As the morning temperatures below freezing, the wolves seem to come alive, as winter is the preferred season. Lakota has been very active, running around the enclosure. During a check last week, her high level activities seemed to get the best of Mac, and ended in a dominant stand-over with Mac on top and Lakota rolling over. Since Mac can’t keep up, this may be her way of letting Lakota know that she’s still in charge, even if her activity levels don’t compare.
On several occasions this week, Lakota seemed to be forced to stay in the wooded hillside of the upper enclosure. Any attempts by Lakota to retreat to the lower pen caused Mackenzie to approach and circle her, driving Lakota back up the hill. Yet, other times, Lakota was observed chasing squirrels with the pack and exhibiting a high tail position. The aggression toward Lakota seems to still be tied to her behavior toward the pups. If interactions with the pups are calm, mobbing are limited. This week's "What's for Dinner" pup feeding was less successful than last week's. With the cooler air of Fall weather, the adults were a bit hungry and took possession of the pups deer leg. Lucas took the leg up in the woods so the Wolf Curator brought three more deer legs in from the freezer. Mackenzie and Lakota took two of the three and the pups shared the last leg. Once the pups had possession of this leg, they were able to guard it from the adults, but since the leg was frozen, it was more difficult for the pups to feed. During the program, Lucas brought his thawed deer leg close to the pups which encouraged Malik to approach and food beg. Prior to the next program, the Wolf Curator needs to redesign protocol to ensure the pups are able to compete with the adults for the food. The pups continue to be isolated for feedings with 5 – 7 pounds of meat fed every day except Wednesday and Saturday. These are the two days when food is brought into the enclosure for the main pack. The pups continue to grow and although weighing has become difficult, we estimate their weight to be nearing 60 lbs. Their winter coats are getting very thick and have resulted in pups staying rather inactive on some of the warmer Fall days.
Since MacKenzie's been a bit under the weather, Lakota seems to be getting a bit more excited about things. She's got a bounce in her step and has had several more howling bouts than normal. She's a bit anxious about MacKenzie getting a specialized diet twice a day and often trys to paw her way into the enclosure vestibule when Mac gets her meals.
All five wolves are greeting handlers in a relaxed posture. They are rewarded by several minutes of belly scratching as they submit to the handlers. According to wolf protocol, the handlers greet Mackenzie first as the Alpha female, but her greeting times are getting shorter as the puppies have become more efficient at climbing the greeting rock to get to human handlers. Mackenzie generally jumps off and lets the puppies greet without incident. When Lakota tries this maneuver, Mackenzie has been known to drag her off the rock by the tail. Jen Westlund has begun as a Level 1 – Wolf Handler. She is accompanied into the enclosure by the Wolf Curator and is closely guarded in the event of any aggressive interactions with the wolves. So far, the interactions have been very positive. Her early bonding with the wolf pups will assist in the process of becoming a part of the Wolf Care Staff. Pack mobbing of Lakota seem to be getting more frequent. They are often lead by Mackenzie, but Lucas and the puppies join in on the chase. The puppies are very watchful of Mackenzie's lead and attempt to mimic her actions, even following through with hind quarter bite attempts to Lakota. Lakota has retreated to the den which provides a protective cover and allows her to jaw spar. These mobbing seem to be related to Lakota's behavior toward the pups. The more aggression toward the pups, the more likely a mobbing will follow. The pups were moved to a once a day feeding which averages 5 – 7 lbs of meat. There are now two feeding programs during the week for the main pack, the torso of a deer on Saturday night and an attempt to feed the pups a beaver or deer leg on Wednesday night. The first beaver feeding was successful on September 6th and the pups were able to guard and possess the beaver from the adult wolves throughout the entire evening (with the help of the Wolf Curator holding the beaver in place with her foot until the puppies gained possession).
On 9/27, the wolves were held for several hours for the final staining of the building. The adult wolves were more anxious in the pack holding area than on previous days of confinement. Lucas and Lakota made several attempts to escape the pack holding area, not in the direction of the woods, but the attempts were made to get back into their enclosure. The main pack area is what the wolves consider as their territory and whenever they are anxious or stressed, they make many attempts to get back to where they are most comfortable, the main enclosure. As in previous holding attempts, the pups slept through most of the events of the day, including when the Wolf Curator gave Lakota and Lucas an IM injection. Again, this demonstrates the value of the Nanny program and the time spent in acclimating the puppies to the pack holding area. THANK YOU NANNIES…
If the retired wolves had any stress about activities in the main enclosure, they're not showing it. Each wolf is very relaxed and playful, Lakota continues to spend time widening the underground tunnel that she uses on hot days. She seems most excited when she pops out of the hole and surprises the other wolves or the staff. The pile of excavated dirt is getting so high, the den boxes are being obstructed.
Lakota is doing well; she’s been very active lately and has faired the coldest part of the winter with no difficulties. Her video shows a wolf that is interested in investigating the any smells in the enclosure.
Sorry for the delay in the logs, the water and sewer to the lab project starts today and the wolf care staff have been actively working on installing the stabalizing rocks for the pond rip rap project this weekend. The text this week will be the same for all wolves, the Exhibit pack remains calm with wolf care staff doing the brunt of the physical labor in their enclosure. MacKenzie and Lakota are doing great, it's hard to believe they're 14 years old when you see them pounce around the pen. We found 2 dead ravens in the enclosure yesterday, certainly their predatory and territorial defense skills are alive and well. Grizzer's testing seems to have diminished, but we anticipate some anxiety when the construction project and heavy equipment gets underway. The next set of logs will be written by the "Workin' for Wolves" participants and should be on time.
In addition to scent rolling and marking the meat scraps fed to the retired wolves over the Thanksgiving holiday, Lakota proceeds to cache some extra food for later. Caching is a common wolf behavior that includes pushing with the nose and tamping the soil over the meat scarps. The retired wolves have been enjoying the multitude of scraps from deer hunters, but were fed a special treat of beef roasts, sausages and ribs for Thanksgiving.
Lakota is doing well, she is slowing down a bit and doing less chasing around the pen, but she is still excited to see staff. The new snow has been a source of stimulus as well as the many branches that fell from the trees due to the weight of the snow. Many of these branches were moved out of the enclosure to avoid obstacles for MacKenzie, but not before Lakota played a bit of "Tug of War" with the staff.
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