The following was written by Emily Rantala, a participant in the Workin' for Wolves weekend – October 2004. Malik did very well while we were doing the work. Lamb chops might have had something to do with it. His knee seems to be doing better, we did not see him limp all weekend. Even though he was calm in the holding pen, he was still anxious to get back into the main enclosure. It was exciting to watch him investigate our work. Malik offered a humorous moment when he stole a plastic dish that was inadvertenly left on a rock.
Meds to all, Malik and Shadow very growly to each other. Found the first tick of the year on Malik near his ear.
All wolves received Rabies and Parvo/DHLPP vaccinations today administered by Wolf Curator, Lori Schmidt and Program Specialist, Jen Westlund.
Malik has been getting the short end of the bone this last week as he has been Shadow's target for domination attempts. Malik responds to the attention by running around the pond and trying to include the pups, which diverts attention away from himself. The pups are eager to join in the game and the encounter usually ends with the pups swarming around the arctics, wagging and food begging.
Curator's Note: Behavioral stimulus is important in captivity. Staff try to enrich the lives of the captive wolves whenever possible. On a recent fishing trip, an Eelpout was caught and brought to the Exhibit Pack. Meds to all except Malik who was too busy guarding his Eelpout to come for meds.
As Shadow feels better from his ear treatment, Malik seems to be getting more dominance. The pups are ususally right there to assist Shadow. At this point, the intensity is still low and the pups are easily distracted, but as the winter approaches and the most aggressive time of the year approaches, we expect Malik to get more attention. Right now, Malik can usually outrun the pack, but every so often, they catch him at the top of the hill.
Malik has been getting attention from Shadow as the cooler weather approaches. This is a normal time of year for wolves to begin asserting dominance over one-another. The information specialist observed the following: After my 4pm program I noticed some interesting behavior: We observed what looked to have started out as playing between Malik and Shadow. They were wrestling and standing up against each other while biting. I looked away for half a minute and when I looked back, Shadow had Malik on the ground on his back, the pups where milling around them. When Malik got up, he was in a very defensive stance with his tail wrapped under him, body hunched, hackles up, head down, ears back and teeth bared. Shadow continued to nip at him and the pups got involved as well – kind of mobbing but the pups weren't as persistent as Shadow. After about a minute, Malik took off and Shadow began chasing him (the pups followed but, distracted themselves with each other). This lasted approximately 1-2 minutes. Then the situation seemed to diffuse.
Malik is beginning to explore on his own, without the support of his brother. Malik seems to be more outgoing at this time.
There are several observations this week showing dominance between Malik and Shadow. On the 4th, Jen Westlund writes "…Malik and Shadow showed aggressive dominance towards each other with Grizzer riding up on whoever was being dominated…" on the 6th, Larisa Skujins wrote "…All pups riding up on Malik and mobbing him during the feeding… later in the log it notes that Malik and Shadow dominated Grizzer… and Malik later protected a deer head successfully from the pups."
Malik's knee seems to be completely healed. A veterinary exam on November 11th revealed a strong knee with no clicking sounds associated with ACL or other knee conditions. His x-rays looked great. His weight was recorded as 85 lbs, just 1 lb heavier than Grizzer. Malik also had his ears cleaned and found to have ear mites as well. Due to close proximity of contact, the entire pack is being treated for ear mites.
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