Maya seemed to be interacting more with Grizzer today and less submissive. She initiated play with Grizzer several times, biting him on the hind leg, biting his head and muzzle and he rolled over a couple times. She then pounced on Nyssa, getting Nyssa to roll over. Yesterday, it seemed that Nyssa and Grizzer were interacting more and today it seems that Maya and Grizzer are interacting more.
Exciting afternoon for Maya, Queen of the Mountain. After a little hesitation over nannies bringing in a wheelbarrow full of rocks, she decided it was too much of an adventure to miss out on. She climbed up on the rocks in the barrow and practiced getting her footing, taunting Grizzer with her elevated importance. Finally the other two pups joined her, but you could tell. Maya is a natural rock climber. Grab those caribiners and let's go! After such afternoon, it was difficult to get an accurate weight on her.
Today Maya is 79 days old. Maya had an intense fear reaction to the sound of the weedeater. She tucked her tail and ran to the corner of the fence. As the weedeater moved away, she seemed to calm down and began to play with some birch bark and other toys. When the wheelbarrow passed by, she showed no fear of that and went right up to the fence to investigate it with her packmates.
Today Maya is 80 days old. Maya seemed very irritable with wolf care staff. On several occasions she bared her teeth and snapped at staff, which is abnormal behavior for Maya. Generally Maya is very submissive with staff. When she greeted Malik and Shadow she was very submissive to them. When Shadow approached her she laid on back and urinated on a rock. Also, when Malik and Shadow began to howl Maya ran up to the fence and joined in on the howl. Grizzer and Nyssa were showing dominant behavior over Maya today as well. Both of her littermates chased her around the pen as Maya was showing a tucked tail position.
Today Maya is 82 days old. Maya, in comparison to Shadow and Malik at 82 days of age, is 1 and a half and two and a half pounds heavier, respectively. Maya's appetite wasn't very good today, but staff think it might have to do with the heat. Maya would eat almost a cup of meat before she would take bites and begin to cache them around the enclosure. After this evenings' meal, Maya noticed Malik scent rolling right next to the fence. She ran up to the fence and watched him intently, whining, and wagging her tail.
Maya is 69 days old today. Since the transition from the bottle to the weaning formula. The pups have had a reoccuring problem with digestion of meats. Several diet changes and medications were administered and today was the first solid meat stool from the pups since the weaning. The pups remained active throughout and fecals showed not parasite problems, but the change in diet can be tiring, not to mention hard to get familiar with different tastes.
Today Maya is 75 days old. Maya continues to be the most 'mellow' of the pups. She has not yet snapped or growled at any of the nannies, and is very submissive towards them. Maya greets new people very well, and shows no signs of stress of crowds, especially in the Pup 101 programs. Even when Grizzer and Nyssa get stressed, Maya continues to chew on her toys and be calm. During the heat of the day, pups were let into the wolf lab to cool down. After some exploring (which involved knocking over the trash can) Maya laid down under a desk and rested.
Maya rests on top of the den as Shadow rests in the opening. Maya and Shadow are frequently found together. Over the weekend we noticed that Maya has developed negative behavior towards entering the holding pen. She hesitates when going through the door. Wolves are wary of things over their heads. Staff needs to be aware of this change in her behavior.
Maya is 46 days old today. As of lately Maya has been doing very well during programs. She often occupies her time during the programs playing with ice, toys, and beaver feet and tails. Today during the 11:00 am program she played tug of war with Grizz over a beaver tail. Maya was very vocal when Grizz tried to take the tail and she displayed lots of aggressive-growling directed at Grizz. When the pups were brought out to the outside puppy pen Maya ran up to greet Malik and Shadow and at that point she rolled over in submission. Maya likes to spend her outside pen time climbing on rocks and logs, den digging and greeting the arctics (Malik and Shadow) through the fence. Maya and Grizz have been frequently teaming togehter in dominance interactions over Nyssa, but despite Nyssa's smaller size she fights hack with great vigor.
Maya is 48 days old today. Maya was chasing a squeaky toy soccer ball along with Grizz & Nyssa. She was also playing tug-of-war Grizz with a blanket. Maya does more pouncing on the other pups… much more predatory stalking as well
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