Everything is going well here. It appears that MacKenzie has overcome the spinal issues she had earlier and is being weaned off the prednisone. Lakota is still springing around the enclosure as if she were a two year old, instead of a wolf nearing 14 years of age. The male rank order remains calm, with Grizzer and Maya continuing to interact as pupmates, and Shadow maintaining watch over the pack. Malik seems very relaxed and in his video this week is observed with high tail interacting with Grizzer and Maya when they are wrestling, but backs off when Shadow gives him direct eye contact. Thanks for your continued support of the wolf care program. Staff will be monitoring all wolves closely over the coming holiday season and maybe we’ll see you on the webcam.
The main pack had an uneventful week, with the exception of a special program scheduled on December 28th. An enclosure enrichment was a special offering this week to holiday visitors at the Center in Ely, Minnesota. At 1 pm, wolf care staff locked the wolves into holding and placed some treats throughout the enclosure, including a 10 lb turkey, some pigs ears, milk bones and meatballs. The purpose of enclosure enrichment is to give the wolves an opportunity to use their sense of smell and investigate the hidden treats inside the enclosure. Maya is the most skilled in finding stashed treats. Her sense of smell and her determination make her successful. In this week's video, you will see her eating a pig's ear before she's off to find another. Notice the incredible strength in a wolves jaw.
Pups at One Year participants were asked to describe each wolf and their behavior that they observed during their weekend at the Center. Maya was described as being persistent and extremely predatory. She has intense, piercing eyes and is always very focused when on a task. As part of the Pups at One Year program enclosure enrichment projects were completed including the addition of misc. fruits and treats. In this weeks picture you see her attempting to get a piece of fruit out of a hole in the log.
Maya is doing better, of all the wolves, she seems to be responding with the most submissive behavior. She has started to interact with the other pack members again, primarily Grizzer and Shadow. In this week's photo, she spent some time digging out a cache and started to play with the hide. She's been swimming a lot in the pond, and had a chase bout with Grizzer this morning that included a big splash. In Shadow's photo this week, you will see him guarding Maya from Malik, when she was digging the cache.
Maya and Grizzer spent yesterday afternoon chasing and pouncing at each other. They had some leftover feathers form the last environmental enrichment, and both yearlings were playing with them. Maya was biting Grizzer's nose when he tried to take the feathers from her.
This week has been a busy one for the wolf care staff with the ethology class, hence the delay in updating the wolf logs. This week Maya was observed by visitors digging a large hole by the gate entrance into the Exhibit pack's wolf enclosure. This required the wolf care staff to place large, heavy rocks into the hole to prevent further digging. Maya seems to enjoy finding new places to dig, which requires the wolf care staff to be diligent about looking for holes by the fencing and gates. Maya also took a keen interest in the minnows that were placed into the pond as part of this week's enclosure enrichment project.
During yesterday's "What's for Dinner" program, Maya rushed into the wooded area of the enclosure, carrying a beaver. After a little while, Maya came down, stalking Malik and successfully took a beaver from him. Maya has shown this kind of behavior during the last feedings. During one of the environmental enrichments, Maya was licking a block of ice with some meat in it, and when she saw Shadow licking another block of ice, she rushed towards him and started licking his ice block, but when Shadow tried to reach her ice block, Maya left running and defended it.
One of the enclosure enrichments done throughout the summer is to add minnows to the pond. Maya's predatory instinct is most evident when she's stalking the elusive minnow. This past weekend, she did a full head dunk to retrieve a minnow. Grizzer, who usually stands by and watches Maya, joined in on the head dunking. He was successful in scooping the minnow with his big paws.
Maya spent most of the day laying down underneath the bushes. She did came out when Malik was chewing on a cricket but went back to the shade when she received nothing from him. Summer is here, and this normal behavior prevents them from being overheated.
Maya is showing more signs of the submissive nature that she was famous for last fall. The hormonal influence that made her super dominant over Nyssa seems to be fading. She'll still put Nyssa in a submissive posture now, but not as frequently as this winter. She gets especially excited after a howling bout. In this week's photo, Maya walks in parallel gate with Shadow. They certainly appear to be buddies.
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.