Grizzer is developing some dominance skills. He's been controlling the carcass at the feeding program and he seems to be more proactive in showing status towards Denali. What's interesting, is that he does this dominance with the same kind of laid back personality that he's always had. In this week's photo, Denali's growling and trying to do a direct stare; Grizzer gives him a grin and a tail wag, ignoring Denali's testing.
The following observation was written by Wolf Watch participant Cameron Feaster. <br> There is little doubt that Grizzer now holds the rank of dominant male in the Exhibit Pack. Grizzer is a very passive animal, but he is also very confident. Grizzer and Denali often stare down one another, but more often than not, these interactions end with Denali retreating up the hill with Grizzer in pursuit. Grizzer uses his body language to enforce his dominance, and very rarely (if ever) uses physical assertion to get his message across.
We haven't started bringing the pups into the Pack Holding Area, so Grizzer has a bit more time before his world is influenced by pup play sessions. We continue to see a lot of howling from Grizzer, generally, anytime the adults are active on either side of his enclosure, he gets involved. Originally, we had a tentative design to have Grizzer's new habitat away from the rest of the wolves, now, we can't imagine him not being engaged in social activity through the fence. It's not the best case scenario for a wolf to live alone, but if they have to, it's good to have an enclosure design that allows them visual privacy, yet close enough to the activity to stimulate them.
We have been moving Grizzer from the front of his enclosure to allow the pups some time in the Pack Holding area which is the site of the introduction. We initially thought Grizzer might show some anxiety about this move, but instead, he tried to submit to the pups at the gate, then upon his return to the area, spent his time marking and exploring all the spots the pups and participants had been. He was very relaxed and eventually settled on a spot next to the pond to rest for the day.
While grooming Grizzer on Tuesday, we discovered a very soft, pliable growth. We videoed the site, and consulted with the vets. They thought it might be an abscess (due to the fact that he showed a pain response to it being touched), and we are checking it to see if it opens on it's own or decreases. This could be from a twig, scratch or it might be in response to bug bites. I can report that it is much smaller today and he allowed me to inspect it without concern. My bet is that it's a bug bite considering the rainy weather has been good for a crop of mosquitoes.
We can't forget the impact this pup introduction has had on Grizzer. He has been moved from the pack holding area at least 6 times on the days leading to the introduction and certainly on introduction day. He's been pretty calm, but he spends a lot of time investigating the scents of the pups as well as Aidan and Denali. I had expected far more intimidation with Denali and Aidan in holding, but Grizzer showed limited issues with them. In fact, Aidan ran over to Grizzer early in the introduction as the pups were chasing him. It appeared that he would have gone right into Grizzer's habitat if the gate was open. Neither Aidan or Denali showed any high tail intimidation towards Grizzer, which is much different than how Grizzer responds to Malik. Aidan and Denali never challenged Grizzer or really kicked him out of the Exhibit. We moved Grizzer because he was losing confidence, but we made the move before they did challenge him. This means, in Aidan and Denali's view, Grizzer never lost status to them, therefore, they don't posture towards him. This is a good scenario when we are likely to need to use the pack holding area to hold the Exhibit Pack prior to feedings.
Grizzer has had a tooth scrape to the corner of his eye and a tear to his ear in the last week. The tooth was from a scuffle with Malik and the ear, happened late Saturday night and was discovered in Sunday morning's wolf check. We're not sure if it was related to the deer feeding on Saturday night (the pack devoured the deer) or if the pups were wrestling with him and tugged too hard. The tear isn't very large, but ear wounds can bleed a lot. Staff tried to wash it up, but with temperatures at -24 below, it is too cold to apply too much water. He can't be removed from the enclosure and brought into the lab or Malik will likely fight with him for status after he is brought back in. Even the slightest separation can be perceived as a dispersal. Grizzer doesn't seem to be in any pain, and actively fed on the deer after staff cleaned his wound. He is on a 3-times a day antibiotic regime for a week. We know he is far too tolerant of the pups, and they are pulling on him all the time, but he seems to want this attention. Maybe the ear injury will encourage him to set limits.
Grizzer continues to be a calm influence this winter, and is certainly the source of the pups social behavior. It has been a learning experience since the August 2008 introduction, we've never experienced an adult wolf with this type of reaction, and personality change with the addition of pups. Grizzer is very respectful of Shadow and shows no indication that he will challenge Shadow this winter. The dominance rituals with Malik continue, but not with the same intensity we measured a month ago.
The Lakehead University Mammology class was in Ely this past weekend to learn about wolf behavior, and assist Center operations with some key late night observations of the pack. As a stimulus for behavioral interactions, a turkey and a ham were fed to the pack on Friday night, in advance of their Saturday night feeding. The wolves were expecting more, and were somewhat excited about the limited amount of food that in their mind, should have been over 100 lbs of dinner. This created some tension and of course, Malik and Grizzer had a bit of a dominance issue. Grizzer sustained a bite to the cheek, and Malik had a swollen eye. The curator checked them out, and they were both fine, but a dose of anti-inflammatory was delivered to reduce any pain. When Grizzer was inspected during wolf care on Saturday morning, he was very tolerant of a physical inspection, and presented himself to wolf care staff several times. Thanks to the Thunder Bay group for observing and we hope it was a worthwhile experience sharing a night with the pack.
Grizzer has completely healed from the earlier ear tugging and scrapes, but he still stimulates the pups to tug at him and climb on him. We have noticed Grizzer's intensity towards Malik has increased, as expected during this time of the year. Overall, Grizzer willingly accepts any dominance from Shadow and has no indication of making a challenge this winter.
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