With summer brings heat, humidity, large crowds and various forms of stimuli for the wolves. During the Canine Cousins program today, the stimulus of two visiting dogs (belonging to Assistant Curator Donna Prichard) instigated a pack rally led by Shadow. As is often the case following a pack rally, reassertion of dominance played out as Malik followed Grizzer around the greeting rocks and up the hill by the pond. When Grizzer turned to face Malik with an intent stare, Malik turned and crossed the pond on the log at which point Grizzer proceeded to follow Malik. Following is a behavior that can be used to intimidate or assert dominance. While Malik initially followed Grizzer, Grizzer ultimately asserted his dominance over Malik by using the following behavior combined with direct eye contact and intention.
Grizzer and Malik's tension seems to have diminished. There were only a few incidents of tension, and all can be correlated to external influences (nighthike groups too loud, people violating the temporary fencing and coming too close to the enclosure on the far side etc.). As you can see from Grizzer's photo, his muzzle is still swollen, and the wound re-opens every time one of the yearlings muzzle bites him, which is daily (hourly?). Maya and Denali do spend a lot of time grooming the wound, which is helping to keep it clean. Our attempts to put anti-biotic ointment on Grizzer's nose resulted in Aidan and Denali licking the ointment off and trying to scent roll on Grizzer. We've stopped putting ointment on, the wolves grooming patterns are keeping the wound clean.
Written by "Pups at One Year" program participants Lisa Honey and Leslie Kemling: This weeks photo shows Grizzer paying respect to a relaxed and accepting Shadow. Grizzer continues to maintain his status as second ranking male exhibiting intimidation behaviors towards Malik such as following him around the enclosure. Enclosure enrichment programs serve the purpose of creating additional stimulation for the pack. Saturday's enrichment program provided various melons for the wolves. Each melon had a core removed, small bits of sausages were stuffed into the center and the core replaced. Grizzer seemed to enjoy the beef sticks that were placed in the melon. This weeks video shows his continued assertion of status as second ranking male by displaying intimidation behaviors toward Malik.
The log postings are all the same this week, we have a Working for Wolves program this weekend and will post some behavioral observations from participants on Sunday. The Exhibit Pack is doing well, despite the increased aggression that is typical of the first cold and snow of the year. Both packs received straw on their dens which is always a source of initial excitement, but also encourages bedding behavior. Malik's abscessed tooth has healed, as his photo shows no indication of the scar. Shadow continues to take small portions of food on a daily basis with a peak of interest when the weather turned cold.
Grizzer has been doing more posturing and is displaying a behavior we term "Standing Tall". This is where a wolf stands on a high vantage point extending their legs and body as tall as possible, usually with a T-1 tail over the back, but it can also be a relaxed T-3 tail posture. This usually indicates confidence and we believe Grizzer is very confident about his position.
Pigeons were donated by the Wildlife Science Center from an eradication effort at the Minneapolis Airport and used in an enclosure enrichment. Text written by Working for Wolves participants Steve and Kathi Grinke, and Beth Thompson. To watch Grizzer and Denali go through their exercise routine of chasing around, over and through the enclosure you see the bonding of the two wolves. But, you also will see the master of eye control: Grizzer. With one look play time is over, or under his control. This morning Grizzer showed more interest in merely finding the pigeons hidden in the enclosure by the Working for Wolves group than in consuming them…as if to say, "You humans are not that clever!"
There was some dominance aggression between Grizzer and Denali on Wednesday night. We watched the surveillance video from the Retired Cameras, and it appears the activity started right after the Curator left for the evening, around 6:05 pm. Grizzer is a tolerant animal, but he can only take so much. Denali is young and it is natural for him to test until he sees limits. Grizzer may have shown Denali these limits, but it may take a constant reminder for this to settle. At this point, Grizzer is on antibiotics (so is Denali, even though his bite was minimal), and Grizzer gets an anti-inflammatory to keep him up and moving around. We don't want Grizzer to show too much weakness and give Denali any unfair advantage.
Grizzer has had a hard week. It is a challenge to manage wolves with injuries. Bringing a wolf out of the enclosure can affect their rank, and can result in a wolf not be accepted back into the pack. Medical decisions must be weighed carefully, and on Saturday, the need to stitch Grizzer's wounds were a priority. Grizzer did extremely well with the procedure, and was back in the pack with Maya and Aidan within 3 hours. Maya showed him great support, licking his wounds and keeping Aidan away, although Aidan is showing very strong signs of bonding to Grizzer, and wasn't a concern. In order to make a clean stitch, Grizzer had to have his head shaved, which eliminates any postcard photos for a while, but overall, his attitude is good, he is still in command of the pack, Maya is showing pair bonding with him, and he continues on antibiotics until the wound is healed.
Grizzer has retained a commanding presence in the Exhibit, keeping Denali nervous and aloof. Grizzer's bite wound on his head is still a bit infected, and prompted the Vet to continue another week of antibiotics. His posture remains dominant, with high tail, raise leg urination, direct stares to Denali and very watchful of any staff that pays attention to Denali. In order to get Denali his meds and a daily check, Grizzer needs to be brought into holding and be kept distracted. He can't be locked off, or he gets too excited from the separation and targets Denali. Grizzer's main behavior is just intimidation, chasing behavior without much catching.
Denali's posting details some of events that happened in the last few days. Grizzer had a tear on the top of his head that required stitching, but it is very critical that, as the dominant wolf, he was not removed from the pack for an extended amount of time. We immobilized him out of view of the pack, carried him into the lab for the vet care, and had him back in the pack within two hours. We did not want to risk issues with his stitches, so we decided to hold Denali in the pack holding area for the weekend to give Grizzer some time to heal. There is always a risk to pack dynamics when isolating a wolf, but it is better to isolate a lower ranking wolf than the dominant wolf. Even in the short time while we were immobilizing Grizzer, Denali was posturing towards Maya and doing RLU's in the Exhibit. He was much more subdued when we placed him into holding. Grizzer approached the fence and showed a high tail to Denali, but Denali responded with whining and a t-3 tail, but not tucked. This shows submission and not fear, which is what we had hoped for.
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