If you may recall in the last few Youtube videos we were watching a lot of playbow/invite chase behavior from both Malik and Shadow without the chase piece. Well that changed this week. Stimulated by Shadow, Malik and Shadow have had many chase opportunities which really get them excited. These are not aggressive encounters, just racing around the enclosure darting towards each other and away from each other. Malik is very agile and his slender frame makes him very fast.
Malik seems a bit indifferent about the pups. While Shadow and Maya are clearly social, licking, smelling, whining at the pups through the fence when wolf care staff work on the socialization process, Malik is going about his business and approaches the pups at the fence, but doesn’t have the same response as the other pack members. This isn’t unusual, it was Shadow who took the lead role in the 2004 pup introduction, but it does impact how the introduction will be structured. Malik and Grizzer have very few dominance issues these days, it might be higher levels of Prolactin stimulated by the pups or it might be the approaching summer season, regardless, it’s very quiet here.
It seems to pack order of Shadow being more dominant over Malik has returned. We see the signs of Malik's ear postures, tail postures and Shadow's pattern of chin rests. This is for the best as the pack seems more calm with Shadow in charge. Malik has a different energy and when Malik is showing dominance, Grizzer's posturing at the gate intensifies. When Shadow is in the lead, he has a calm presence that makes all the wolves relaxed.
Malik's camera is mounted, and while it is too cold to put water in his pond now, we anticipate viewers will see some pond activity on the camera, as well as his favorite resting spot on the den. His Youtube video shows him enjoying a beaver, and very content with the spring melt.
Malik is doing well and has been so relaxed that staff say he doesn't even get off the den when they come over to greet. We originally thought that we would have more anxiety with him alone, waiting for Shadow to weaken and retire, but that's not the case. We hope to get a webcam mounted in the upcoming month to share his daily activities.
Staff installed a new webcam on Tuesday for Malik's enclosure. Unfortunately, the camera has stressed Malik considerably, causing him to pace a bit and stare at the camera. We are giving him some time to adapt, and will hold off on making the camera live until he is more relaxed. As I write this log, he is sleeping in the den, avoiding the rain. Wolves are very sensitive to changes in their environment, and while we know people want to watch him on the web, we want to be considerate and respectful of his space and environment. We have posted a "Working for Wolves" program for May 2010, check out the Wolf Center Program list on the web for details. This program will primarily focus on more security upgrades for Malik.
What impresses me most about Malik is that his coat is as soft and sleek as a 2-year old, he is physically, in the best shape of his life. Behaviorally, he seems to have tapped into the fountain of youth, and acts more like a juvenile every day. The photo this week, while resized for the web, should give you a glimpse at the sleek, silky winter pelage, and a confident wolf in high tail that's enjoying a sunny winter day, social companionship from wolf care, and a good beaver carcass.
We fed a deer carcass during the day on Saturday since the night time temperatures have been a bit cool. We thought the Retired wolves would do better with a day time feeding and bed down at night. The only challenge is that the Ravens are active all day long. Malik solved this problem by dragging the deer into the den and sleeping with it. We will have to judge Shadow’s consumption since Malik was very possessive of the deer. We make that assessment by scat analysis. If the scat is very dark, we know that they have meat in their system.
It's always a challenge to write about Malik and Shadow because sometimes in retirement, life becomes routine and routine is good. This week, Malik's added a new twist to his routine. Twice in 2 days, Malik has approached the curator from behind and removed her hair band (including some hair). The first time, he was on the den while her back was turned to interact with Shadow, the second time, it was while she was talking to some Behind the Scenes visitor. It appears the new greeting for Malik is to do a circle from behind and see if there's something to take. It definitely stimulates him mentally and physically.
Malik still shows some signs of testing Shadow, but this week's footage for Youtube shows Shadow in some more active dominance. The video shows what we describe as a play bow, but it is short and a bit anxious, and doesn't result in the typical invite chase behavior that we usually see. In this week's photo's between the two wolves, we see Malik averting gaze in one photo and Shadow averting gaze in another photo. It appears that Shadow is working his way back up to being in control of retirement.
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