Malik is on antibiotics again, this is the last attempt before a more invasive procedure is scheduled. As we've said before, Lakota had a similar situation and the 2nd round of antibiotics took care of it, but every wolf is different. Malik should be easy to immobilize, and we have no concerns about his absence from the enclosure, as Shadow has shown some good tolerance. We have 7 more days of Antibiotic treatment left to know if we need to be doing a procedure.
Malik has spent a bit of time up in the woods where it is cooler and where he can rub his ears against the vegetation to shoo away the flies. While it is harder to apply fly ointment to the arctic wolves, wolf care staff has managed to squirt some all natural cactus juice on the wolves' ears to provide some relief.
Malik recently killed a chipmunk in the enclosure and brought it over to the puppy gate. He didn't eat it, but proceeded to scent roll on the carcass. Maya became very stimulated with this behavior and intently watched Malik. Malik seems to be more interested in play behavior with the pups, and shows less whining behavior toward the pups than Shadow. He is often at the chainlink fence, rubbing his body against the fence while the pups run along with him on the other side of the chainlink. Malik will attempt to put a paw through the gate to touch the pups while they are on their way to the daily programs.
During the feeding, Malik was the second wolf in reach the carcass, after Shadow. He was chewing on it when the pups came and claimed the deer for themselves. Malik backed up and let the puppies eat for a long time. After that, he was walking all over the deer, trying to find a place to sneak and get a piece of deer, when he finally got a place, Nyssa snarled at him and Malik growled back making Nyssa to submit. After that he left the puppies eat and went with Shadow to watch from a distance. He is being showing lots of progress with the puppies, he is playing more and becoming more tolerant of their plays.
Malik had a rough time during the afternoon. Shadow was dominating him most of the time, making him tucked his tail and show some teeth. But what he never expected was that Grizzer took advantage of this and started riding him up. Malik growled at Grizzer several times, but he would just come back and try again. Shadow was dominating Malik for quite a time, he even pin him to the ground and then all the puppies were climbing on him. Malik then ran to the wood part of the enclosure and stood there for almost half an hour.
Malik's been observed interacting in more dominance display's with the pups. This time, he's doesn't have Grizzer on his back, but he's helping Grizz and Maya put Nyssa on the ground. It's not a true pack mobbing, since Shadow isn't helping, but Nyssa gets more defiant when Malik helps her pup mates.
Malik has been having trouble with his back right leg. It appears he may have a sprain or a possible ligament injury. Center veterinarian, Dr. Chip Hanson was on site on Thursday the 23rd to deliver the pups vaccinations and inspect Malik's leg. Malik was stared on a 7 day dose of anti-inflammatory, in hopes to relieve some of the pain he's experiencing. He hasn't been putting weight on his foot and hops on 3 legs when he runs. Dr. Hanson will be back on Thursday to reassess the course of treatment. The hope is that this is just a sprain and time will heal this injury. In the meantime, he's been a bit cranky with the puppies. He seems to travel the opposite direction of the puppies.
Malik's knee is doing fine, this is evident by the continued racing around the pond behavior he displays (probably why his knee hurt in the first place). On Saturday, the 11th of December, Intern Erin Albers noticed a pack mob of Malik. Malik "zoomed" around the enclosure 2 times, then stopped twice and was put in a submissive position by mostly Shadow. Grizzer had him by the scruff of the neck each time.
Malik has been doing some intensive playbows to the pups as well as to Shadow. He seems a bit intimidated when Shadow starts riding up or dominating him. He has an interest in the pups, but doesn't seem as preoccupied with them as Shadow. Shadow seems to be developing a pattern of checking the pups. Every couple of hours, he seemed to get up, physically approach and sniff the pups (sometimes waking them up to play), walk the perimeter of the enclosure and then lay back down by the building.
Malik seems to be most affected by the pup introduction. Not only is Shadow gaining status by the pups presence, but Malik seems to be a bit of a focus for Grizzer. Malik will inititate play behavior with the pups, but he struggles to get them to roll over for him as they do for Shadow. As far as dominance hierarchy, the pack dynamics may end up with an arctic sandwich. Shadow on top, Grizzer in the middle and Malik on the bottom. This fall and winter will provide for interesting observations of the dominance hierarchy within the new exhibit pack.
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