The most noteable point in the log about Maya is the increased focus on Nyssa. Originally, staff thought Maya's submissive behavior would make her a natural omega of the pack. But lately, Shadow has been paying a lot of attention to Maya and almost favoring her in interactions. This seems to have boosted Maya's confidence and her response is to show more dominance over Nyssa. Maya has been observed stalking Nyssa and doing hind quarter grabs as Nyssa runs with the rest of the pack. The establishment of the female role may go back and forth until the pups reach maturity between 18 and 24 months. It is clear that the influence of the other wolves may have an impact on the outcome. If Shadow favors Maya, this may help Maya establish her dominant role.
Maya has definitely been gaining status. The most noteable issue is that Shadow seems to favor her, which is probably helping Maya. In size, Maya is similar in height to Grizzer making her harder to distinguish, but if there's a gray pup intently staring at Nyssa, stalking her, you can almost guarantee it's Maya. Grizzer just comes over and lands on her, while Maya is much more stealth.
Maya is the most interesting pup for wolf care staff to work with. Our initial reading of her submissive behavior led us to believe that she would assume the lower ranking role without question. Were we wrong; Maya is very adept at making her presence and status known to Nyssa. The most interesting observation to note during these dominance displays is the tail postures. Maya not only holds her tail high, she also has a slight wag of excited stimulus and actually looks like the dominance behavior toward Nyssa has a social greeting component. The other wolves see that and are encouraged to display social behavior towards Maya. Nyssa usually has a stiff body posture, looking intimidated. Shadow continues to favor Maya in these situations. Usually, when the females are dominanting each other, the males tend to keep their distance. Except Grizzer, who has been observed trying to roll over on the females, getting their attention for a few moments.
Maya and Nyssa were not part of the recent medical exam, and were left in the main enclosure while the males visited the vet. They did fine without the others, but were interested in them when they returned. Maya actually did a ride-up on Grizzer, but wasn't too intense. Maya sought Shadow out when he returned to the enclosure, and laid on the hill with him during the late afternoon and evening after the exam. Maya has been noted as being more dominant over Nyssa and Shadow has shown more interest in hanging out with Maya. We don't think the rank order decision has been made with these females.
Maya continues to be gentle and sweet with the wolf care staff, but you won't convince Nyssa of that. The two female pups spent the week alternating between play and bouts of dominance behaviors. The role of dominant female has not yet been decided, but Maya seems to be on top this week.
Maya seems very content with her role in the pack. Several times throughout the day, she seems to find herself on the bottom of a Grizzer, Nyssa pile. She seems to willingly take their grief and jaw spars back with them. She's very exploratory in the enclosure. The other day, one of the wolves (not sure who) injured a Raven during the night. The Raven had managed to fly to a branch on the white pine in the front of the exhibit. It sat up there through the night (there was a group observing) and throughout the 8 am wolf check. Maya and Shadow sat at the base of the tree watching the Raven. By around 9 am , Shadow was observed running from the tree with the Raven in his mouth. It must have fallen out of the tree. A short time later, Maya ran into the woods, a scuffle was heard, and she came back with the Raven. She defended it from all the wolves, and took it into the den to guard.
Maya is doing well, there was some concern that her submissive behavior would have been a focus of the pack, but she seems to be able to avoid situations that may result in a mobbing. She is quite content to go off by herself and chew on a bone (that she is very able to defend) and wait for the other wolves to greet before approaching staff. Her coat is very full and healthy. She appears to be gaining length more than the other wolves, but no noticeable height growth, she is still shorter than Grizzer.
Today's wolf log written by Kim Wheeler – Workin' for Wolves 2004 There was a lot of work done in the exhibit enclosure this weekend. The wolves were moved to the pup enclousure, Maya was a little stressed by some of the noises and new people, she was very inquisitive when she returned to the exhibit enclosure. I think she like the new rocks put around the pond. Not having seen Maya for 3 months, I was amazed at what a beautiful wolf she has become and she is the sweetest wolf (sorry Lori I had to break the rules)
Maya enjoyed the weekend snowfall and managed to get the deer head from the other pups before Malik stole it and dominated it. In a series of photos taken, Maya is observed racing around the pen, rolling in the new snowfall and occassionally rolling on top of the deer head. Despite her two overactive pupmates, she manages to get enough food and fun.
I hope you all had a great holiday season. The wolves weathered the holiday well considering the December 26th – 9 am wolf check was -34 degrees below zero. On New Year's day, nearly 10 inches of snow fell creating a great diversion for the wolves (the pups love fresh snow) and many hours of work for the curator. Enjoy the winter photos…
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.