Malik has been displaying some very juvenile behavior lately, which would be fine if he was a juvenile, but he is approaching 13 years of age. His juvenile behavior relates to his tendency to take possessions from the staff's head, pockets, hands and hair. His latest obsession is any staff member wearing a hair band; unfortunately while it's still attached to human hair. I experienced this first hand yesterday and while allowing Malik to floss with my hair may have been exciting for him, it's not a habit I want for wolf care. This experience is just a reminder that wolves are opportunistic and no matter what the age, don't become complacent.
There isn't much to report in retirement, Malik has been guarding a beaver for the last few days, keeping Shadow from entering the lower part of the den. This doesn't seem to bother Shadow much, he has been using the smaller alternate den at night, and during the day, he is content with the perch from the top of the den. Malik, while lower ranking, is very adept at keeping his food possessions. Chasing ravens also seems to be another trait of Maliks.
In Retirement, we noticed some behaviors that make us think that Shadow’s not feeling well again. Malik is posturing, presenting a high tail and did a lunge bite towards Shadow with no response from Shadow. When Malik starts to take advantage of Shadow we know something is up. At this point, don't intervene on Shadow's behalf, past experience tells us that Shadow will work it out when he's feeling better, but we do need to get a sense of what's causing these bouts of discomfort for Shadow.
I discovered a cache in the Retired Den, not because I saw it, but because of Malik's reaction when I was putting fresh straw in the den. If he's guarding a cache, he is prone to posturing and today, grabbed my boot as I went into the den. It's always important to observe the subtle signs that can magnify into bigger problems. Fortunately, Shadow watches them too, and asserted some dominance over Malik. I don't believe Shadow was protecting my boot, I believe Shadow saw Malik in a more dominant posture and decided to nip that behavior before it became an issue.
Malik's been taking advantage of some dense vegetation to help him shed his undercoat. As the lower ranking of the two pack members, he's less tolerant of brushing from the staff, so the dense underbrush is very helpful. He's also fond of the pond and is frequently spending time in the water.
Malik has a good video clip on Youtube defending a piece of bone dust. He is proof that regardless of your status, wolves have a right to possess and guard food even from the dominant pack member. Shadow is in charge with every encounter in Retirement except food. This is why wolf care staff are very diligent about hand feeding Shadow and spreading the carcasses in separate areas.
Thanks for checking for the wolf logs and cameras, even when we aren’t always live. We seem to have an intermittent router problem, and we’re currently working with more tech support people than wolf care staff. With that said, the due to other obligations, the logs are all the same this week. I did produce a Youtube video this week and used some of the surveillance camera footage. The surveillance cameras are motion activated with noise activated sound. They are sometimes choppy, but it is good to have a view of the activity after dark. Shadow and Malik have the most activity, since the camera focuses on their main densite. Grizzer tends to sleep near the wolf yard, and is always resting and waiting for Oscar to make his morning rounds. Aidan and Denali had an interesting week, Aidan has been carrying the crook of his tail with a bit of status. There were several days when Aidan was keeping Denali in a wooded area of the pen, but today, they seem to be back to their usual interactions. We will be doing some concrete work on the Slate Den next week, and will be testing the new enclosure configuration, keeping Aidan and Denali in the Pack Holding area for a few hours, while Grizzer stays in his new habitat. I would expect to see Grizzer with a lot of activity during that project.
In addition to cedar oil, we have added cedar chips to the enclosure. This continues to be a good method for dealing with flies and having a natural repellent. We are also using some other fly predator products and some pheromone traps. I had an interesting behavioral observation this morning, Malik was standing on the den and did a threat display towards Shadow, who was digging up a cache 10 feet away. Malik didn't follow through with contact or an approach, and Shadow didn't stop eating the cache. Malik typically shows more food aggression, so the fact that Shadow wasn't intimidated is a good scenario.
Speaking of wolves showing their age, Malik and Shadow are NOT acting like 12-year olds. Their mobility and jumping capability is incredible, and when they get excited, they can still spring in the air like 2-year olds. Of course, it helps that they rest 10 – 12 hours in between these springing greetings, but we are not experiencing the aging process like we did with our previous retired wolves. Malik continues to be the guarding of all things food in retirement as well as the likely wolf to possess any unattended items.
At some point, humans should have the capacity to learn and retain information. Well, I proved that theory wrong today. For the 5th time this summer, Malik managed to steal the sponge from my hands when I was cleaning their water container. Guard your possession or lose it is the lesson. I guess wolves are better adapted to learned behavior than curators.
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