Grayson – Finding his Way

We continue to see a weight difference between Axel and Grayson.  Grayson’s weights on March 2nd (10 month birthday) had him gaining a pound more than Axel in the last month, but still lagging behind by over 12 pounds.  When there is such a difference between littermates, we look at both physical and behavioral influences.  We do see more parasite issues with Grayson that have required multiple treatments this winter.  It could be his natural immune system or it could be influenced by more stress associated with a more reserved personality.  Stress is one of those factors that are difficult to assess without looking at cortisol levels within an individual.  We do know that Grayson has no reservations about being the first Exhibit Pack member to eat the nutrient rich organ meat in the weekly carcass and come out with a bloody muzzle. 

Grayson- a Gentle Look

The personalities of the pups are certainly emerging as winter transitions to spring.  Grayson’s facial expressions are very unique.  There is something about his eyes that appear to have a more engaging and softer tone than his littermate.  With that face, seems to be a mirrored behavior.  He is a gentle greeter, not displaying the in-your-face muzzle biting and grabbing that is a typical Axel greeting.  When Grayson is excited so interact, he displays a short howl before running over with tail wagging to greet.  Grayson continues to lag behind Axel is size.  We will be weighing the pups on their 10 month birthday on March 2nd.

Grayson – Intimidation?

This weeks log is written by Kim Wheeler, Executive Director, Red Wolf Coalition, Inc.  During my visit to the Center, I had the opportunity to watch Grayson interact with his pack mates.  Grayson has not only grown in size, current weight 77.8 lbs, but also in confidence. Grayson had a weight gain of 1.6 lbs from last month.  I witnessed many play bouts that were initiated by Grayson, that ended in a chase of Axle.  Grayson and Axle can be found resting near, and sometimes on each other.  Grayson still seeks out Aidan and seems to find comfort with Aidan when he needs it.  This week Grayson and Axle turned 9 months.  

Grayson – New Environmental Stimulus

As seen in this week’s photo, humans were not the only ones to take notice that we had quite an ice and snow load on our roof. Last week we pulled the wolves off of the exhibit to remove snow and ice from our roofline. If unchecked, the weight of the snow and ice could damage the building adjacent to the wolf enclosure. The project lasted a few hours, and caused Grayson a little bit of anxiety. However the task was necessary to ensure the safety of our ambassadors, and Grayson quickly conquered this stimulus for another. With all of the excess snow on our roof, we had it piled in the middle of the enclosure (away from the roof line) for the wolves to climb and investigate. Both Grayson and his brother Axel spent a great deal of time chasing and claiming the ‘mountain’ of snow.

Photo by Kelly Godfrey

Grayson – Intensity of the Stare

Grayson has a quiet intensity to his behavior that makes him unique in the Exhibit Pack.  He definitely would rather watch than be the focus of the pack, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t involved in pack activities.  When identifying Grayson, look for a broader muzzle versus Axel’s more triangular face.  Grayson has more roundish eyes and displays a much more golden color which might add to the intensity.  Grayson continues to be the smaller of the two pups weighing only 76 pounds compared to Axel’s 89 pounds.  But, to put this into perspective, Axel and Grayson turned 8 months of age on January 2nd.  Shadow, our former pack leader and arctic subspecies, weighed 87 pounds at 11 months of age.  So, Grayson is on tract with Shadow’s weight, it’s Axel that is tracking ahead of our other pups. 

Grayson – Always Something to Chew

One thing that is certain about a pup year, we go through a lot of food.  The pups are still fed individual meals of meat (beef, chicken, bonedust or bison) nearly every day.  These meals are primarily targeted at Grayson who continues to lag in weight behind Axel.  In addition to the Saturday night “What’s for Dinner” program, we now feed on Wednesday mornings, usually beaver, deer scraps and the occasional whole chickens.  While Grayson may not be as assertive, there are many resources in the enclosure to satisfy his needs.  We continue to weigh the pups once a week, bringing them into the heated Wolf Care Center where they had many positive memories as pups.   Both pup’s are parasite free and while Grayson is still a bit behind Axel in weight, he is on track with data records from Shadow.  

 

 

 

Grayson – Looking for Patterns

It is challenging to tell Axel and Grayson apart, especially when they are wet with snow, but Grayson still has the dark saddle pattern that started to show when he first gained his permanent guard hairs at two months of age.  He also appears to have a shorter muzzle and some darkness around his muzzle characteristic of Shadow.  We also noticed that while Axel’s eyes seem to have retained a more brownish appearance of his pup days, Grayson’s eyes have turned the classic amber color of an adult wolf.  Other noticeable patterns include behaviors and associations.  Grayson continues to be a bit reserved when the pack is excited and seems to seek out Aidan when there are events that cause some stress or anxiety.  Although, patterns can change.  Early in the pup introduction, we would say that Axel showed dominance over Grayson, since gaining some confidence and being integrated into this pack, staff need to confirm the identification of the pup before declaring who’s dominant.   Due to last Friday’s snow storm, we didn’t get a weight on the pups, but plan to bring them into the Wolf Care Center on Monday to get everyone weighed. 

Grayson- A Calmer Response

Grayson is much more gentle in his greetings with wolves, his interactions with staff and with most of his surroundings.  The pups are transitioning to larger carcass feedings on Wednesday and Saturdays, but still get smaller portions of beef and chicken 4 or 5 times a week.   Grayson enjoys the extra time with staff and the extra food resources.  He is comfortable with separation from the pack, but not as comfortable with separation from Axel.    If we had to pick the strongest social relationship for Grayson at this time, Axel would be first, followed by Aidan.  Denali and Boltz can still overwhelm Grayson with their exuberant activity. Grayson continues to gain weight at as steady pace with Axel, but it is likely that he will always be the smaller of the pair.  Shadow and Malik were ~95 pounds as adults and both Axel and Grayson should be close to that weight by May of next year.  At this time, here are the weights since I last posted the logs.

Date Weight Weight Gain
10/21/2016 60.6 1.4
10/31/2016 65.6 5
11/4/2016 68.8 3.2
11/11/2016 71.4 2.6

Grayson – Sending a Clear Message

Written by: Wolf Photography Weekend photographer Anung Vilay

He is starting to gain confidence with playing with Axel and Boltz. Except with Denali around, he still gets picked on.

Grayson – A Time for Reflection

Grayson has really gained confidence in the past few weeks.  As I wrote in Luna’s logs, we hired a CTS-D (CranioSacral Therapy Practitioner) to assist with improving Luna’s quality of life, but we are also seeing some good response on Grayson.  His first month in the enclosure had a lot of anxious moments, creating a lot of tension both behaviorally and physically.  Since we started using the newly taught body work techniques, Grayson appears much more relaxed and with that relaxation, a new found confidence.  We use a straw bale in the medical pen as a make-shift treatment table and Grayson climbs on the bale waiting for staff to go to work.  The treatments are a morning and evening ritual providing good staff interaction to maintain a strong social bond and a good assessment of his physical condition.  If the byproduct of that work is a more confident pup, we can’t go wrong.

Sorry, I just realized I didn’t post Grayson’s weights in the first set of logs.

We track the pups on a weekly basis with a weight on Fridays.  Since September 1st, Grayson has gained 14.6 pounds, with the highest gain of ~ 4 pounds in the last week. 

Name Date Pounds Weight gain since last measurement
Grayson 9/2/2016 41.2 3.2
Grayson 9/9/2016 43.4 2.2
Grayson 9/16/2016 46 2.6
Grayson 9/23/2016 48.4 2.4
Grayson 9/30/2016 52.6 4.2

Grayson is behind Axel and this may be his genetics or it may be his increased energy and response to activity.  We will continue to do body work and help Grayson relax and hope that the calorie output from activity slows a bit so he can catch up to Axel.