Archive for: malik

The situation between Malik and Grizzer is calmer than it was a few weeks ago, but still not settled. Malik has been showing signs of accepting his place as the 3rd ranking male. These signs include submissive ear postures, averting his gaze when Grizzer does a direct eye stare, low tail and in his photo, you will see him stand urinate, rather than raised leg. This good, clearly a wolf pack can't have more than 1 – # 2 males. Shadow is very calm about the interactions between Grizzer and Malik, and has not shown any indication that this is something to stop. It's the human's in us that want everything to be happy. In the wolf world, sometimes reminders are necessary to make sure every pack member understands their rank. One thing that is more noticeable and a good outcome, with Malik more accepting of the # 3 role, he is calmer, more socially interactive and easier to handle than he has been since the pup introduction. It is likely that with the acceptance of his rank, he feels more comfortable than the uncertainty about where he fits in the pack. We do know that for his sake, we need to keep the stress level down, that includes feeding more often, making sure the carcass has some smaller components (legs cut off etc.) to distribute the eating around the pen, rather than stimulate the carcass feeding, possessive behavior.

Malik seems to be relaxing more, and this has reduced tension between he and Grizzer. Staff have noted that Malik is more interactive, one staff commented that Malik was like a shark in the water, he moves around the enclosure, then comes in to rub a staff person on the back of the knee. This rub-on behavior is a very social, relaxed behavior, and we are glad to be observing more of this behavior. We are still discussing retirement which will be inevitable for the 2000 litter of Malik and Shadow. But, with Shadow so clearly in charge, and Malik who seems to have finally accepted that he lost a challenge to Grizzer's 2nd ranking status, we might be able to keep delay the retirement. Of course, summer is easy, hormones are naturally nurturing, it's the fall and winter hormonal cycle that will be the key. The yearlings were definitely shown their status by Shadow and Maya this winter, so that may reduce their inclination to climb rank when they reach maturity.

Written by Planning For Pups program participants Jennifer Ell and Betty Magnuson: Malik was involved in the enclosure enrichment looking for bacon ice cubes and beaver feet popsicles placed around the enclosure. After the activity slowed down, while the other wolves continued to explore, Malik laid down by the fence by the wolf enclosure. At the What's For Dinner program, he was actively feeding when Grizzer directed some aggression towards him. As a result, he walked away from the carcass. He did return later to feed after Grizzer had left the carcass. This week's photo shows the pack coming out of the holding area for feeding. As you can see, Malik has a T3.5 tail position while the rest of the pack have T1 tail positions. While Malik is trying to figure out how he fits into the pack, it is evident that he is still an important member of the pack.

Malik is doing well, after the beaver feeding on Wednesday, he shared a beaver with Denali and Aidan with minimal aggression from Denali. For some reason, Malik is behind in shedding, even later than Shadow. He has become more tolerant of brushing, but he will likely not blow his winter coat until mid-late July. Grizzer and Denali have already started growing next winter's undercoat. Fortunately for Malik, the cool damp weather of spring has lingered through the month of June.