As you may already know, the pups arrived on site at 2 am on Saturday morning, May 10th. When the temperatures warmed a bit, wolf care staff, assisted by VCC student, Kristen Flowers took the pups outside to meet the adults. Grizzer was excited to see the pups, and while no wolf regurgitated for the pups, they did have a period of intent licking and sniffing. Grizzer's heightened investigation made Pup # 1 howl.
Grizzer has had somewhat of a rough winter with his eye and ear wounds, though both have completely healed up. We suspect that Aidan and Denali may have had something to do with those scrapes and bites. Grizzer’s tolerance of the pups has been admirable, though he is quick to remind them with a lip curl or a controlled muzzle bite where they are in the rank order if they become too exuberant for him. Grizzer also continues to remind Malik of his place in the pack as the third ranking male.
Grizzer is much better since the fence contractors completed the main fence for his new habitat. Wolf Care staff still have a lot to complete including ground wire, concrete pads at the gates, line rail along the retitred wolf wall and a new den. The area will be ready for his use when we complete the rails, concrete and ground wire. The den will be something that we construct later this summer. He will have access to the current pack holding area which has a protective roof. The nice thing about this design is that if we need to work on the new area, the gate can be closed to keep him in his current space. When we are not working, he can have access to both for a significant amount of new space.
The wolf logs are all the same this week due to the obligations to the Ethology class and an 80 degree heat and humidity spell that requires the curator to be spending time keeping the wolves cool. We had a great Ethology course this week, and the staff at the Center learned some great new techniques for managing anxiety, thanks to some tremendous resources among our program participants. The wolves did extremely well, even allowing for small group tours of Grizzer’s enclosure extension on the last night. Grizzer’s ground wire is in place, the next week will focus on burying the ground wire, completing the concrete pads and laying out the den. Our hope is to move him by July 15th. Shadow and Malik have a significant amount of hair remaining, but we continue to hand pluck the hair on a daily basis. Today is extremely warm and humid, so extra sprinkler time and use of the water hose is critical. Enjoy the 4th of July weekend, and be safe. Someone had asked if the wolves panic due to the fireworks noise, and the answer is no, we do some very positive conditioning as pups to fireworks, and they are very accustom to thunderstorms, showing no negative issues with this noise. Wind on the other hand, makes them nervous.
Grizzer has mastered the eye stalk. This is where a wolf just uses direct eye contact to get the desired result, usually, another wolf showing timid ear posture and dropping their tail. Of course, the object of his stare's is Malik, and Malik responds as a lower ranking wolf should. Grizzer still has issues with the anticipation of feeding, tonight while in holding, at least 6 small trees were snapped off, yet when he's out with the deer, he didn't approach, but wrestled with Aidan instead.
Grizzer remains calm despite his participation in solicited and unsolicited attention from Shadow and Denali. Shadow works very hard to remind Grizzer of his status, and Grizzer willingly submits to Shadow without any indication of testing. Grizzer is tolerant of Denali, but at times, he just wants to seek refuge from him. Grizzer's favorite location is inside the slate den, where he tries to back himself into a corner to face Denali. Overall, the interactions end on a social note. Maya still has some unique littermate bond with Grizzer, and while she can redirect to him as well, they generally share some social moments.
To say that Grizzer is getting attention from all sides would be an understatement. Shadow's dominating with more intensity, possibly due to a compensation for his age and naturally declining physical condition as a 10-year old, or in response to the construction, which has Shadow on edge. Regardless of the reason, Shadow is very dominant over Grizzer, Denali sees this as an opportunity to try out his testing skills, and Malik is an opportunist. Maya occasionally shows her status to Grizzer in a passing growl, or with a lunge jump to Grizzer's head. The only pack mate that doesn't try to assert dominance is Aidan, who's a bit busy with Maya to climb rank. It's a good thing that Grizzer is such a calm personality. He submits readily to Shadow, chases Malik when he's had enough, is starting to pin Denali, ignores Maya and serves as a reassurance to Aidan.
Due to the fact that we're a bit short staffed, and it's been a busy weekend with the Alpha Member's/Board Meeting weekend, we will be posting the same log for all wolves. The video this week will be featured on the International Wolf Center's YouTube video channel, and will include a video on the factors we monitor when deciding a wolf needs to be retired, and a feeding program that we did without public viewing. Usually, when we feed, the public is on site with people at the windows. Shadow is a bit shy about feeding in front of people and cameras. On Tuesday night, September 8th, the Vermilion Community College Wolf/Deer Interaction class did a deer dissection, and Curator, Lori Schmidt fed the torso after everyone had left the site. Shadow was the actively feeding the entire time, and was very dominant on the carcass. All wolves are doing well, although this unexpected 80 degree weather in September has been keeping the wolves calm. They have grown in their winter coat, and are adapting to the heat by staying down for most of the day.
This week’s photo for Grizzer shows many indications that he considers himself lower ranking than Shadow. The first indication is the ears perked forward on Shadow and the ears back and to the side on Grizzer. Grizzer is also averting his gaze not looking Shadow directly in the eye. These are important postures to note when trying to determine status among wolves. As you may know, during the first week of the pup’s introduction into the pack next fall, we will have a behavioral team monitoring the wolves, making sure the pups are doing well in the Exhibit pack. In order to learn these subtle behaviors, an Ethogram was created and is often used by wolf care staff when interpreting behavior. As a reminder, Nanny and Behavioral Observation applications are still being accepted until February 1st. We are willing to accept the application as an email attachment.
Thanks to all of you for your tolerance during our recent webcam issues. These were issues at the server level, and not with the cameras, although, the challenging 40 below wind-chill during the camera failure had us doubting the limits of the cameras. The current camera host is a temporary fix, and you might notice minor adjustments or down time in the upcoming week, but hopefully not as long we just experienced. The Nanny Application deadline has passed, and Assistant Wolf Curator, Donna Prichard and I are meeting to organize teams. We will have the award letters mailed by February, 15th. The Behavioral Observation team has a few positions remaining, so, you will continue to see this program advertised. Grizzer had a slight eye infection due to a canine bite near his eyelid; he’s been treated with topical antibiotics and is doing well. Their “play behavior has been a bit rough lately, especially between Grizzer and Maya, so it’s no wonder he caught a tooth in his eye. He was easy to treat, but we did refrain from any ointment on the coldest days. His eye is fine, but we usually run a standard of 7 day treatments with antibiotics.
The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future.