Maya finished her heat cycle and has calmed down her dominance a bit. Nyssa never did come into heat, and has taken the role of the lower ranking female quite well. Nyssa tends to avoid drawing attention to herself. When she gets excited and does a play bow, Maya is right on her tail. The good thing for Nyssa is that there are 3 other wolves in the pack to draw Maya's attention. In this week's photo, Maya shows her high tail status to the boys of the pack.
Maya is back to a bit of her submissive self when it comes to greeting staff. The hormonal surge of her heat cycle is decreasing and she's not been as dominant with Nyssa. When she greets staff, she has flat ear posture and quickly rolls over to present her belly for some scratches and a good opportunity for a physical inspection. Her biggest problem is keeping Grizzer from helping with the inspection when she's down on the ground.
Maya is doing very well, and seems to be most likely to greet in a submissive posture. Between the two females, Maya is the best choice for the dominant female when it comes to ease of handling. While Nyssa readily approaches staff and does allow for handling, she is still a bit skittish. Often the pack dynamics tone is set by the dominant wolves, so it's nice to have a calm dominant female.
Maya has completed her estrus cycle and she seems a lot easier to live with (at least that's what Nyssa says). Maya was very submissive to wolf care staff and spent alot of time on her back getting scratched. She continues to have the intense stare down behavior, but she doesn't seem to follow through with the lunging behavior. She continues to be the dominant female in the group.
If you would have asked any of the wolf care personnel, nannies or volunteers if the submissive pup named Maya would one day be dominating Nyssa for the top female role, the answer would probably have been no. The maturing of Maya into a dominant female has been the most interesting pup development as they mature into their first year of life. Maya is very determined and very good at stalking, pouncing, pinnning and overall posturing as a dominant wolf. So far, Shadow seems to favor her endeavors and sometimes encourages her.
Sorry for the lapse in logs, I was at 2 professional conferences in the last two weeks; Wolf Care staff took great care of the wolves in my absence. I gave the Exhibit Pack a bison hide for entertainment while I was gone, it seemed to do the trick. Maya gave wolf care staff an interesting surprise, on February 10th, staff noticed Maya began showing estrus bleeding, a sign that she had come into a heat cycle. This was a bit earlier than anticipated, usually wolves don't become sexually active until they're 18 – 24 months of age, but the higher nutrition and lack of a dominant female role can create a situation where an 8 month old pup can come into heat. We knew the pups were in good condition coming into the winter, so we took the precaution of neutering Grizzer in case there was an early heat cycle. Nyssa has not shown any signs of coming into heat, both females will be spayed in May '05.
Maya and Nyssa continue to increase their dominance intensity. They seem equally divided as far as who's on top, but Maya seems to be more focused than Nyssa. Some say that the direct eye contact of Maya is a reminder of the intense eye stare of a former wolf on site, Kiana. These dominance displays start quickly and often end just as quick. During a 1-hour wolf check today, Maya was on Nyssa 3 times, Nyssa was on Maya 4 times. With each time, Grizzer just tried to push his way in, but the females tended to ignore him. Shadow observed, but rarely got involved.
Again Maya's observations include reference to her dominance over Nyssa. On the 1st of December, staff write "Maya mounted Nyssa and held her while growling – observed twice in 5 minutes. Maya tail posture in T1 position (over the back erect) while Nyssa's tail was in T3 (low between the haunches). Shadow approached, but did not intervene"
Maya has certainly been a great animal to work with. Staff enjoy watching her develop as she finds her place in the pack. One thing noticeable is the strong social relationship she and grizzer maintain. Some research suggests that there's a tighter bond between genetic packmates than with other members of the pack. This seems to be the case when observing the three pups. Grizzer and Maya are true litter mates, while Nyssa is a cousin to them. Although, Grizzer and Nyssa have special momements as well. Grizzer just likes to roll around with another wolf, he's not too particular.
I promised myself that I would write a wolf log without saying how sweet Maya is. But, I can't do it. She is an amazing wolf to work with, she continues to display very social behavior to the handlers, preferring to sit at their feet and get her belly scratched rather than jump on people's heads like Grizzer. She still has a bit of sensitivity to a herniated belly button, but the Vet's say this should improve with age. Maya seems to be hold her own in food issues with Nyssa, and she has a tendency to start play behavior with Grizzer. Some ethologists theorize that the omega or bottom ranking pack members play an important role in the pack dynamics. Maya seems to be fitting that role well. One of the Center members sent us a note concerning the tuna in Maya's diet and the concern over potential mercury in tuna. During the time we used the tuna for Maya, we resticted it to two feeding per week. The reason we used tuna was to enhance her coat. The treatment seemed to work, she has as glossy of a coat as her littermates.
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