Lakota’s doing extremely well. In this week’s video, she is doing some testing behavior toward MacKenzie, then sprints around the enclosure. When she gets this excited, she tries to howl, but her vocal chords no longer produce much sound. Her abscessed tooth is healed, although wolf care staff on Thursday’s check noted that she was sensitive at the site of a benign growth on her leg. At this age, there’s always something.

Aging animals tend to have greater needs than younger animals, and the Center’s Retired Pack is no exception. More frequent feedings and smaller portions per feeding are important for a metabolism that is slowing down. Although, in Lakota’s video, you will see that she’s still mobile. Staff did notice another growth on her cheek, similar in feel to the other fibroid cysts on her body. In the video you will see her doing a face wipe, this is a common behavior after feeding, thought to remove blood from the muzzle.

Lakota continues the excitable behavior of chasing around the pen. She even got Mac excited enough to do a quick run down the hill. The transition to spring brings many new scents to the enclosure and soft ground for digging. Lakota continues to make tunnels in the existing den hole and uses the cool dirt as an escape from the heat. Although, with this week’s forecast, that won’t be needed.

Lakota is feeling good and showing that age can’t slow excitability. If you watch MacKenzie’s video and Lakota’s, they were actually filmed in sequence, MacKenzie’s video first, then Lakota’s. Lakota runs to MacKenzie for a bit of excited social interaction and submits to MacKenzie. MacKenzie being dominant since she was a pup, does a stand-over and genital sniff showing that she’s still in charge. Lakota submissively paws up to MacKenzie showing recognition of her status. But, MacKenzie doesn’t really run anymore, so when Lakota’s had enough, she springs up and raises around the enclosure, MacKenzie does not follow, but waits for Lakota to pass by and get a few grabs of fur. All is good in retirement.

One event that happened this week is the launching of the Center’s new Web cam that features a view from the top of the den. The den top is a favorite resting spot for wolves during the winter months. The cooler temperatures inside the den make it a favorite during the summer months, and we often have wolves lying in the doorway of the den when the temperatures increase. We would like to acknowledge one of our members, Johanna Goering, for donating this new camera and the resources necessary for bringing it to our website. Our plan is switch the retired pack camera to the Center’s website and, after fundraising efforts, get a camera that can follow the activities of the new pups in 2008 and thereafter reside in the Exhibit Pack. As we move through this transition, you can still find the existing webcams hosted by www.elyminnesota.com. Watching Lakota and MacKenzie eat a beaver is probably not very appetizing, but to the wolf care staff, it is encouraging that wolves nearing 14 years of age still have a very good set of teeth and have the ability to use their premolars to cut meat and the power of their molars allows them to break bone and get to the bone marrow.

Biologists believe the coloration and emphasis of guard hairs around the face of a wolf helps emphasize the critical facial expressions that communicate status, defense, social interactions and dominance behavior within a wolf pack. Lakota has expressive facial features and allows the staff to truly appreciate how complex and often subtle these expressions can be. Physically Lakota is doing well, although as this video shows, age makes every action a bit slower.

As the frost leaves, Lakota continues to dig in the underground tunnels she created a few years ago. This is a nice cool relief to the above ground heat. The “Working for Wolves crew in May will be removing straw from the retired enclosure, setting up sprinkler hoses and seeding more grass in this enclosure. Once the spring rains arrive, the increased vegetation should offer some higher humidity and cooler environment. Until then, Lakota has the ideal way to escape the heat.

Lakota had an excellent recovery from the surgery. When she was returned into the enclosure, MacKenzie was very excited to see her and they were running throughout the enclosure. Unfortunately, we didn't get video footage to show this exhuberance, nor did we take footage the morning of MacKenzie's death, but we have it in our memories. We learn to cherish every day with these wolves. Lakota is showing some depressed behavior since MacKenzie's passing. The video clip this week shows the curator's dog Jake greeting Lakota. We were happy with the introduction and Jake may be a visitor to Lakota in the future, but the preference for Lakota is staff time. You may see staff resting with Lakota on sleeping bags, she got the taste for comfort during the surgery recovery and would prefer to have a flannel sleeping bag now. We have made some fence modifications to give Lakota an option to travel into the pack holding area, or into the wolf yard if she wishes. So far, she's visited the main pack through the fence, Maya is very excited to see her and whines at the gate. The other wolves don't show any aggression towards her. We will continue to do what she needs to remain stimulated. ** We just finished wolf care on Monday, the 26th and Lakota did a play bow and a bit of a sprint to Joyce Riveroll, a wolf care staff person who volunteers each summer. This is an excellent sign.

Thanks to the many people who have been sending emails concerning Lakota's health and adjustment after the surgery and MacKenzie's death. She did have a difficult time, and was off food for nearly 10 days. The Vet did a complete blood panel to rule out any medical issues, which left us with the expected, psychological seperation anxiety. To overcome this, we have been giving Lakota free reign of the Retired enclosure and the pack holding area. In the pack holding area, she is allowed to go nose to nose with the Exhibit Pack and the wolf pups when they are in the wolf yard. She has delivered food to Maya and is very keyed into to Maya's whines. We thought long and hard about letting her rejoin the Exhibit Pack since they are so calm from the prolactin, but we still can't be sure that Malik wouldn't take advantage of her. He is the only wolf that exhibits high tail when Lakota is at the gate. We also thought that it would be more traumatic for her to let her in for the next two months, only to remove her again when the Exhibit Pack goes through the hormonal change from prolactin in the summer to testosternone in the winter. We are certain that she would be the target of dominance from the pack as well as the growing pups. So, for now, she gets free reign to come and go in the two enclosures, and when the pups are secured in the lab, she can come out into the wolf yard and hang out by the lab door and by the bleachers. We will continue to offer her staff time, and visits from the curator's dog. We have ordered new video editing software and hope to resume video of the individual wolves by next week.

Lakota has benefited greatly from the access to the pack holding area and the wolf yard. It keeps her mobile, sniffing the various pup spots and in face to face contact with the Exhibit Pack. In this week's photo, you will see Lakota and Grizzer greeting at the gate, as Red Paw watches from the wolf yard. Lakota is still a bit slow to take her vitamins, she can detect the pills in most forms of delivery (hot dogs, ham, turkey, bone dust)… so, staff will likely be back to crushing meds again.