Whatever was causing Lakota to feel poorly two weeks ago, seems to have passed without incident. She's been energetic, healthy and active throughout the recent cold spell. Maybe she was feeling off from the lack of winter we were having. In this week's photo, she's running between the birch trees on her 5th lap around the enclosure. With Lucas in close pursuit and MacKenzie looking a bit annoyed by Lakota's dives into the straw beds.
Lakota is doing well, racing around the pen during wolf check, excited to see the staff and trying to get her pack mates to chase her. It is hard to believe they will be 13 years old in April. all of the retired wolves have been a bit picky with vitamins and cosequin lately. Every morning, they're given vitamins, cosequin and durlactin (thanks to Andi Nelson's donation), in a meatball. Lately, all three have taken to eating the meat and leaving the pils. Staff are watching carefully to see who is skipping their meds.
Lakota has been doing well, she continues to be the most active wolf in retirement. Lately, she's been very focused on the activities in the Exhibit Pack. She's spent a fair amount of time watching them through the fence. When they start a game of chase, she runs up to Lucas and Mac and attempts to get them to chase her. Mac and Lucas usually ignore her, but as the weather cools, they join in.
So sorry for the delay in the wolf logs. Preparation for the Wolf Symposium in Colorado Springs has taken a bit of my time. In addition, protocols and contingency plans during my absence need to be written to ensure that every possible wolf emergency is covered. International Wolf Center members and former nannies, Brian and Ellen Dietz will be driving up from Illinois to spend the weekend at the Center assisting with any pack issues that may arise. I am most grateful for their offer to help keep an eye on the pack. I plan to feed a large deer carcass to both packs on Thursday night prior to my departure. A full wolf is usually a sleepy wolf. Dr Chip Hanson and wolf care staff Matt Fetterer and Jim Ziburski will be monitoring the pack as well.
Lakota has been spending a fair amount of time in MacKenzie's corner bed lately. This morning after wolf care, both Lakota and Lucas were resting in a new placement of straw, while MacKenzie laid in the snow nearby. There's still some construction noise across the road that keeps MacKenzie on alert.
Lakota is doing well. On Thursday, the curator along with some the students from VCC used a chainsaw in the retired pack to cut up the spruce tree that was felled earlier in the year and make benches. During the last weekend of October, a program called Working for Wolves will be held, where program participants will be assisting with moving the den boxes from Lakota's mounds of dirt, and getting the enclosure ready for winter. Due to Lakota's lack of fear towards anything or anyone, she had to be locked in the vestibule while the chainsaw work was done. She's not intimidated by a running chainsaw.
This week's wolf logs were written by program participants in the 10/28-10/30/05 weekend program called "Working for Wolves", in which participants performed enclosure enrichment and maintenance projects in both the Retired and Exhibit enclosures. Written by Pam Dolajeck and Lori Rhodes: The Working for Wolves weekend was cool, but dry. Maintenance work was done in both enclosures, with the den boxes in the retirement enclosures being cleaned, moved, and new straw distributed throughout. Excess tree branches and limbs were also removed. New benches were made, making it easier for the wolves to get on top of the den boxes. When the Retired pack was returned to their enclosure, Lakota explored the surroundings and then settled into one box. She seemed content with the new changes.
Out of all the retired wolves, Lakota is the one that is showing her age the least. She is still very active and can still, with the help of the recently built benches, jump on top of the den boxes. During this morning's wolf care, new straw was placed into the retirement enclosure. Lakota proceeded to check out the fresh straw placed in Mackenzie's corner, which resulted in a bout of chasing with all three wolves. With the snowfall and colder weather, the old straw is replaced with new so that the wolves have something comfortable and dry to rest upon.
Lakota has been demonstrating some great behaviors as the weather gets cooler. Wolf care staff have been working on filming the remaining wolf behaviors that are missing from the interactive ethogram project. While in the enclosure, Lakota did a toss of a deer hide several times, throwing the hide up in the air and catching it again before running around the enclosure. Of course, on this day, the cameras were left in the wolf lab, so we missed it. In true wolf form, we attempted to get her to repeat the behavior by giving her a hide, but she just stared at it and walked away. Wolf care staff need to invest in helmet cams that we wear everyday to catch the action.
The wolf care staff have been very busy this week with the ethology class, hence the delay in updating the wolf logs. Lakota, out of the three retired wolves, seems to be the one that is most active and quick to greet wolf care staff in the mornings. Lakota, like Maya, seems to enjoy finding new places to dig. This week, she started digging a new hole near some rocks by the fence, and also continued digging in the 4-5 ft. den she had previously started. One of the enclosure enrichment projects for the end of July Pups at One Year Program will be to build a roof over this den, serving both as a platform for them to lay on as well as a roof for den protection.
The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future.