Written by Ethology Participant: Sarah Prusha<br> I am compelled to think of Grizzer, a disperser perhaps in the wild, although looking at him, he is as likely would have fought to the death. His intense stare and evasive behavior hide the wolf. I picture him being in his prime. He did approach me one time, to smell my scent and lick my hand. I was honored to be acknowledged by him.
Grizzer has been doing a lot of excited high tail posturing towards the Retired Pack. This behavior is directed towards Malik and coincides with Malik's actions. When Malik attempts to steal a hat, grab a hairband or take the water cleaning sponge (all favorites for Malik), Grizzer is right at the gate posturing. Grizzer is the reason Malik is retired and it seems that he would likely continue a dominant relationship over Malik if the two were ever allowed together. This is why Grizzer lives alone, but it is stimulating to posture towards Malik and the way Malik behaves, there are a lot of oppotunities.
Grizzer had a good week, there were several chicken feedings, the pack has been active and a fresh coat of snow is great for a roll on back behavior. We don't have much more to report other than he had a Behind the Scenes tour last week Friday and usually Grizzer is very intimidated, but he was much more relaxed and was actually watching the visitors from a distance.
The logs will all be the same this week. The weather creates added challenges to the daily job of caring for wolves and we've had a variety of weather. The warm spell that melted a significant amount of snow led to standing water which later froze when colder temperatures returned. This week's Youtube video features some great demonstration of Aidan doing a stiff leg jump to crack the ice. Boltz is a bit hesitant on the ice since he fell through the ice into about 2 feet of water (thanks to Denali's hefty body size on the ice). Luna's displaying less stiffness as the temperatures warm and she's been spending a lot of time digging. This week is another special week as Grizzer turns 9 years old on May 5th and Shadow and Malik are 13 years old on May 8th.
We began pond treatments this week and for smaller ponds, we use a barley straw liquid concentration that works well on algae. Grizzer likes the smell, but unfortunately, it's difficult to scentroll on water. We will be doing some concrete work in Grizzer's enclosure in the upcoming weeks, Grizzer seems to have created quite a tunnel system under his concrete den compromising the support of the walls. He cached a beaver in the tunnel. Facilities maintenance is a significant part of our job in wolf care.
Grizzer is a bit lethargic this week as temperatures exceeded the average for this time of the year and neared 80 degrees. There's not a lot of time to acclimate when we have a 50 degree temperature change in a few days. Grizzer also has a very thick winter coat that will take some time to shed. Fortunately, he is one of the wolves that willingly accepts the staff while brushing and plucking his undercoat.
We moved Oscar's doghouse into Grizzer's enclosure to give him some more weather protection and to use for straw beds in the up coming winter. After hauling out a significant amount of straw, we thought it was best if we had a dry place for straw rather than piling it on the snow. Initially, Grizzer was intimidated about the house, but within a day he was caching in it, chewing on it and eventually sleeping on it.
You may recall that we referenced a wood structure brought into Grizzer's enclosure on the Working for Wolves weekend. Well, Grizzer seemed to think otherwise of my plans and dismantled the box. This box served the 1993 litter of Mac, Lucas and Lakota when they retired in 2002 and managed to be unscathed for 7 years of use, but it didn't last a week with Grizzer. This just proves the point that every wolf is different and they are powerful individuals.
We weighed the wolves this week and Grizzer weighed in at 118.6 pounds. He shows no signs of age related weight reductions. He's definitely as strong as he was when he was a yearling. Here's a review of his annual weights since he was a yearling. <li> 5/6/2005 Grizzer 93.5 1 (Yearling) <li>5/2/2008 Grizzer 110 4 years <li>4/22/2009 Grizzer 121.25 4 years, 11 months <li>4/29/2010 Grizzer 124.52 5 years, 11.5 months <li>6/14/2012 Grizzer 115 8 years, 1 month <li>6/4/2013 Grizzer 118.6 lbs 9 years 1 month
Grizzer seems to have caught the spring fever that is stimulated by those first days of 25 to 30 degree weather. He runs around the enclosure with great excitement, does a snow plow, runs again, rolls over on his back and jumps to make another lap. This has been Grizzer's wolf care routine and it repeats with every new day of wolf care.
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