The log postings are all the same this week, we have a Working for Wolves program this weekend and will post some behavioral observations from participants on Sunday. The Exhibit Pack is doing well, despite the increased aggression that is typical of the first cold and snow of the year. Both packs received straw on their dens which is always a source of initial excitement, but also encourages bedding behavior. Malik's abscessed tooth has healed, as his photo shows no indication of the scar. Shadow continues to take small portions of food on a daily basis with a peak of interest when the weather turned cold.
There was some dominance aggression between Grizzer and Denali on Wednesday night. We watched the surveillance video from the Retired Cameras, and it appears the activity started right after the Curator left for the evening, around 6:05 pm. We were able to piece together the activity based on the retired wolves reactions. Malik, who was always the omega in the Exhibit Pack, responded by running, that's what omega's do. His excitement level was very high with a T-1 tail and very aggressive arousal. After a few minutes of excitement, Malik tried to dominant Shadow with an intense ride-up and some grab biting, but Shadow was able to maneuver away. Malik definitely takes advantage of Shadow when there's some excitement, of course, if you read Malik's archived notes, you would see that is not unusual behavior, he's always been an opportunist.
Malik continues to show Shadow dominance over food carcasses, and a placement of deer scraps resulted in a lot of carrying and caching behavior. We had a surplus of deer, so we will continue to feed large volumes of food in multiple locations to encourage some confidence in Shadow. Malik likely responds this way since he was in retirement first, and claimed the enclosure.
I may have mentioned that we were seeing a spot where Malik's abscessed tooth was infection. The spot has not increased, but we do see some rubbing against trees and branches which may indicate that he has an infection again. We will keep an eye on it, and will try one more course of antibiotics before the tooth is pulled. Otherwise, he is doing great. He likes the transition back to a full deer carcass. We have had a surplus of deer which allows him to eat as much as he wants.
Malik has been posturing a bit towards Shadow, but the fresh snow has caused a distraction for a while. Malik really enjoys fresh snow and does a snow plow, a behavior characterized by a wolf pushing his nose into a pile of snow and plowing for several feet. The fresh snow makes for easy caching, and Malik has taken this opportunity to hide many deer parts in recent feedings.
After last week's surveillance video showed some den selection issues, we've been increasing the amount of straw available for the Retired Wolves. We want to make sure that each wolf has a comfortable place to sprawl rest (meaning take up all the space). Malik is a bit smaller than Shadow and seems to prefer a curl rest, whereas Shadow has a way of using every available inch of den space. Malik continues to benefit from Shadow's additional meals, and his tendency to cache food. With Malik around, a cache rarely stays in the snow longer than a minute.
Malik's nervous behavior is calming a bit, with only sporadic growling sessions when the pack gets excited by a howl. This calming trend has resulted in increased staff time with Malik, something that wasn't happening on a regular basis over the last few months. He always took meds from staff, but didn't stand on the rock for a full inspection. Malik is the barometer of this enclosure, if he's calm, then things must be good.
We know that the season is getting calmer when Malik stays in the front of the exhibit long enough to greet wolf care staff. This past weekend, Malik consumed a large quantity of the deer and was very content on Monday morning with a full stomach. While the wolf care staff were conducting an exhibit cleaning session, all the wolves went over to visit the retired enclosure. Initially, Malik didn't enter the holding area, but with a little meatball persuasion, he went in willingly. It is still critical that we don't isolate Malik from the pack, or he may receive redirected aggression from the pack, especially Grizzer.
Malik hasn't reduced his behavior in the last few weeks, which means that there are still some male rank order issues. Malik projects a lot of nervous energy that makes him weak. Grizzer attempts to ignore him, but with Malik following him around and growling in his face, he's kind of hard to ignore. We've been meaning to record the audio of his chatter, it is quite unique.
Malik continues to benefit from Shadow's daily feedings, either directly stealing food from Shadow, taking his caches, or getting some tidbits from wolf care staff as a distraction. What Malik doesn't like is wind, and as the fall weather arrives, it includes, cool, rainy and windy days. Malik is nervous about wind, and especially trees swaying in the breeze. In recent weeks, we have been reviewing old photos and thought we would share this picture of Malik as a 7-week old pup.
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