We are featuring a lot of footage on Youtube showing Luna eating but that's because we're focusing a lot of energy on getting Luna to feed. We want to continue to give her as many resources as possible to develop into a strong adult. We know she has the attitude to defend food, so getting Luna to eat is just a matter of opening the gate and hoping she's hungry.
Sorry for the break between log postings, I should be back on a regular schedule now. In the last few postings we've been referencing some cold weather limping on Luna. After consultation with the University of Minnesota, we decided to get an x-ray on Luna. We are waiting for a complete report from the U of Minnesota to determine if there are further issues with the hardware. We should know more next week. Luna did extremely well throughout the immobilization, transport and recovery. We started the process by 8 am and by noon she was resting comfortably on her dog bed and blanket. We fed her a deer leg prior to releasing her to give her some meat in her stomach and to give her the opportunity to eat without competition. Despite some manipulation of her leg during the x-rays, she was actively running with the pack by dark and showed no ill effects from the exam.
Luna continues to have some stiff moments after she rests for a long period of time, but she is very active. I think the cold is an issue, but she frequently uses the straw beds to insulate her from the compacted snow. When she’s active, she is extremely mobile and agile, defending food, scent rolling and lunging after anyone who tries to take her food cache. The fortunate thing is that we are past the solstice, so days are getting longer, the sun is getting warmer and even though we have months of winter ahead, if we can get her to lie down in a straw bed, her black coat absorbs heat better than any of the other wolves.
We have been noticing some limping from Luna after she has an active period. We are providing fresh straw beds earlier than we usually do in an effort to give her some comfort at night. It doesn’t seem to affect her attitude or make her slow down. We are adding some specific medications for joint issues as well as providing her a baby aspirin to control inflammation. Judging an animal’s discomfort is always a difficult task but this is why we ask staff to spend plenty of time observing so we can notice subtle differences in attitude, mobility and compatibility within the pack on a daily basis.
We wanted to clarify some readings from an earlier blood test and needed to have a blood sample from Luna without the influence of food. This is easier said than done with an Exhibit full of caches. So, on Friday morning at 9 am, we brought both pups into the front of Grizzer's enclosure and moved Grizzer back to the new habitat. We ideally would have liked to have a base-line sample on Boltz, but about 4 hours into the holding, Boltz became too stressed and he and Luna had several intense jaw spar/pinning session. We didn't want to risk any issues with Luna, so we allowed Boltz to rejoin the pack. Luna was anxious without the pack, but staff worked through the night to make sure she was as calm as possible. This 24-hour holding demonstrated the strength of these pack bonds and the challenges that exist when removing one pack member. Fortunately, the blood draw was smooth and Luna was back in the pack by 10 am Saturday with no negative response by the other wolves. Aidan and Boltz both spent time greeting Luna and resting wth Luna later in the day. The blood draw results are not back yet, we are primarily concerned with a higher level of ionized calcium than is typical with dogs. Of course, these are wolves, which is why we wanted to get a sample on Boltz, to see what does ionized calcium look like in wolves when they both eat bone a regular part of the diet. Luna continues to be the most active wolf during a feeding and has been a more active player in helping Aidan show rank order over Denali.
Luna's weight was recorded on the 26th of October, we expect that she may be nearing 70 lbs by the end of this week (we typically weigh on Friday's). We received the vitamin D test results and her levels of D are up to 117, which is an improvement from 78 at the end of July. The U of MN consult raised some concerns about the hardware in her leg and we are discussing the management implications of taking action during this time of the year when wolf intensity is increasing. A long separation for recovery is much harder in winter than in summer, but we don't want Luna to have any issues and discomfort. At this point, we are watching her every movement. As the video shows, she is an active pups who is strongly stimulated by the actions of the other wolves and often instigates issues.
We had a great report from the Ely Vet Clinic on Luna's last x-rays and were given the approval to transition the pups back together. The timing of this was important as Luna had become so frustrated that she would attack Boltz anytime she had the opportunity (during a program was the only time they were allowed together). After three hours of some active interactions, Luna and Boltz finally settled down and fell asleep resting with their heads touching. Then, Boltz used Luna as a pillow. It's nice to see this type of pup mate interactions. <br> Here are the weights since the last posting:<br> Day Days Old Weight in LBS <br> <li>7/6/2012 104 29.1<li> 7/7/2012 105 29.1<li> 7/8/2012 106 29.9<li> 7/9/2012 107 30.4<li> 7/10/2012 108 30.4<li> 7/11/2012 109 31.4<li> 7/12/2012 110 n/a<li> 7/13/2012 111 31.7
I will do a full narrative of the introduction on Youtube this week (should be posted by Friday), but I had several requests to do an update on the pups, so I am posting these logs today. Luna's first day in the pack was active as you can tell by her weight loss on the 30th and 31st of July. She was very active in the Exhibit, running and exploring the upper enclosure and showing very little interest in submitting to the adults. Aidan made many attempts to get Luna to stop and submit. He used stand overs, foreleg stabs, scruff bites and chin rests, and eventually got Luna to greet in a submissive posture. Luna is not intimidated by the adults and has had several observations of her doing a threat display over food driving off both Aidan and Denali. Based on her ear postures, she seems far more dominant than Boltz in all interactions. The adults have not shown any focus on her right leg, and while she's a bit stiff sometimes, she has no mobility issues. The pups are feeding on beaver and deer carcasses in the enclosure, preferring this to the hand fed options we are offering. The biggest struggle is trying to ensure that Luna gets her daily supplement. She is very independent when on the Exhibit and only comes to staff on her terms. <br><br> Luna's weights in the last week<br> Date, Days Old, Weight in Pounds<br> <li>7/27/2012 125 36.82<li> 7/28/2012 126 38.14<li> 7/29/2012 127 38.36<li> 7/30/2012 128 37.8<li> 7/31/2012 129 37.04<li> 8/1/2012 130 38.3<li> 8/2/2012 131 38.8
At the end of the Behavioral Observation week, I asked the team members to write a paragraph about their impression of the individual wolves. The following logs were written by Behavioral Team Members:<br> Pat Middleton<br> Wendy Watson<br> Cheri Ward<br> "This week, Luna was observed to be a strong confident pup with no fear. After the first day of the introduction, she did finally submit to Aidan and was later seen during the week to have strong social interactions with Aidan. She also has a strong predatory drive as is evident with stalking, ambushes, pouncing and head shaking behavior. She is very good at picking her moments to engage in the pack play sequences to ambush and stalk." <br. Curator's note: We continue to give Luna nutritional supplements twice a day as well as attempt to feed. Their preference seems to be a carcass in the pen rather than small amounts hand delivered. We see the best weight increase when they are allowed to feed on deer, beaver or moose in the enclosure whenever they choose. We continue to weigh the wolves every morning and the following are the weights since the last posting.<br> <li> 8/3/2012 132 39.68<li> 8/4/2012 133 n/a<li> 8/5/2012 134 39.24<li> 8/6/2012 135 40.12<li> 8/7/2012 136 40.56<li> 8/8/2012 137 41.41<li> 8/9/2012 138 41.41<li> 8/10/2012 139 42.33
When I asked staff to describe Peanut's personality, they use phrases like independent, knows what she doesn't like, is very vocal, won't back down… All the makings for a dominant female. Being the only female, she will be the dominant female in the pack. By next Friday, we will have narrowed down the selection of names to something that best fits the personality of the pups. If you have not submitted a name, watch the live-streaming web cam and see if you can determine their personality traits. The pups are growing and doing well. For comparison, we are looking at Nyssa's growth charts to see how Peanut (who is in a similar situation, being raised with an older pup) is tracking. At the last recorded weight today, Peanut was 8.8 lbs, and Nyssa was 9.3 lbs. <li> 4/28 – 7.2 lbs <li> 4/29 – 7.4 lbs <li> 4/30- 7.6 lbs <li> 5/1 – 7.4 lbs <li> 5/2 – 8.0 lbs <li> 5/3 – 8.2 lbs <li> 5/4 – 8.4 lbs <li> 5/5 – no weight <li> 5/6 – 8.6 lbs <li> 5/7 – 8.8 lbs <li>
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