Written by "Pups at One Year" program participants Marcia Mummau and Dell Cameron: This week's photo shows the pack's dominant pair, Maya and Shadow, howling together on the greeting rock. Howling is one way wolves communicate with each other, and is used for a variety of purposes. In this case, Maya and Shadow howling together on the greeting rock tells us that the dominant pair is cohesive, which provides stability to the entire pack.
Maya continues to show strong dominance, during a Behind the Scenes program, when Shadow as a bit anxious and bark howled at a group, Maya came over and dominated Aidan, then lunged and grabbed Grizzer by the neck. Needless to say, both Grizzer and Aidan retreated and watched her from a distance, no doubt wondering what that display was about. Maya is very adept at food possession, but lately, she's been letting Denali have her share.
The following observation was written by Wolf Watch participant Cameron Feaster. <br> Maya's focus still remains on keeping Aidan in his place as an omega, but she seems to be calming down as the pack structure takes form. On one occasion during our observations, we found Maya doing a full submission to Aidan. Aidan, having accepted his position as omega long ago, was a little confused by this, and proceeded to perform multiple playbows and foreleg stabs before retreating to a bed of cedar.
Pigeons were donated by the Wildlife Science Center from an eradication effort at the Minneapolis Airport and used in an enclosure enrichment. Text written by Working for Wolves participants Emily Moen, Theresa Williams, and Kim Wheeler. Maya continues to dominate Aidan by keeping track of where he is and what he is doing in regards to the rest of the pack. Maya has a nice full winter pelage and a lot of energy. The Working for Wolves group hid pigeons in the enclosure, but Maya did not seem to have much interest in eating the pigeons, only in finding them. All the wolves seem to have tolerated the program activities well.
There was some dominance aggression between Grizzer and Denali on Wednesday night. We watched the surveillance video from the Retired Cameras, and it appears the activity started right after the Curator left for the evening, around 6:05 pm. Maya is key in this situation, there is a test of the male rank order and she is the dominant female. We are asking staff and visitors to record any interactions that are observed. The Center's lead educator wrote this email yesterday:<br> "I saw Maya exhibit soliciting behavior with Denali this morning while I was doing a program. She was laying on the straw on top of the den, Denali walked up and stood over her. She pawed at him and rolled on her back. He then lie down next to her." <br> We know when Maya was a yearling, Shadow chose her over Nyssa, social relationships can make a difference.
Maya has been showing some strong association with Grizzer, sleeping on the rocks near Grizzer and overall spending more time with him. This has probably helped his confidence, and could be the deciding factor for Grizzer to keep his role. Maya chases Denali with Grizzer, but Denali shows no fear response to Maya, in this week's video on Youtube, he actually runs into Maya while trying to avoid Grizzer.
You can read more about the dominance challenge from Denali to Grizzer, but we knew the rank order issue was settled because Maya was as calm as can be. She is the barometer of the pack tension, and when she's tense, Aidan gets chased. When wolf care staff came into work on Saturday morning, the energy of the pack was extremely calm. Aidan and Maya spent some time in holding together while we were prepping Grizzer for surgery, and there was no issues from Maya. When Grizzer returned to the pack, Maya blocked Aidan from approaching Grizzer and has been spending time sleeping with Grizzer, licking his wounds and showing strong associative behavior.
Maya has been a great dominant partner to Grizzer, supporting him through active dominance and grooming his healing head. She is also very likely to pair mark with Grizzer, showing an RLU that is equal to Grizzer's height. It is interesting to watch Maya's trigger points for dominance. Aidan can be rallying with the pack, but a RLU from Aidan or an excitable playbow and jaw spar, and Maya is there in a flash to remind him of the omega position. Aidan takes it in stride, often seeking refuge in the den, only to come right back out and foreleg stab Maya, following her all the way across the enclosure.
Maya continues to be a bit tense, and somewhat unpredictable, but the pack seems to have adjusted to her attitude. Even Shadow knows when to get out of her way, although Maya did inadvertently knock him over on a recent run for Aidan. One thing for sure, her behavior has been instrumental in teaching the pups the meaning of rank order.
Maya is settling down a bit, although Aidan is still a bit weary of her new found calm behavior. It is nice to have a season of calm. We do give Maya credit, her presence this winter helped keep the pups in line, and ultimately reduced the risk of testing for status in the male rank order. This may be the help Shadow needs to maintain his status as a 9 year old. The 1993 litter was retired by 9 1/2 years of age, with Maya being so dominant this winter, we see no indication of the pups moving up in rank.
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