. On cameras like these, we were able to observe Rieka oftentimes displaying dominance over Blackstone with a squash or a stand-over.

May is shedding season for wolves. Our ambassadors shed out their undercoats, some of which was saved to be made into products for our 2024 Wolf Care Auction. This auction will take place from February 26th to March 10th. The wolf care team noticed that Axel was not only shedding his undercoat like usual, but was also loosing guard hairs. We conducted a medical exam on both him and his littermate, Grayson. A diagnosis of sebaceous adenitis was determined and his treatment plan was developed.

During June, the bugs had arrived in swarms. This caused a lot of discomfort for our wolves, as many of the biting flies, gnats, and mosquitoes were relentless. We helped to ease this discomfort by opening the Wolf Care Center building for them to use as a place of refuge from the bugs and the heat. We also applied natural insect repellents such as cedar, peppermint, and lemongrass sprays.

To combat the heat of July, many frozen enrichments were provided to our wolf ambassadors. A favorite among the Exhibit Pack were buckets of snow given out during the 4th of July, colored red, white, and blue using sport drinks. The added electrolytes were beneficial in helping the Pack stay hydrated, although they seemed to prefer scent rolling on it rather than eating it.

In August, we began to see an increase of the displays of a maturing female from Rieka, as well as the rise of a lower-ranking pack member in Blackstone. Rieka’s increased dominance over the yearling seemed to mostly fall on Blackstone, with Caz being on the receiving end of more socially-motivated interactions. This really set the tone for Blackstone’s place as the omega of the Exhibit Pack.

September was the last month of heat, and the wolves were becoming pretty indifferent to the daily enrichments. To keep them interested and stimulated, the wolf care team worked hard to come up with unique enrichments for our wolf ambassadors to receive. One of those came in the form of a scarecrow made of frozen hay and a gourd for the head (topped with a bisonhide toupée). While Blackstone may be on the lower end of the rank order, he seemed the most confident approaching the novel item. Grayson, Caz, Axel, and Rieka were a bit more neophobic in their reactions, but eventually engaged in tearing it apart.

We had really started to see the tremendous improvement in Axel’s coat by October. His oral and topical treatments were successful in growing back a thick coat, as well as maintaining adequate moisture of his skin and hair. It was apparent that he would be well equipped to handle the cold and snow of the winter season.

November started out with us looking like we’d have a normal winter; there was a good coating of snow on the ground and the Exhibit Pack was certainly beginning to display the beginnings of winter dynamics. By late November, we had observed Grayson displaying more confidence in his interactions with the rest of the pack. He was more assertive, held his tail higher, and sought out Rieka frequently to engage in social behaviors.

When December came around, it was clear that we were not going to have a normal winter. Temperatures were unseasonably warm, there was no snow, and rain was a common occurrence. At the end of the month, there was finally another snowfall that stuck, providing a blanket of white in the Exhibit.

As we look back at the year behind us, we are so incredibly gratefully for all of the support shown toward IWC and our ambassador wolves. We look forward to what the wolves will teach us in 2024. To watch the video version of this Pack Update, click here.

Exhibit Pack Update – 23 December 2023

While the winter solstice may have passed, it doesn’t feel like winter here in Ely, Minnesota. We have had unseasonably warm temperatures with little snow accumulation. While us humans may be enjoying the lack of snow shoveling so far, the local wildlife may be impacted by the minimal snow and warmer temperatures. Deep snowpacks are beneficial to wolves in slowing down prey, aiding in their success while hunting. Ruffed grouse also rely on deep snow to roost in, creating a warm and insulated area of protection. Many species have adaptations for deep snow in northern climates, such as snowshoe hare which have large, snowshoe-like feet for traversing swiftly on top of the snow and escaping predators. Without much snow, we may see an impact on these local wildlife populations.

Here at the International Wolf Center, we are seeing mild temperaments along with the mild temperatures. This is an extremely calm pack, indicating the cohesiveness of its pack members. There are still times of heightened intensity and pack focus, all of which would fall under ritualized dominance. We continue to observe Grayson instigating a lot of social interactions with Rieka, who often responds positively with social behaviors of her own. In this week’s YouTube Update, you can see her displaying some social foreleg stabs to Grayson from atop the slate den. However, we see Caz get in the middle of Rieka and Grayson’s interactions more often than not. It appears to us that Caz, Grayson, and Rieka are the key players in the Exhibit Pack relating to pack leadership. 

As also demonstrated in this week’s YouTube, Caz remains very submissive to Grayson. We often see appeasement behaviors from Caz and Blackstone to both arctics (oftentimes more well-received by Grayson); these behaviors are in part a social greeting, but appear to also pay homage to a respected packmate. The wolf care team has not seen any indication of the Caz or Blackstone testing either arctic at this point. We’ve had two-year-olds who have tested more dominant wolves in the past, but the key here is that Axel and Grayson are still relatively young. At seven and a half years of age, they continue to show the vigor and and strength of dominant pack members. This is another reason why we try to maintain a four-year rotation for wolf pups. This management strategy has been successful for IWC in the past and will likely continue into the future management of the Exhibit Pack.

We at the International Wolf Center want to wish everyone a happy holiday season and new year! While we are closed to the public this weekend, IWC staff and the wolf care team are scheduled to be onsite to oversee the Exhibit Pack and provide some extra feedings. If you are interested in directly supporting the wolf care department this season, consider checking out our Amazon Wishlist.

Exhibit Pack Update – 18 December 2023

For this week’s Pack Update, we wanted to focus on wolf communication. Here at the International Wolf Center, we see examples of wolf communication every single day. Wolves may communicate through vocalizations, behaviors, scent, body posture (including ear and tail position), and facial expression. This week’s YouTube Update features some examples of canid communication. While watching you will hear a dog barking. For dogs, a bark is usually nothing too serious; it may be used to express excitement, to get a human’s attention, or as a territorial display. A bark in wolf pack is quite a bit more serious; wolves may bark as an alarm signal or as a threat display. This is an excellent example of how wolves and dogs can differ in communication.

We continue to see increased social behavior between Rieka and Grayson, both wolves communicating with invite chases, high tail wags, and muzzle licks. We also often hear quite a bit of vocal communication between yearling littermates, Caz and Blackstone. While this may sound noisy at times, it’s important to remember that vocalizations such as growling do not inherently signify aggression or violence. Canids may growl as a sign for another wolf to back off and is often used to set boundaries between individuals. It is a useful tool in canid communication (especially during ritualized dominance) and may even prevent larger conflict in the long run.

A common theme we try to emphasize is that there are no bad or good behaviors; they are simply wolves being wolves.

We have also had some recent enclosure additions and updates for the Exhibit Pack. Two additional cameras have been added to our surveillance system, allowing for us to better monitor our wolf ambassadors and the facility grounds. Our cameras on Explore.org have also been serviced; the North Cam now has sound again and the South Cam has been replaced with a newer camera. Some rock work was done to the back den to prevent flooding next spring. Rock steps were added by the Boltz Byway medical pen to provide an easier way for wolves to enter and exit the kennel space.

Exhibit Pack Update – 11 December 2023

Winter is right around the corner and that means that there are some more intense testing of boundaries, posturing, but also some heightened social bonding interactions. We have noticed a change in Grayson the past few weeks; he appears to be initiating more social interaction with Rieka, who is receptive to these social advances more often than not. In this week’s Pack Update on YouTube, a video is included that exemplifies this: “[Grayson] has a T2 tail posture while Rieka is doing some soft muzzle bites and to that Caz also responds with some muzzle licks to Grayson in a submissive manner. Rieka continues seeking Grayson, doing soft muzzle bites and we see them briefly parallel gaiting.”During another instance of Rieka and Grayson social greeting that was captured on video also acts as a reminder of the opportunistic nature of pack rank order: “… we see Grayson seeking some of that social bonding behavior with Rieka, holding a T2 tail while she does a series of soft muzzle bites. And we can’t ignore what the other wolves are doing too. Caz is also trying to participate in this interaction between Rieka and Grayson, but he also is taking advantage of the opportunity to stand over Blackstone who is laying down at the pumphouse. So we know wolves can be very opportunistic to vulnerabilities and take advantage of that moment to test boundaries and assert dominance over some of their packmates.”

While we have witnessed Grayson and Rieka engaging in some social behaviors, we also still see Rieka circling and targeting Grayson’s rear as she did last winter. At this time, we are certainly seeing less frequency and intensity of this type of focus. However, we still have much of the winter season left to go. Caz and Rieka still have a strong relationship; she oftentimes aligns with Caz in times of yearling dominance or when Axel or Grayson display corrective behaviors to him. The wolf care team continues to monitor these social relationships, which provides insight into overall pack dynamics. Proximity while resting, for example, is a good indicator of stronger relationships and alliances. We see a lot of that with Blackstone and Grayson, but the whole pack is pretty cohesive and calm so we do see a lot of resting together between all wolves at some point. One of the main questions we get is if Rieka has pair bonded with one of the males yet. We are seeing some behaviors that relate to pair bonding but we do not see anything definitive yet. What we can say is that we are watching very closely because whatever she decides will have implications for the dynamics of the pack.

Exhibit Pack Update – 20 October 2023

We had a visitor that surprised all of us. A skunk came into the enclosure, probably under the gates, on Tuesday, October 17 around 2 am. The skunk was kind of just wandering around possibly looking for food resources. As you can imagine, the wolves found out pretty quickly. In the image you can see the eyes of Caz preparing to ambush the skunk. Luckily, we were able to capture the whole encounter in our security cameras and track down what happened and who was involved for health purposes. 

The skunk did not notice Caz was coming behind him, but once he found out and was able to, the skunk sprayed Caz in the face. Caz started face wiping to try and clear his eyes, he shook his head and proceeded to sneeze repeatedly. The commotion of Caz going after this skunk led the rest of the pack to investigate and they did a lot of scent rolling and stalked the animal for about three hours while it hid in the rocks by the exhibit windows. Around 5 am, the skunk left his hiding place and was attacked by the wolves. 

We monitored wolf health for any unusual symptoms that could be a side effect of being sprayed by a skunk. Another important task for the wolf care team was to send the skunk to be tested for rabies and distemper. Even though our ambassadors are vaccinated, we would rather air on the side of caution and make sure that this animal wasn’t sick and causing it to act a little bit abnormal coming into an enclosure full of wolves.  

We have not had any snow yet, but we’ve had temperatures down in the 20 degrees Fahrenheit. While it’s been a very calm pack this year, we did have a little bit of noise up in the woods around 10:30 this morning and it turned out that Caz had a bite wound on his left wrist. It’s not a complete puncture wound, but it is located near a joint and we need to keep a close eye for signs of infection. So, he’s on anti-inflammatory medication and was later put on antibiotics so we’re hoping the afternoon of hanging out under the eaves with Rieka will give him a little bit of relief. 

You may watch the YouTube version of the update here.

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Exhibit Pack Update – 13 October 2023

Exhibit Pack Update – 29 September 2023

Blackstone identified a small rodent that had made its way out of the woods and was kind of moving around the exhibit. He was acting playful towards it, not really showing any predatory behavior by biting it. Blackstone was displaying investigative behaviors by batting it around with his paw and sniffing it. He even does a play bow to it.  Wolves are large generalist carnivores, and they need a large amount of meat to sustain themselves. Thus, these small rodents while they may be entertaining, wolves do not tend to utilize them as food resource like a fox or a coyote would. Further, our ambassador wolves receive plenty of opportunities to feed from large carcasses a couple of times per week and we also offer smaller food items on a daily basis. For Blackstone, just a yearling being a yearling, utilizing an opportunity. The rodent was unscathed by this little interaction even though a Blackstone did pick him up and carry him around a little bit. 

With the seasonal changes the wolves are getting a little bit more animated. Caz and Rieka are still showing some pair bonding behavior. We see Caz rubbing under her chin and Rieka is very tolerant of him. Grayson is still in the middle though, especially with Caz being subordinate to Grayson, but also every once in a while, Rieka gives Grayson that affectionate inhibited muzzle bite.

Follow this link to watch this interaction. 

Exhibit Pack Update – 22 September 2023

Earlier this week, on Saturday September 16th, we captured some footage that was particularly interesting, and we wanted to offer some interpretations. Rieka was standing over Blackstone and doing little bit of social greetings and kind of presenting herself to Blackstone. She attempts to do a stand over, but she is a little too short. You see her tail rising as she moves closer to him and that’s a little bit more assertive and a little bit less social. Grayson comes around and he seems to be always keeping an eye on what the yearlings are up to.  

We had someone ask us recently, “is Rieka mature yet?” After some of us chuckled and said, “it depends upon the day,” she really is showing much more assertiveness, much more direct eye contact, facing issues more directly, and showing strong body postures. For example, even though Blackstone seemed to resist her dominance displays in the footage, she didn’t back off. She’s had a history of being a little bit intimidated and approaching from behind by tail grabbing because she wasn’t very confident. We are now seeing her directly facing the males and dealing with her place as the dominant female.  

On that same footage, we saw Caz taking an opportunity while Rieka was focused on Blackstone to do a chin rest and that is a dominant posture. Then he goes into a ride up. His tail indicated that he was not very comfortable, and it doesn’t seem like he’s very confident about that move. Blackstone was also facing him so that certainly could have been the issue.  

One of the highlights of this particular video is that we observed Caz and Rieka do a very short parallel gait after all this posturing and chin resting. Rieka kind of walked into that because she protected Caz from a lot of dominance interactions. Pictured above you can see their feet parallel to each other and walking shoulder to shoulder. Parallel walking is a social bonding behavior so we can confirm that fall is in the air.  

It is autumnal equinox today, equal length of daylight and darkness, the first official day of fall. We’re starting to see some beautiful fall colors and feeling the temperature changes. With having a dry summer we’re likely to see some more intense colors than we might see during a wet year. With fall officially arriving, we know that wolf activity will increase so we’ll be watching that as the sun sets earlier every day, we certainly will keep an eye on what the pack is up to. 

You may watch the footage here.  

Exhibit Pack Update – 15 September 2023

Last weekend we celebrated the Harvest Moon Festival here in Ely so our creative wolf care specialist, Abby Keller, made a scarecrow out of a variety of things: a gourd for its head, liver for its lips, frozen hay for its arms, legs and torso, and bison hide for its sash. When the wolves first saw the scarecrow, they displayed neophobic behaviors. Caz was the most intimated by the mysterious new figure. Rieka and Blackstone were the most curious, immediately approaching it and sniffing it. Axel was also very interested but was a little bit more cautious but was the first to grab a section of the scarecrow and left the scene with the head and liver lips. Grayson stood by and waited for everyone to disperse a little bit. Once Grayson approaches and takes the sash, he is followed by Caz which can be intimidating when you are trying to enjoy or eat something without competition. This is a very interesting example that demonstrates the differences in wolf personalities. 

We do these enrichments to stimulate wolves physically and mentally and it also gives us the opportunity to see each wolf’s preferences for what they seem to enjoy and investigate the most. This past weekend it was in honor of the Ely Harvest Moon festival, and we coordinated it with the Chamber of Commerce to offer eight fall harvest themed enrichments.  

Blackstone continues to be a little bit more timid about things. Caz showed a lot of parallel gating with Grayson this week and parallel howling. We watched him do a stand over to Grayson, so I think we’re seeing the onset of this male rank order fleshing out a little bit. 

Axel’s feeling better. We adjusted his meds and that seems to be making him feel a little bit more active. We have seen him socially interacting with the pack, including tail wags, and grooming behaviors with Grayson. When the yearlings approach, they have very low body postures, so still in a submissive posture towards the arctics. Certainly, this male rank order is going to be a little bit more established as time progresses and we transition from fall into winter. 

Speaking of fall into winter, we had an overnight frost that required us to add a little bit of hay for the wolves and they seemed to appreciate that decision. Hay is also a great place to cache and come back to it later. We took down our misting system to make sure that lines didn’t freeze. Preparing for the cold a little bit earlier than usual. 

The interactions between Rieka and the male rank order are something that we’re kind of watching. Who’s Rieka spending a lot of time with? Who is Rieka sleeping in proximity to? But you know it’s a little early yet so we expect some of that will probably show itself closer to November, December, and into January and February where we’re going to see a little bit more seriousness. Right now, it’s just life in the pack. It is pretty relaxed. We take care of their needs, and they can just be wolves and that’s really our objective in Wolf Care.  

Exhibit Pack Update – 8 September 2023

We are doing pack updates a bit differently in the logs.  This text is the narrative from the Youtube channel which is done weekly. This allows details to be searched a bit more efficiently and logs to be posted more frequently. 

 

Every morning we bring the pack into what’s called the pack holding area (PHA) which is adjacent to our Wolf Care Center (WCC) building and the Wolf Lab. The younger animals walk into the WCC and get weighed but often they’re distracted by things like chipmunks. Caz jumping to catch the chipmunk is a good demonstration of why wolf fences should be 10-feet high with an overhang. They can also get distracted by vegetation or in some cases berries. We are almost done with the berry season, but there’s still a few low hanging Mt. Ash berries on the trees. They also get distracted by things in the trees, like birds that have been starting the fall migration might land or hit the exhibit windows or it might land and eat some seeds. We also have wasps that have been around as the drought increases. The yellow jackets and bald-faced hornets seem to take advantage of that drier condition and that means we have to apply a little bit more fly ointment. We often will have the wolves help the process; we spray the fly ointment on the rocks and let them scent roll. Because they go into the pond, we’re very cautious about what we use. We do use a lot of cedar oil, lemongrass, and peppermint. There are some other chemicals that work much more effectively but because they go in the water, and they eventually drink that water we want to be kind of mindful of what we put on the wolves. We already observed and recorded Caz dunking his head underwater for approximately 16 seconds. He has no problem sticking his face all the way down in to identify some things and so does Blackstone. The wolves can see the bottom of the pond and they try to figure out how to strategize to get their feet in and bring something to a shallow area so they can reap the benefits. Blackstone often gets ice chunks with a little bit of meat inside as enrichment since it has been so hot, as it has in most of the country. Today, temperatures dropped, and we had 39 degrees this morning. We certainly can appreciate Canada and Northwest winds as this cold front moved in and made it a little bit more manageable for the wolves. When it’s hot we like to get them in the shade, keep them on cool rocks and we like to make sure that everybody’s comfortable. Then there’s the pack social dynamics that come with cooler weather, so we’re starting to see activity and dominance ramp up a little bit here in the next few weeks, we also know it’s not out of the realm of possibility to get snow in September. Once we get snow the wolves get very active. 

 

Check out these links from the Timberwolf Alliance for wolves that are jumping for berries and from Voyageurs Wolf project for wolves dunking their heads for fish –