Lucas sleeping on carcass, barely moving all day. Lakota licking Shadow's face a lot more than usual. Mackenzie disciplined pups if they came near staff while picking up scat. Mackenzie also charged Shadow if he approached Lori Schmidt, the curator. Lakota accepts attention from staff, but becomes nervous and jumpy after a few seconds. Mackenzie is clearly in charge.
This week's photo shows the most puzzled look from Lucas. Curator, Lori Schmidt was in the enclosure checking on MacKenzie when Lucas came by to investigate. I'm not sure what he saw, but it sure confused him.
Aggressive dominance of Shadow by Lucas and Mackenzie. Shadow biting Mackenzie's rump several quick attempts. Pups and Lucas then chased Lakota who seemed to be confined to the den area. Mackenzie then received good attention from the staff.
Wolves fed scraps of meat and bone donated from local deer hunters. Lucas chased Ravens off the scrap pile, then becomes playful toward puppies and stimulates them to chase him. When Lakota chases him and bites him, he puts an end to the interaction." Malik gets dominated more severely, since he doesn't end interaction as quickly as Shadow.
Pups put in large holding area for photo session, isolated from the adults. Pups very nervous at first possibly due to the adults pacing at the edge of the fence. Malik anxiously submitted to adults at the fence line. Mackenzie and Lucas continually mob Lakota during the first 20 minutes pups are held, then settle down with Lakota staying at the den. Pups begin to settle down in holding area and begin to play. Adults are let into holding area, pups first response is to mob Lakota. Malik is able to intimidate Lakota several times, LK submissive to Malik.
As stated in last week's notes, the Wolf Curator redesigned the Wednesday night feeding program. To avoid a situation where the adults take possession of the deer legs first, the pups were isolated in the smaller holding kennel and the adults were isolated in the big pack holding area. The legs were placed inside the main enclosure and the pups were released. When the pups clearly had possession of the carcass, the adults were released. The pups were able to guard and possess the food since they got to it first. This seemed to work well and with modifications, will likely be the way the pup feeding programs are done in the future. Thursday, August 21st was the scheduled day for staining the building within the enclosure. This meant that all the wolves were isolated in the large pack holding area for the day ( 11 am – 3:30 pm). The pups are right at home since this was their main enclosure during the socialization process. The adults are not as comfortable with long term confinement and demonstrated some anxious behavior and a 5-minute bout of aggression toward Lakota. After the painters left the enclosure and the wolves were released, the adults spent several minutes scent marking and scent rolling in the front of the enclosure were the smell of residual stain remained. The pups spent 90% of the day sleeping and were somewhat oblivious to the events of the day. It was a real benefit to long-term management of the pack to have the pups so familiar with this pack holding area. As they mature, their comfort with this isolation pen will make for calmer interactions during future enclosure projects. Any future pups at the center should be reared in a similar manner as these Arctic pups, including all of the time and energy of the Nannies.
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…
Lucas's eye condition seems to have cleared up. He's still a bit stiff getting up in the morning's, but once he moves around he seems to do fine. He's been choosing to sleep under the new branches from the spruce tree, he likes the cover.
The last weekend of October will be a Working for Wolves weekend. Lucas will be anxious to get his den box out of the dirt pile Lakota created, so he can actually walk into it rather than crawl in a 12 inch space.
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.