This week, Maya and Grizzer were observed several times initiating play behaviors with each other, which resulted in them chasing each other around the pond. Maya continues to be very submissive to staff, approaching them at the fence with a submissive body posture. During the feeding program, she showed little interest in the deer. Next weekend the Exhibit Pack will be fed beaver, since they have received an abundance of deer.
Maya is also feeling the hormonal surge during this time of the year. One minute she’s rubbing up against Shadow in a paired bonding display, the next minute she’s grabbing Grizzer by the back leg a tackling him. The pack seems to tolerate her changes in direction, although staff has observed the males sleeping together in one straw pile, while Maya sleeps alone on top of the den. Without a second female to focus on, Maya still directs most of her energy output on her littermate, Grizzer.
Maya continues to demonstrate the behaviors of a dominant female. As shown in this week’s video, she does a modified RLU on the straw bed. She has also been caching bones and scarps within the straw beds and defending those caches from the males in the pack. She has developed a full winter coat and from a distance, staff have to look twice to not confuse Maya and Grizzer.
The fall season brings an increase in scavengers to the exhibit, primarily ravens. The many trees in the enclosure make for great raven perches. Maya is watchful of the activity and finds a good place for viewing, that will also allow a quick spring into action if needed. In observing the wolves in the Exhibit Pack, we find that they rarely have the deep sleep of a domestic dog. When they are resting, they seem to maintain a level of alertness that is demonstrated in Maya’s video this week.
Maya is doing well. She has a full belly today from last nights feeding. She continues to display a good predatory response, even when the food is road-kill. She manages to get her share. It helps that Shadow is still guarding her, doing full body blocks on Malik when he approaches Maya. There seems to be some changes in the arctics behavior when it comes to Maya. Malik has been observed doing more social behavior toward Maya actually approaching her more often and seeking her out. So far, Shadow has not displayed dominance towards Malik during these social behaviors, he only blocks Malik when there's food involved or if the behavior is more active such as during a play bout.
I know we've said this before, but Maya has the best predatory skills of all the wolves at the Center. She is so focused on quick movement and is quick to stalk, chase and pounce on anything that moves. In this week's photos, you see her watching the remaining minnows as the pond drains. While most of the minnows didn't make it through the heat of the last few weeks, there were a few lone survivors and Maya sought them out.
Maya is always the first one to run inside the enclosure and look for the hidden food that is being provide during the environmental enrichment. She is often seen on top of the raven's rock eating. When she is not busy eating, she likes to lay down on the greeting rock and enjoy the mist.
Maya has many observations showing her submissive side, but when it comes to predatory behavior or marking behavior, she's all dominant. In this week's photo, Maya does a modified raised leg urination, showing her status when she marks a cache of food. It is interesting to watch her marking response, she's more thorough than the males in marking behavior. In the wild, a dominant female may mark on a shared spot with the dominant male, signifying that a territory is occupied and defended by the dominant pair.
Maya has a strong behavioral drive to maintain a rank-order, but being the only female, she's left out of most of the male rank order dominant chases. So, whenever the situation arises, she practices dominance on Grizzer. In this week's photo, Maya and Grizzer interact through a classic Jaw Spar technique.
There is no doubt that Maya is a dominant female, even if she's the only female. She's quick to stalk and grab Grizzer when he's attempting to be part of the male rank order and she demonstrates a great Flexed Leg Urination. A behavior done by dominant females, usually a paired marking behavior with the dominant male in the wild.
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