Grizzer is in a submissive posture with his head turned and offering a submissive paw to Shadow, indicating that he willingly sees Shadow as dominant, even though he tests him. Just to show that the wolf pack has social times as well, Grizzer’s video shows a tail wagging session in response to staff entering the enclosure.
This week’s log was written by “Workin’ for Wolves participants Mindy Stoe and Kristy Raines. Grizzer continues with attempts to assert dominance over Shadow and Malik. He was observed by wolf care staff and program participants in a raised-leg-urination – a behavior typical of a dominant wolf. Grizzer attempted to jump up on the viewing rock with Shadow, but Shadow asserted guarding behavior by baring his teeth and growling. Grizzer attempted direct eye contact with Shadow but Shadow averted his gaze. This week’s video clip shows Grizzer pawing at Shadow and showing aggressive arousal tail wags. He also joins in on a pack howl, notice he still maintains a juvenile voice.
This week's logs were written by Walter Loesberg, a regular visitor to the wolf center from the Netherlands. Grizzer showed considerable dominance towards Shadow (or tried to anyway) and exhibited a ride up, paw rest, following, lots of growling, and muzzle biting. He lacks experience in seeing it through though since Shadow is literally playing with him. Being big and bulky without a mature mental attitude only gets Grizzer so far.
As one can see from this week's video, the yearlings still continue to give Grizzer a run for his money, and he remains extremely tolerant. However, he has stepped up his displays of dominance and will not hesitate to discipline them if they become overly-rambunctious. This can cause some redirection from Grizzer towards Malik, as we have observed. Grizzer remains a little anxious of our newest wolf care staff member, Walter Loesberg, which is to be expected.
There seems to be a lot of built up tension in Grizzer, observers have been recording more direct eye stares toward Malik, and his tendency to grab chains, roll rocks and chew branches when he is frustrated has been increasing. It is critical that we keep the pack calm, as any small event can trigger redirection. We weighed the wolves this week and Grizzer is the exact same 121.25 lbs.
Grizzer displayed some interesting howling behavior. One day, when Oscar went for his morning walk, Grizzer stayed in the pack holding area howling until Oscar returned. It wasn't a stressed response, more of a low tone howl which ended with an excited tail wag and playbow when he saw Oscar again. His relaxation around the exhibit has created some very relaxed greetings with staff, but he does have his moments. He can get very excited and still has the desire to test individuals. Staff must never become complacent around wolves, even Grizzer.
If you watched the Youtube video, then you've seen how Grizzer beats the heat. He likes to paw at his water dish, so we've given him one of the pup wading tanks,. Of course, Grizzer's a bit too big to wade, but he likes to paw at it and empty it. We decided not to put a pond in this habitat because we didn't want to lose space. Grizzer is often running between enclosures and a pond would limit his raceway, but after filling his wading pool 4 times, I believe I can design something that can allow him to immerse in the water. Of course, this will have to wait until Spring. Even though it's 80 degrees, the forecast for next week is 58. The water season is short here in comparison to the other seasons. We are using Castor Oil on his head, which makes his hair greasy again but it makes his skin soft and pliable. He does prefer to lick it, but he willingly allows us to massage his head. I'm not sure about hair growth, but it has only been a week.
We used our newly designed enclosure system to hold Grizzer in his new habitat and allow Aidan and Denali access to the pack holding area while some concrete work was completed in the Exhibit. We were very pleased with Grizzer's acceptance of this short-term inconvenience and are happy to know that we have the ability to conduct maintenance projects on the facility while causing the least amount of stress on the individuals.
Grizzer has been in an exceptionally good mood lately. He has had many bouts of racing through the enclosures, howling with the pack, play bowing to Oscar, and seeking comfort from the heat, wind and rain in the many protected areas in his habitat. We did notice some very subdued behavior from Grizzer earlier in the week; Oscar had been off site all weekend (he deserves a break from work as well), and Grizzer didn't perk up until Oscar came back into the yard on Monday morning. As I write this log, I see Grizzer on the security camera, laying in a sphinx posture watching Oscar in the yard. Even though they don't physically touch, Grizzer's focus on Oscar keeps him occupied.
If you haven't had a chance to watch this week's Youtube, it was great fun seeing Grizzer's excitement when we returned him to his new habitat. We did some concrete work on his den to provide a little extra overhang to prevent rain from coming into the den. This required 3 days of drying time, keeping Grizzer out of the new habitat. When he returned, he was very excited, marking the new smells as well as trying to scent roll. He immediately started racing between the two areas, putting a smile on the faces of the wolf care staff.
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