Due to the active schedule with the ongoing Wolf Ethology class at the Center, all logs will be the same. Shadow continues to have some issues with groups behind the scenes, so the schedule has been modified for the class, with more observations from inside the observation area. Shadow seems to do much better with this. The weather’s been hot and humid this week, causing the wolves to reduce their activity levels significantly. The biting flies are out and all wolves have been treated with Biospot for fly control on their ears. Grizzer and Maya have completed shedding their dense undercoat, with the exception of some loose hair on their necks and tails. Shadow and Malik, as arctic subspecies are a bit delayed in the shedding and are about midway through the process. Although the Retired Pack members are Great Plains subspecies, they are also delayed in the shedding process, possibly due to their age. Lakota has a growth on her face that has been increasing in size. The Veterinarian has chosen to wait until cooler temperatures before anesthetizing her and removing the growth. He has determined that it is benign, but it may continue to grow. Staff will be watching this carefully and have been cleaning it daily.
Malik’s behavioral logs from the Wolf Watch program do reinforce his position in the pack as the lowest ranking male. Participants observed Malik with hackle response when competing with the rest of the pack for a beaver tail. He is also very wary of another wolf following from behind and shows timid flat ear postures and low tail when being followed. But, even though he is lower ranking, the fact that this is a non-breeding pack means that the rank hierarchy is not as strict. Malik gets opportunities to show status and he doesn’t always respond to dominance from the other two males as shown in this week’s photo, where he averts Shadow’s gaze after Shadow growls and shows a threat display. In his video clip, you see him dominate Maya over a dead minnow.
Malik is showing some signs of gaining confidence and attempting to increase status, but if Grizzer is behind him, he becomes nervous. In this week's image, you will see Malik following Shadow with the same tail posture, but if you look at the ears, you will see a less confident, backward ear position versus Shadow in the front with ears pricked to the side. In Malik's video clip this week, you will see him at the edge of the pond, displaying a startle reponse when Grizzer comes up from behind.
When Malik became the lowest ranking wolf this winter, we weren’t certain how he’d take to the new role. While he does show anxiety around Grizzer and hesitancy about having Grizzer behind him or following him, Malik is clearly still a cohesive member of this pack. He rallies with the pack and doesn’t hesitate to show a high tail position when the social rallying occurs. In this week’s video, Malik joins in the pack howl, but stays on the ground as the dominant female; Maya takes the higher vantage point on the rock.
Malik is doing well, despite being the focus of Grizzer. He manages to stay very alert to the location of the other pack members and positions himself in a way that he is facing them and has a good path for escape. While he seems to get anxious and growl before Grizzer is even close to him, he does seem to seek out the activity. One other point of information that the Wolf Watch participants noticed was the Malik and Shadow tend to lay near each other. Their association as brothers is very strong, even though we see Malik take advantage of Shadow when Grizzer has him cornered.
The text and video for the rest of the Exhibit Pack logs is all the same, when the temperatures increase, the wolves become less active. It has been a bit of a challenge to give visitors a good sighting of the wolves when daytime temperatures have increased over 80 degrees on a regular basis. The wolf care staff use a sprinkler system on both enclosures to decrease the ambient air temperature by several degrees. The wolves are also called down to the front of the exhibit 3 times a day to draw them into the sprinkler and get a physical check on them. The videos this week for Maya, Grizzer, Malik and Shadow all show a typical summer day for wolves, stay cool by finding a good area of cool dirt in the shade.
Malik seems to be doing well. In recent week's, I've captured video of the pack howling, but never seem to get Malik in the camera view. In this week's video, I focused primarily on Malik as he answered the call of a fire siren.
Of all the wolves in the Exhibit, Malik seems to be most expressive in body communciation and interaction with packmates. His vocalizations can be heard whenever Grizzer of Maya come within range of him and his exaggerated tail postures show his efforts in making himself look strong, even though he's the lowest wolf in the pack. This defense mechanism appears to be how he has adjusted to the omega status, but he is still a very active participant in pack social interactions. Our hope is that Shadow adjusts as well if or when Grizzer moves up in rank.
Malik was observed at the “What’s for Dinner Program defending a beaver from the rest of the pack. He dragged the beaver several feet from the window and chewed on it for a while, until Grizzer came and disturbed him. After leaving the beaver, Malik tried to take the deer leg from Maya. Today the whole pack howled in response to an unidentified stimulus during wolf care.
The male dominance order seems to be settling down, but every so often, something sets the pack into a chase scene. Usually, it's Malik showing a bit too much confidence for Shadow's liking. Today was such a day. Malik was in the lower enclosure and gave Maya a bit of grief. Shadow, who was at the top of the pen, heard a bit of a squeak from Maya, and appeared within seconds to send Malik in a chase up the hill. As quick as these start, they end, just a reminder of the importance of rank order at all times. A pack in the wild needs strong leaders, if there's continual disregard to a leader's status, it may affect the entire dynamics of the group and eventually affect wolf hunting success and survival. Even in captivity, the rank order of a wolf pack is critical.
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