Grayson- Watching the Pack from the hillside

Grayson has a history of being the “watchful one”, as shown in this quote from March 2017.   We posted the following update on Grayson just two months before his first birthday:

March 2017 Update:   “What is most notable is that while Grayson figures out his way in the pack, he has been observed being Aidan’s wingman, helping when Aidan shows some status over Boltz or Denali.  Watching and learning is what helps shape the leaders of tomorrow and what better wolf to emulate, than Aidan.”

In 2023, Grayson continues to be the watchful one, initially watching over Rieka who was introduced as a pup in 2021, but also watching over Caz and Blackstone, the 2022 pups.  But lately, Grayson has to be watchful of Rieka, who as a maturing dominant female, has become more protective over the 2022 pups, especially Caz.  Grayson is taking it in stride and the pups still seek him out for social reassurance and leadership, especially if there are external intruders at the outer fence.  It is up to Rieka if she will chose to support Grayson in that leadership role or build the confidence of one of the 2022 pups in the upcoming year as they transition from yearlings to adulthood.

Grayson – Response to External Influences

Grayson continues to be the wolf that responds to external influences such as backhoe work around the site (yes, the new fiber optic line is being dug this week.. maybe a return of the retired camera broadcast next week?).  We did have  break through this week.  For years, Grizzer has been bark-howling at the vets when they come on site for medical checks. As you can imagine, this past month has had a lot of visits to help Luna (and now Aidan), to heal from the various medical issues.  Grayson, hearing Grizzer bark howl, would join in and even started a few bark howling sessions at the vet before Grizzer even figured out they were on site.  This is an obvious concern because bark-howling is a warning sign to other pack members and we certainly didn’t want a vet visit to be a negative thing.  On Tuesday nights vet check with Aidan, Grizzer actually approached the vet, sniffed and licked her hand and never let out a single howl.  Fortunately, Grayson didn’t either and Aidan had a good check, while the respective packs remained calm.  Positive and negative conditioning are issues we deal with on a daily basis.  To learn more about conditioning, Join us for Wednesday, August 14th at 7 pm Central Time for the Wolf Care, Positive Conditioning Webinar – we will share news on Luna and Aidan’s medical condition an have a special guest join us for some tips on positive conditioning for our 2020 pups.  Follow this link to register.   https://wolf.org/programs/webinars

Posturing over rank continues with Grayson and Axel

There is tension between Grayson and Denali, which started the day the pups were introduced and usually involves food.  While Denali defends much of the food with Grayson, the tables are turning with Boltz being more isolated by the summer heat.  Grayson seems to have found a new opportunity to take possession of items and to show a tail posture well above his back.  Axel and Grayson continue to posture about rank, but it is Grayson that leads the howls in this pack.  When it come to things that cause anxiety, Grayson is facing it and giving a bark howl to let the intruders know that they need to back off.  

Grayson – Investigation – The focus of the young wolf

You may have noticed that the logs and youtube have been a little delayed.  This week’s photo of Grayson is one challenges we face in getting quality video footage for publication.  Wolves have a natural curiosity and bringing cameras into the enclosure means that wolves will often investigate.  To be able to get footage, we usually require at least two people, one to distract and be an observer and one to look through the eye of the camera.  Added to this challenge is subzero temperatures and precipitation and this winter has created some very short filming opportunities.  Fortunately, we have a series of Birthday webinars coming up.  If you miss our Youtube post, please join us for our webinars, where we have individual birthday webinars and more.  Grayson and Axel’s birthday is May 2nd.   Grayson seems to have the same pattern, losing weight, likely due to increased activity and some increased competition.  Last winter he weighed 82 pounds in February 2018, but by October of 2018, he was back to 94 pounds.   In addition to the weekly carcass on Saturday night’s What’s for Dinner Program, we feed some smaller food resources such as beaver, chicken or deer legs on Wednesdays and extra chicken or beef meals are offered to Grayson on a daily basis.  The issue with Grayson is not about food availability, but it is about attitude and competition. He has always been more reserved and timid, so even if he may want the food, he is easily intimidated when other wolves display food defense.  To reduce food competition, we require at least 2 if not 3 wolf care staff to distract the other wolves.  The good thing is, we condition the wolves from the time they are pups to take meatballs and following the meatball tray as a form of distraction.  Since we are scheduled to adopt pups again in 2020, we are brushing up on the adult behavioral traits that need conditioning with pups. 

Webinars & Lectures

 

Grayon- Do Wolves Really Sleep?

With the exception of some of our retirees, it is rare to find a wolf that falls into a deep sleep accompanied by snoring.  In most cases, the wolves have periods where they close their eyes, get some relief from the pack life, but even the slightest noise will see them spring into action or the the very least, an alert head and ear posture.  In this week’s photo, Grayson is taking a moment on the rock, but the ears are pricked forward and slightly turned to capture surrounding sounds.  The one exception to the rule of sound sleep might be after a major feeding.  Wolves have the capability to eat a large quantity of meat in one sitting (research estimates ~20% of their body weight).  There is no doubt that a full stomach can override the alert sensors and you may see minimal activity or interest in surroundings in either captive or wild settings. 

Grayson – Focused on Food

Grayson has a complexity to his behavior that can be a challenge to manage.  If there is a threat of a strange human or unknown activity around the enclosure, Grayson is the first (and sometimes only) pack member to bark howl in an alarm format.  He is not testing for behavior like his littermate, Axel, but is waiting and watching for opportunities.  The biggest conflict that he has is with Denali and is usually associated with food, but his more timid response means he is not as likely to defend food.  Staff work on getting extra meals throughout the week to make sure Grayson gets the resources that he needs.

Grayson- Taking a Break at the Pond

Written by Brenda Loeb and Sheri Kreager participants in the Wolf Photography weekend in early October. 

Here is Grayson taking a break at the pond, he can usually be found in the presence of his brother Axel, doing laps through and around the enclosure.  It is fun to watch him interact with the rest of the pack.  He remains submissive to Denali and Boltz, it will be interesting to see if he steps up as the pack leader in the future.

Grayson – Strongest Bonds – Most Difficult Time

In the transition of Aidan into retirement, Grayson seems to have the most significant impact to his behavior.  Even prior to retirement, Grayson would display some lone howls towards staff at the start of wolf care.  He is a very vocal wolf, but lately, the howling seems to continue into the mid-morning.  It is low throated in tone and no other wolf responds;  Whatever he is communicating, the other wolves don’t seem stimulated to reply.  The other behavioral changes include a bit more timid behavior about feeding, interactions with the rest of the pack and even his ability to compete for the daily meatball vitamins.  Staff are spending more time with him and have added 4 supplemental feedings a week to boost Grayson’s body weight and provide more motivation to compete.  Of course, staff need to find a distraction and even fifteen minutes of holding for Denali to accomplish this goal.  It is week two of this action, and things are getting better.  In our past experience, wolves that have the strongest bonds often have the most difficult time with change and loss of a that social companion.  

Grayson – Bonding Brothers

Earlier this winter we had some concerns about Grayson being too attached to Aidan to make a change in pack leadership.  This concern has diminished as Grayson is getting a significant amount of social reassurance from his litter mate, Axel.  There is no doubt, these two still spend a fair amount of time wrestling, pinning, squashing and jaw sparring like they did when they were pups, but we have many observations where Grayson seeks out Axel and even uses him as a pillow. 

Grayson – Tail Tells it All

As you can see by this photo, Aidan is back in the mix, although his confidence is still impacted.  He’s less likely to be in a leadership role, but he can still control the carcass.  There is a clear difference between Grayson and Axel’s relationship with Aidan and the tail postures in this photo tells it all.  Axel on the right side of Aidan, has his tail tucked in what we term a T-4 tail posture (thanks to Wolf Park’s Ethogram for these terms), which is much more of a fear response.  Grayson who is approaching Aidan from the left, has his tail in a T=3.5 response, which means, it is relaxed, but touching the haunches in a bit more intimidation. The tolerance shown in the tails is representative of the social bond that is strong between Grayson and Aidan.  Grayson is frequently observed resting with Aidan and clearly still has respect for Aidan, even though he displays very few dominant behaviors other than during food possession.  Another Grayson behavior is his tendency to howl when there’s a bit of unstable energy in the pack structure.  Wolf care always know when there’s been some overnight strife, Grayson does a low-throated, lone howl to the wolf care staff at the gate.  Grayson does not d0 well with conflict and definitely seeks out Aidan for comfort.  We also had some tree damage in a recent storm, calling in a tree felling service that needed to climb and drop trees to avoid fence damage.  Grayson was the only pack member to bark a threat display to the chainsaw operator; that used to be Aidan’s job and before that, Shadow’s job.  One of our colleague’s recently commented…”It feels to me that he has been “interning” with Aidan.  

We recently reviewed a publication entitled The influence of social relationship on food tolerance, in wolves and dogs.  This research was conducted at the Wolf Science Center,  in Vienna, Austria and was published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (2017) 71:107.  Authors, Rachel Dale,  Friederike Range, Laura Stott , Kurt Kotrschal and Sarah Marshall-Pescini summarized that …”It is logical that animals should choose to co-feed with partners who are most likely to show tolerance, than a less close affiliate, who may challenge you or incite conflict… but it seems that their decision about whether or not to share at all was based on the affiliative relationship, as those with a higher affiliation score were more likely to peacefully share.” This is a pattern we see with the Center’s Exhibit Pack.