Malik has been observed in some very acrobatic maneuvers. As the weather gets colder, he gets active and hungry. We have been feeding them far more frequently during this transition time and meals may include deer torsos, legs, 6 lb bags of chicken, liver or left over pups scraps. We are still out of beaver, but did hear of some beaver that were being trapped for removal due to a road construction project.
Malik is having a good start to winter. With Grizzer still influenced by the presence of pups and being fairly calm, he doesn’t have the dominance rank issues that he did last winter. Of course, Grizzer will still follow and chase if Malik is too forceful, but it is much calmer than previous winters. Malik does get bold when the pups are interacting with Grizzer, he does a full foreleg stab at Grizzer, jumps on his head and will take a grab at his rump, but when you’re the bottom ranking wolf, its well within his right to look for opportunities to move up. Especially when your littermate is the dominant male and you can seek him out for protection.
In an effort to allow the wolves to investigate the Retired Enclosure after the loss of Lakota, the pack has been given supervised access to the Retired Enclosure several times in the last week. It is great stimulus for the pack, and is critical for Shadow and Malik, who are the next set of retirees. Malik was quite nervous as we had expected, but the more time he gets to explore, the more relaxed he is likely to become. Retirement for Shadow and Malik could be several years away, as Shadow is a strong dominant male and Malik gets comfort in his littermate's status, so the more time to explore, the easier it will be when that inevitable day arrives. A YouTube video was posted with the activity in the Retired Enclosure.
Fly ointment on all wolves except Lakota, she has been reluctant to submit in front of the other wolves. Malik took the fly ointment out of Lori Schmidt (LS) pocket and demolished the container. LS retrieved it by putting Malik and Shadow in the holding pen and distracting them with meatballs. Vitamins were fed to all wolves.
When we enter the enclosure for wolf care, we have some benchmarks to judge how well the pack is interacting. One benchmark is Malik. If Malik is nervous and doesn’t come to the rock to greet, then there’s tension in the pack. Lately, we are happy to report that wolf checks have been great for Malik. There are times when we need to double check that it’s Malik and not Shadow acting confident and jumping from rock to rock. Also at this age, we are watching for the signs of decline, stiffness in the joints, ability to deal with ambient temperatures and overall movement issues. Malik and Shadow have been on Cosequin and Durlactin since they were 6 years old, and it seems to help. We want to make sure these over exhuberant pup chases don’t have an impact on the older wolves. A new YouTube video has been posted showing scenes from the early winter in Ely.
I hope everyone has a healthy and happy New Year. The wolves are all doing well and are having a calm winter. We have not experienced temperatures in the sub zero range, which usually drives a bit of wolf aggression. We would like to announce that the Pup Care Program Applications are online at www.wolf,org. Select the Programs Tab, click on Educational Programs and you will find the applications under the Seminars title. We are adamant that special training and an understanding of wolf behavior is critical before interacting with wolf pups. This program is only available to individuals who have been previously involved in the pup care program or who have participated in the Planning for Pups prerequisite seminars offered during the summer of 2011 or 2007. Applications will be accepted until February 1st, and teams will be assembled and notified by March 15th.
Malik continues to act very nervous around Grizzer. The lack of dominance from Grizzer probably makes Malik anxious about his status. Dominance rituals are important in the pack, so every wolf knows their rank. Uncertainty makes wolves nervous, and that's the response we're seeing in Malik. Malik did a face bite to Grizzer last Monday, and still, Grizzer didn't assert his dominance. For Malik's sake, we are increasing the amount of Enclosure Enrichments to keep the focus off of rank order and on to other stimuli. We did two enclosure enrichments last week, one was scent based that resulted in scent rolling behavior, the other was food based that stimulated the wolves to search and find treats. A YouTube video showing both enclosure enrichment activities will be posted.
Due to the weekend blizzard and the resulting time spent shoveling and blowing snow, the wolf logs will all be the same today. Despite windchills in the 30 to 40 below range and nearly a foot of snow, the wolves are doing great. These are animals that are clearly adapted to winter environments and they are much more comfortable than during a warm summer day. Staff provide straw beds to give them a comfortable place to rest and insulates them from the cold ground, the dens are dry and well covered in straw, but unless the wind is bad, the wolves usually don't use the densites. Staff make sure there are plenty of scraps available for a quick snack, and the water heaters are monitored daily to ensure there is always a fresh, warm source of water. We are aware of some issues with the pond cam's exposure problems, and we are doing some adjusting to see if we can repair it, thanks for your emails about the issue. I hope to get a youtube video posted later in the week, filmed on a -26 below morning to show the activity levels of the wolves in these temperatures.
We had a little problem with video editing this morning, so all the logs will be the same and we hope to get video in the logs and a new Youtube video posted by the end of the week. The fall colors have been tremendous in the enclosure, and thanks to local moose hunters, we gave the pack a moose head mid-week. The pups were actively feeding on the moose head, but soon cached it, and have not been back on it since. They consumed an entire deer this weekend, despite the warmer than average weather conditions.
Of all the wolves in the Exhibit Pack, Malik is most likely found sunning himself on one of the rocks. Maybe it’s the 8 year old bones that are in need of radiant heat, or it’s possible that he is more relaxed being at a higher vantage point when it comes to dominance interactions. His photo this week shows a full threat display when Shadow has Grizzer in a submissive posture. The bond between the littermates is strong, Shadow rarely shows direct dominance towards Malik unless there’s a big chase, and Malik uses Shadow to help him assert some dominance.
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