Today, Groan is 21 days old. She has been engaging in more play behavior and is starting to jaw spar with Grizz. Both Groan and Grizz were sniffing staff member's shirt after she completed wolf care with Malik and Shadow.
Today, Groan is 20 days old. She had attempted to escape out the wolf lab enclosure space by the corner of the gate. She watched staff exit, then ran for the door and attempted to put her head through the door, but failed in her escape attempt.
Maya's behavior has calmed a bit, with more social interactions with Shadow and not as much focus on Aidan. Denali gets a few dominance reminders from Denali, possibly because Shadow is showing more significant focus on Denali. The relationships among the wolves dictate the day to day interactions, which is why anyone working at this job is always in training.
Maya is in true form as a dominant female that is a bit wired. The hormonal tension among females tends to be greater than males, theorizing that the females control reproduction and the numbering of litters. Even in a spayed and neutered exhibit, Maya actively shows dominance and suppresses any signs of the other wolves being too social. Aidan seems to be the focus and as we approach the most aggressive month for wolves, Maya seems to be stalking Aidan. She will lay behind a rock and watch Aidan (Aidan knows she's watching) and if he gets to active, she stalks across the enclosure and pounces on him. This is why we manage one female at a time.
Maya is doing well, she’s spending more time with the pack interacting and of course, spending time with Grizzer. There haven’t been any real noteworthy behavioral items lately, just the investigation in the pond ice and subsequent thawing.
Maya does get her fair share of food, and if there’s a predatory move in the pack, it’s usually her. The incidents with Grizzer go both ways. Maya is as likely to grab Grizzer by the scruff and do a head shake as Grizzer does to here. These two have an extremely strong bond due to the fact that they are littermates.
Maya has calmed a bit since her dominance behavior began in October. This could have just been a surge in hormones that produced this behavior, or it could have been a necessary part of the learning process for Aidan. Now that Aidan has learned to roll in submission for Maya, there is less intensity for him. Maya has also been observed showing some strong social interaction with Shadow, rubbing under his chin, riding up on his back, doing playbows and active submission behavior. This is all part of the winter pair bonding behavior for the dominant pair. Even though this pack is spayed and neutered, the ritualized dominance and bonding is an instinct. Shadow has been tolerant of Maya, but sometimes, he just wants to get away from her. After the loss of Lakota, we thought it was important for the pack to investigate the Retired Enclosure and to give them an opportunity to increase their stimulus by exploring. Maya was the most communicative towards Lakota, frequently whining at the fence when Lakota was in the wolf yard. It is hard to know what wolves perceive, but Maya's attentions toward the Retired Enclosure have decreased since the scheduled visits began. A video of their time in the Retired Enclosure was posted on YouTube.
Maya has become much more relaxed in the last few weeks. The first rush of winter hormones generally results in a higher intensity interaction, but as winter settles in, she is much better with Aidan. We have also started to notice her social bonding behavior with Shadow. This includes parallel gates, intense facial licking and submitting to Shadow. Shadow takes it in stride, but there are times when her ride-up behavior is a bit to much and he dominates her. What's most interesting, is that Aidan is right next to Shadow during these times, and greets Maya when she's submissive to Shadow.
Maya is once again going through the ritual of solicitation behavior towards Shadow. This is a common social behavior between a dominant pair, and while it is usually associated with breeding, we see it in a captive facility with spayed and neutered wolves as well. We spoke about this last week, and will probably continue to see it for the next several months. It puts Maya in a better mood, which is good for Aidan. A new YouTube video has been posted showing scenes from the early winter in Ely.
Due to the weekend blizzard and the resulting time spent shoveling and blowing snow, the wolf logs will all be the same today. Despite windchills in the 30 to 40 below range and nearly a foot of snow, the wolves are doing great. These are animals that are clearly adapted to winter environments and they are much more comfortable than during a warm summer day. Staff provide straw beds to give them a comfortable place to rest and insulates them from the cold ground, the dens are dry and well covered in straw, but unless the wind is bad, the wolves usually don't use the densites. Staff make sure there are plenty of scraps available for a quick snack, and the water heaters are monitored daily to ensure there is always a fresh, warm source of water. We are aware of some issues with the pond cam's exposure problems, and we are doing some adjusting to see if we can repair it, thanks for your emails about the issue. I hope to get a youtube video posted later in the week, filmed on a -26 below morning to show the activity levels of the wolves in these temperatures.
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