Today is Grizz's 41st day, and he officially became "Grizzer," the name selected by nearly 3,000 votes in the 'Name the Pup Contest.' As you can see in the picture, Grizzer continues to more and more resemble an adult wolf with his lengthening muzzle and distinctive ears. He continues to be the most anxious of the three pups during the three daily "Pup 101" programs. His sense of movement and awareness of changes in noise levels appears to be more acute than either of the other pups. Even when he shows interest in play objects, his attention is quickly diverted if even one or two visitors to the Center pass nearby. Grizzer, more so than the other pups, becomes excited by the howling of the adult wolves and makes aggressive attempts to escape the temporary indoor pup enclosure to join his elder ambassador wolf-mates.
Today Grizz is 43 days old. His physical features continue to take on the wolf characteristics-elongated muzzle, long legs, etc. His eyes are also starting to lighten in color. During the pup pen cleaning early in the morning, the pups are taken into the auditorium to run around with their leashes on, in order to begin conditioning them to wearing a leash for future programs. In the auditorium, Grizz whines when he sees Shadow and Malik at the window and attempts to climb up to the windowsill to see them. He appears to be doing better during pup programs and has been chewing on stimulus items such as beaver feet and beaver tail. He shows increasing signs of wanting to be outside by trying to climb up to windowsill and pup pen gate. Pups are taken out everyday to outdoor enclosure, and Grizz enthusiastically greets Shadow & Malik at the shared fenceline. He has been exploring the den dug previously and will attempt to dig in it and lay in it with his packmates. Grizz seems to submit to Nyssa during domination attempts.
This week can be described as the highest level of dominance rank order behavior this winter. Grizzer has had some very intense interactions with Malik as he continues to assert his status as teh second ranking male. What has been very noteable is Grizzer's response to Shadow. While we would expect Grizzer to continue to gain confidence with his status over Malik, he continues to readily submit to Shadow, and doesn't appear to show any signs of testing Shadow like he did earlier in the winter. Some of this behavior may be related to Shadow's more social interactions in recent weeks and the attention he receives from Maya may be reinforcing Shadow's status. The warmer conditions over the weekend certainly calmed behaviors dramatically, but this would be considered the peak week for hormonal influences.
Today Grizzer is 77 days old. His fear response to new things has been a challange to the wolf care staff. Today Grizzer had to deal with a new tarp. At first, he was afraid to aproach it, but after seeing her littermate Maya playing on top of it, he decided to give it a try. He spent almost half of the day playing on it.
Today Grizzer is 81 days old. He is getting used to be picked up before entering the programs.Today was very hot and humid and grizzer spent much of his day sleeping inside the cool den or under the tree shades. During the programs, he was distracted with some pig's ear, but not being happy with one, he decided to steal Maya's.
Sorry for the delay in logs this week, Curator Lori Schmidt taught a Moose Ecology course this weekend and the Sunday night log development was replaced with some well-needed rest. The wolves are doing well, although staff have noted a peak in dominance hierarchy between the male rank order in the Exhibit Pack. Grizzer continues to maintain a strong presence around Malik, which makes Malik nervous, resulting in intense growling, threat displays and a noisy exhibit. This behavior coincides with the wild wolf breeding season. One of the VCC moose ecology students noted paired scent marking on the Birch Lake Campground road with estrus blood in the female urine. This is a critical time for dominant wolves in the wild, as they pair mark to defend their territory. I would also like to make a note to the Nannies selected for this year’s pups. We are still juggling teams, and once the teams are set, we will send out a briefing packet to each team member (probably by email), so teams can have some opportunity to converse prior to arrival and possibly offer to carpool to Ely.
Grizzer continues to be submissive to Shadow, in the daily ritualized dominance displays. While these displays can sound noisy and seem intense, they actually help reduce more significant battles for status by constantly reminding all wolves the rank order. The recent snowfall stimulated the wolves into a more active mode, but as temperatures warm over 30 degrees, they are more likely to overheat. Grizzer doesn’t take to warm temperatures very well, and is often observed panting on the warmer spring days. Wolves don’t have sweat glands over their body like humans, instead, they are covered in hair to keep them warm. Cooling is done by panting to evaporate heat off of their tongue, and some heat is lost through their paws.
This week has been extremely warm for Ely, Minnesota standards with temperatures nearing 90 degrees and humidity exceeding 80%. It has been extremely hard on the wolves, and wolf care staff are doing what they can to make them comfortable. Wolves have are covered in hair and don't have sweat glands at the surface of their skin, resulting in a cooling mechanism of panting to evaporate heat and moisture off the surface of their tongue. This isn't a very efficient method in high humidity. Each wolf has distinct tolerances of heat, and has their own method for cooling. <br>Grizzer has two distinct habits. He can be a den dweller, and is frequently found with Aidan and if there's room, Denali. But, Grizzer is best known for digging a shallow depression, removing all the vegetation that might inhibit a good rest (he is a twig biter since a pup), then settling into some contorted posture for the duration. The YouTube video this weeks shows one of his creations.
Grizzer is 48 days old today. Grizzer was chasing a squeaky toy soccer ball along with Maya and Nyssa. He was also playing tug-of-war with Maya with a blanket. Grizz put his paws in the water and splashed it into the pup pen. He appears to enjoy playing in the water.
This week has yet another challenge for Grizzer. He has to adapt to the change of a fall schedule, which means the wolf curator is not on site every day to keep an eye on activity. Of course, the wolf curator is on call for emergencies, but wolf care must be done earlier in the day and later in the day than the usual schedule. It's not a problem, the wolves still get the quality care that they usually receive. In fact, they probably get more time, with the Center closing at 5 pm instead of 7 pm, there's more time for work at the end of the day. But. it's different, and some wolves don't like change, which basically describes Grizzer. The upcoming September 2nd Wolf Watch will be very telling as to Grizzer's activity. There is still time to register for Wolf Watch; it is a great opportunity to see the pack as a unit, without the stimulus of the human influence.
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