Written by assistant wolf curator, Donna Pichard:<br> Grizzer continues to be extremely tolerant of the pups and their rambunctious behaviors. He is often the focus of their attention and interactions. This, in turn, directs the focus to him from the rest of the pack members. We have seen Grizzer being chased around the enclosure by his packmates, while Maya tends to stand by and not participate. As cold weather approaches, wolf care staff are starting to see the intensity of interactions increase, which is typical of wolf behavior during seasonal changes. The pack dynamics will be interesting to watch with the addition of the new pups this year. Grizzer has been a great caretaker to the pups, and we expect that he will continue to be so.
Grizzer's head wounds are healing well, with the exception of a small area that had a suture pulled by Maya's grooming behavior. I have been asked, why not pull Grizzer off the Exhibit until he has fully healed? The answer is, if I took Grizzer out and left Denali in, Denali would think he won, and would likely never let Grizzer back in. Even in the short time while Grizzer was immobilized, Denali was in the Exhibit raised leg urinating and marking, until we had Grizzer safely in the lab and we moved Denali into holding. Grizzer needs the confidence to be a dominant wolf, and he gets this confidence from Maya and Aidan.
If you watched the Youtube video this week, you may have noticed that Grizzer is extremely tolerant (and seems to enjoy) multiple wolf care staff brushing him. He's nearly completed the shedding process, and is back to his lean figure. Grizzer gets a lot of meals that are leftover from feeding the pups, so the lean figure may change as we still have over a month of pup care.
Grizzer has really improved his skills as a dominant male. He carries himself in a confident manner, with high tail and the right amount of posturing. As he gains confidence, Denali seems to relax. Our job as wolf care staff in the upcoming months is to keep working on Grizzer's confidence levels and keep the pack calm. So far, so good.
Grizzer is showing a lot of confidence this week, and wolf care staff are making a lot of effort to spend time with him. For the first time since Denali's reintroduction, Grizzer has allowed Denali to greet wolf care staff without driving him away. This is a reflection of his confidence with allowing lower ranking wolves to be greeted. This is a common occurrence in wolf packs, and we had significantly more issues with this behavior when Shadow first established himself as the Exhibit Pack leader in the winter of 2002. He wouldn't allow any wolf care staff to greet Lakota without showing some aggressive dominance to Lakota, at least Grizzer just chases Denali. Of course, that might be Grizzer's problem, he's a passive leader, which often doesn't gain the respect of lower ranking wolves.
Sorry for the delay, a power outage seemed to take out the internet connection on Friday night and it continued through the weekend. So, the wolf logs will be all the same this week as we have already moved into a new week and 2 snowstorms have resulted in another foot of snow to clear from the wolf yard, the gates, the fences and den sites. It’s been a calm week. We are trying four different techniques to keep the pack in a lower stress environment. We continue to feed the Exhibit pack small amount of chicken Monday through Friday with a deer carcass or beaver on Saturday nights. We also are using Dog Appeasing Pheromone spray in straw beds daily, making sure there is always fresh straw available. We have added a supplement to their daily meds called Anxitane® (L-Theanine) Chewable Tablets, a green tea derivative, donated by the manufacturer that promotes this product as an all natural product to reduce stress related responses to environmental issues. The 4th issue relates to wolf care interaction, we make sure Grizzer gets the attention first as the dominant male of the pack. The retired wolves have had a good week, despite a renewed spot on Malik’s cheek, they are active, play bowing, eating both chicken and deer legs, and overall, not acting like wolves approaching eleven years of age.
Grizzer is healing well, and has taken to the role of a dominant male. He has mastered the body posture, now he just needs enough confidence to relax. He's starting to show these signs, but it takes time, we need to remind ourselves that he has really less than 6 months in this role. We are nearing the peak of winter aggression, and the pack is doing remarkably well considering all of the transitions, the depth of snow and the recent bout of cold. The old time Minnesota winter is back this year, after a few years of moderate conditions.
We're seeing some significant progress with hair growth for Grizzer, it's actually coming back on the suture site with some curl. I look forward to the days of a full face shot on an animal that has always been photogenic. Grizzer continues the passive model of dominance with following and chasing being the most consistent behavior. This is good for his physical condition, but it makes Denali a bit nervous. There is a significant amount of resting behavior during the day, and while the associations vary, Grizzer does seem to spend the most time resting with Maya. The tail postures from Aidan would be more concerning if there wasn't a show of respect for Grizzer, but Aidan does socially engage with Grizzer and does seem to respect him. The Vermilion Community College Ethology class will be beginning a significant data collection period in the upcoming weeks, and their observations will include a reference to this type of association.
Grizzer is getting a nice growth of hair on his suture site, and he's maintaining good status, but we need to be reminded that he is turning 7 years of age. Some days, he shows his age. Joint supplements are a priority for the middle aged wolves as well as the older wolves. Keeping Grizzer agile is necessary when leading a pair of two year old wolves. We are all anxiously awaiting spring which is a calmer time and generally characterized by more resting behavior for wolves. Grizzer has had an active winter and could use some rest.
This a continuation of the postings that start with Aidan, then Denali, then Grizzer. Why did this happen when we had observed such strong social behavior this week? I don't know what was the trigger, it could have been something on the outside of the enclosure, it could have been the wind or it could have been Aidan that showed too much confidence, but it happened, it was over in less than 8 minutes. We are back to the dynamics of Grizzer and Maya pairbonding and guarding the top of the enclosure and Aidan and Denali staying near the den sites. The unfortunate thing is that Grizzer's head was finally growing a good undercoat of hair, and that will take some time to heal. It is not open to the extent that it was this winter, but with spring and summer just a few short months away, we need this to heal to avoid issues with the fly season.
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