The wolf logs will contain the same text for each wolf, as snow conditions again dominate the staff's work load. The most noticeable snow issue was a recent clearing of the snow from the Center's roof. With over 2 feet of snow on the roof, and the predicted forecast of rain adding to the weight of the snow, the decision was made to shovel all the snow from the roof, which lands directly into the wolf enclosure. To avoid giving the wolves free access to the roof, the snow had to be blown out of the front of the enclosure, resulting in a large bank in the front of the exhibit, that is at least 8 feet from the roof line. You may have noticed increased activity in front of the pond cam, as the wolves have been very actively climbing and digging in the snow bank. The wolves have also been observed sliding down the snow bank, and pushing each other off the top of the hill. It is a great vantage point and wolves do enjoy the view from the top of the hill.
This past week, the curator was out of town attending conferences for the HP grant and the Society of American Foresters. While we manage with a style of multiple wolf care staff, the change in routine can have an impact on the wolves. To distract the pack from this change, items are given to provide them a behavioral outlet. Last week, a bison hide that was donated from a hunter was given to the pack on Monday. This provided a significant amount of behavior including tug of war, guarding behavior, active submission and dominance and overall excitement. Maya continued to display her stalking and lunging behavior that has become the tone of the winter. Whether it relates to keeping the other wolves from the hide or just a general stalk of Aidan, she has had many interesting displays this winter. Staff also noticed what appears to be a wart-like growth on her head. We will watch this as it progresses, but at this point are not concerned. MacKenzie had a similar growth on her foot for years, and other than occasionally biting it open, it never resulted in any problems. The full video clip of the bison hide will be included with the YouTube video this week.
The wolves are all doing well, and the wolf care staff certainly are appreciative of all the support from members and viewers of the wolf logs. As always, the wolf care staff will be doing wolf care throughout the holidays and people can rest assured that the wolves and wolf care will always main our first priority at the International Wolf Center. Have a great holiday season, and check out the Youtube video, it shows the pack in good spirits, especially Grizzer and Denali who have become great pals. Malik is joining in on pack howls, and has adjusted well to life in retirement.
Maya has started some more intense pair bonding with Shadow, but she seems to still show intense dominance over Aidan. While some people may harbor bad feelings towards Maya's behavior, it is important to accept them as wolves, and know that there are reasons why wolves see anxious behavior as a weakness. It's staff's job to manage the wolves to the best of our ability, and the key for Aidan is to keep the pack calm, and therefore, less anxious behavior for Aidan which makes him a target. As the YouTube video posted for the week will show, Maya likes to be in control of treats in the enclosure, and while she tends to take whatever Aidan drops, staff make sure Maya's pile is equally distributed.
Something has triggered Maya to be a bit more intense than usual this week. We're not sure what caused it, but we are seeing the effects on Aidan. I do notice that her behavior is still far more posturing than physical contact, usually it's eye stares and stalking, lunging behavior, but Aidan has been actively doing threat displays leading to more aggressive jaw sparring and contact. This is certainly something that we will monitor in the upcoming weeks, although it's her role as the dominant female to establish rank, and Aidan seems to be dealing with it by showing caution and positioning himself in safe areas of the enclosure.
When looking at Maya's photo this week, one can understand why she has developed such a dominant behavioral trait with the yearlings. Denali towers over Maya in height, so it is critical that she gains their respect as the dominant female. Maya has no problem with controlling the yearlings through vocalization, as you can see on the YouTube video, Aidan willingly submits or runs. Denali is more likely to confront, but quickly drops his ears when Maya's growling increases.
Maya continues to be the dominant pack female, but she has been calmer than in previous months. She does have the stalking behavior down, but what's been interesting, is that after a chase, Aidan runs right behind her, back to the action.
On Friday night, the pack received some venison scraps and a beaver for a program with the Lakehead University Mammalogy class that stayed overnight at the Center. The feeding was later in the evening, and there appeared to be something that startled the wolves over by the retired enclosure. They are quite familiar with wild wolves, and they didn't have the same response, this was more panic. Denali was especially startled and didn't eat, but Maya ran all the way into the retired enclosure with no intimidation. We don't know what was on the other side of the enclosure, but it was interesting behavior.
We would like to clarify that Maya isn't doing anything wrong when she dominates Aidan, she's just doing what a dominant wolf does. It's important that people learn about wolves, and appreciate wolves from a wolves perspective and not a human perspective. In the wild, females control the dominance rank order of the other females, and this dominance serves as population control keeping lower ranking females from breeding. When an instinct has such a strong connection to survival, it's difficult to calm in a captive situation. Staff may feel sympathetic to Aidan's tension from Maya, but it's important to understand Maya's behavior.
Maya has been observed in many social moments with Shadow, rubbing shoulders and doing some intense muzzle licking. This behavior will increase as the season advances. Shadow is receptive, but sometimes dominant towards Maya. Maya continues to keep Aidan in a subordinate, restrictive mode, but there are times when the two are observed in social greetings.
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.