Wolf Care Staff have been busy providing logistical support to a film crew, working on a series called "Ms. Adventure" for Animal Planet. So, needless to say, there's not much time today for wolf logs. So, we'll have the same posting for all wolves. The Retired Pack is settling into a routine, when small amount of food are given, Lakota is fed in the holding area, while MacKenzie gets her fare share in the main enclosure. The Exhibit Pack is doing well, there's a bit of tension between the male's over rank order position, but so far, no real issues. Maya continues to be the predatory wolf, hunting small birds that are landing in the enclosure searching for seeds before their fall migration. Other than a few noisy moments, the wolves are still calm and remaining in a more crepuscular (dawn and dusk) pattern to avoid the heat. All the wolves have begun the winter hair growth of their dense undercoat, so when temperatures increase now, it's even more uncomfortable. As you can see by the video this week, the best place to be is in the wooded portion of the enclosure.
Sorry for the delay in the logs, Wolf Curator, Lori Schmidt was in Anchorage Alaska last week for the Wildlife Society National Meeting and general wolf care was the main priority in her absence. As you may observe in Grizzer's video, Maya continues to interact with Grizzer, especially if Grizzer is playing a role in the male rank order. The littermates tend to seek each other out for social behavior, when the more senior members of the pack are taking a break. In this week's video, Maya contently lays on one of the pond rocks and watches the fall bird migration.
Written by Planning for Pups program participants Alexis and Kerry Sharp: Prior to the "What's For Dinner" program on Saturday night, Maya was observed stalking and chasing Grizzer. When Grizzer became aware of her presence, he would circumvent Maya's hiding place, only to be stalked again by his sister. As the pack was placed in holding, Maya was reluctant to enter the holding pen. When the pack was released, Maya was one of the first to reach the deer carcass to begin feeding. On Sunday morning, minnows were placed in the pond. Maya exhibited great interest, frequently submersing her head in the water to catch the fish.
Written by Planning for Pups program participants, Annette Good and Kathryn Trussell: "Maya was very relaxed with the additional people this weekend. She initiated a lot of play bouts with Grizzer that lasted for several minutes. Enclosure enrichment was done on Saturday, and Maya went into the pond to get some of the food on the rock, making sure her tail stayed dry. She also cached a number of items, but lost the majority of them to Grizzer and Malik. When Shadow started howling on a rock, Maya quickly joined in and jumped on a rock next to him.
Maya is very inquisitive and is most often found investigating the exhibit looking for any new item or following the scent of birds that land in the exhibit. She continues to be bonded with Shadow. Last week during one of the heavier rainstorms, all 4 wolves were laying under the eaves in front of the viewing window. Maya and Shadow were laying together with Maya putting her nose next to Shadow’s.
Due to the active schedule with the ongoing Wolf Ethology class at the Center, all logs will be the same. Shadow continues to have some issues with groups behind the scenes, so the schedule has been modified for the class, with more observations from inside the observation area. Shadow seems to do much better with this. The weather’s been hot and humid this week, causing the wolves to reduce their activity levels significantly. The biting flies are out and all wolves have been treated with Biospot for fly control on their ears. Grizzer and Maya have completed shedding their dense undercoat, with the exception of some loose hair on their necks and tails. Shadow and Malik, as arctic subspecies are a bit delayed in the shedding and are about midway through the process. Although the Retired Pack members are Great Plains subspecies, they are also delayed in the shedding process, possibly due to their age. Lakota has a growth on her face that has been increasing in size. The Veterinarian has chosen to wait until cooler temperatures before anesthetizing her and removing the growth. He has determined that it is benign, but it may continue to grow. Staff will be watching this carefully and have been cleaning it daily.
Maya is the most stimulated by the new weekly enclosure enrichment projects that are scheduled every Wednesday at noon through August. As we've stated many times before, Maya's predatory behavior is much greater and the search for hidden items allows Maya to intensify her focus. Her body postures and marking of possessions allows the visitors to develop an understanding of the term "Predatory Drive".
Wolf Watch participants observed Maya as the first to consume a beaver tail placed in the pack as a stimulus. The consumption of the tail led her to dig up some cached deer and consume it as well. She was also observed taking a beaver tail from Shadow, a common occurrence as Shadow isn’t too rigid with Maya. Maya and Grizzer do socially interact and chase each other with submissive rollovers interchangeable between the littermates. Another Maya comment was the intensity of the focus on her cached food. When the pack howled at 6:15 am, Maya howled, but remained with her food in a full resting position. Her video this week shows Maya scent rolling on a dead minnow.
Written by program participant Stephanie Lasley: Maya spent a lot of her time up in the tree line snoozing. Once in a while she would stalk Grizzer and ambush him. Saturday the wolves were let back into the enclosure after the enclosure enrichment items were set in, tuna, chicken and bacon. Maya was the first to find a stip of bacon floating on a stick in the pond. She swam out to get it and gobbled dit down not waiting to bring it back to shore. After staff checked the pond filter, three minnows were found dead and set on the grass. Maya found one and proceeded to enthusiastically roll around in it over and over for 5-10 minutes, with Grizzer and Shadow following suit.
The terms ponytail ears and chin rest are part of a behavioral Ethogram that the Wolf Care Staff have developed as a way of interpreting behavior and having all the staff communicating the same terms. Pony tail ears are the sign of a wolf that is very intimidated, when the ears are flat back looking like they are pulled into a pony tail. A chin rest is a sign of dominance. When Grizzer gets a bit excited by the dominance hierarchy with the male rank order, he sometimes redirects to his littermate, playing like they did when they were pups. You will see this on Grizzer’s clip as he asserts dominance over Maya. In Maya’s video, you will see the status of a dominant female (because she’s the only female), taking on the lead role in a howling session standing on the highest rock.
The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future.