Maya is showing more courage today. She remains the most timid, but she doesn't submit as readily, or take as long to relax after a dominance bout. She has become more consistent at winning food possession battles, even from Malik. (Shadow rarely tries to take things from the pups). She is beginning to carry her tail near the mid-back rather than low on her haunches.
Maya had quite an active morning. While Nyssa and Grizzer were gnawing on bones and bits of carcass, Maya initiated play by stealing Grizzer's food and shaking it at him to get him to chase her, giving the food up easily, only to steal it again. While he was trying to chache some food by a tree, she was mobbed by Grizzer and Nyssa. When she started to whine, the arctics came around and distracted Nyssa and Grizzer. On her third attempt she succeeded in chaching the food. She spent part of the morning sleeping on the greeting rock.
Maya defended a cache against Shadow. She vocalized and snapped at him and he left her alone. She seems to show less fear towards the arctics than she experienced on the first day of the introduction. She no longer runs away when being dominated, but willingly rolls over. She does show a bit of intimidation when the retired wolves howl. She tends to run back and forth to the Arctics looking for contact. As the arctics howl, she nervously runs away from them. Behavioral Observation team members noticed that Maya is more anxious after dark. On the first night, she stayed close to the building, she frequently put her head up to listen for the other wolves, but didn't join them. Later, she curled up with Grizzer.
Maya is gaining more confidence around the arctics. Today she was running and playing with Grizzer and Nyssa for a long time. She was walking on the stones in front of the obsrvation room, trying to catch some grasshopers. She managed to defend a beaver tail from Grizzer and Maya, and ran around the pen until Malik chased her. She rolled over and Malik started licking her while Shadow was nibbling her back. As fall approaches and the curator goes back to full-time employment at the college, wolf logs will be posted only once a week.
Maya is doing well, she's taken to sunning herself on the main webcam rock. She had a bit of an issue with Lori Schmidt today. As enclosure work was being completed, Lori took off her coat. When the wolves were released back into the pack, Maya was very excited to see bare arms and not the typical wolf coat. This is a great reminder to staff that little changes we make affect a wolves behavior. Long sleeve coats are the standard protocol and should be followed.
Written by Workin' For Wolves program participants Susan Meyers and Ann Briem: Maya showed interest in the Workin' For Wolves crew by approaching the fenceline to investigate upon our arrival. Upon completion of work in the main enclosure, the Ambassador pack was released from the holding pen. Maya displayed searching behavior by locating enrichment items left by the crew (and offered an amusing moment when she passed one item left in the open three separate times). Despite their seemingly relaxed nature through most of the weekend, there were three episodes of bark-howling and group howling, clear signs of a stress response to human presence. During each episode, Maya immediately placed herself in close proximity to Shadow, with her ears pricked back and tail tucked in a T4 tail position.
Maya had a bit of a hormonal surge last week that kept her intensity high, but the males seemed to tolerate it well. Shadow was especially tolerant of the sometimes unpredictable jaw sparring mood of Maya. In this week's video, she finds a cache in the snow and is watchful of the other woves presence. Wolves pelage's have a great water and snow repellent capability. In this week's photo, Maya gives a full body shake to remove the layer of wet snow caught in her guard hairs, keeping her undercoat dry.
Maya can best be described as alert and always investigating. I know we've said it before, but she has a predatory instinct that is easily stimulated. Whether it's stalking Grizzer, ravens or snowflakes, she's very efficient in a stalk, lunge, chase behavioral sequence.
I know I promised not to say this again, but Maya is the sweetest wolf to work with. Nyssa may have another opinion as Maya can be somewhat intense when dominating, but she sure is tolerant of the human social companions. Maya is very skilled at the small details that go on within the dynamics of the wolf pack. In this photo, you will see Maya with the direct eye contact technique to control Nyssa's behavior.
There are no significant behavioral issues to report this week. All wolves seem to be enjoying the fresh snow which seems to fall daily. The only issue is the depth of snow and the height of fences (especially the retired enclosure). The wolf care staff are continually shoveling the winter waterers, paths and gates to ensure that day to day operations can continue. This week's log photos are reminder's of the days, months and years of care that's been delivered at the IWC. When winter arrives (as it has this year), the work can sometime seem overwhelming. Staff often talk about the good old pup days (we forget how much work pups are when the snow flies) Enjoy the pup pictures…
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