Groan was chasing after Grizz when he ran away with the beaver tail. Both Grizz and Groan are improving in their running coordination.Groan was very anxious and made continued attempts to climb out of the bucket, bag, and sling, therefore could not get an accurate weight. Groan became anxious and started whining, howling, and panting. Gave her ice water, which she lapped out of the bowl, and ice cubes, which she licked. Also put a sled with water into the pen. She climbed in it and urinated in the water. She appeared to enjoy walking in it and splashing it with her paws. Groan was very anxious during program and constantly whined and climbed on gate to get out. Was not able to be distracted with stimulus items. Groan did well during most of the next program and engaged in tug-of-war with Grizz with a beaver tail. She explored pup pen and appeared relaxed and at ease. Half way through her feeding Groan got the hiccups and then quit feeding.
Today Groan is 41 days old and it was a unique one in her life. She was officially named "Maya" to coincide with her May 5, or "Cinco De Maya," birth date. Young Maya displayed an interesting behavior in her still distant relationship with Shadow and Malik, the Center's adult Arctic wolves. During the "Morning with the Pups" program, Maya showed keen interest in the Arctics as they began to howl in recognition of the pups' presence through the glass on the floor of the Center's Auditorium where she entertained and interacted with a group of 30 visitors to the Center. After the program, she was taken to the outdoor enclosure and greeted the Arctics at the shared fenceline with a wagging tail and flat ears. As we continue to wean the pups off bottled formula, Maya's interest in the bottle continues to diminish.
Today Groan is 40 days old. Recently, her dominance attempts over Nubee have declined, and she has been observed in full submission with Nubee standing over her. She has been anxious during the 11 a.m. programs and is not easily distracted with stimulus items. She seems to settle down and do better in the afternoon programs. Groan shows increasing signs of wanting to be outside. She whines, howls, and makes attempts to climb up to the windowsill in the pup pen. When taken out to the outdoor pup pen, she explores and investigates the pup enclosure with vigor. She also greets Malik & Shadow at the shared fenceline with a wagging tail and flat ears. Groan is a "climber" and likes high places. She likes to climb atop logs and rocks, both in the indoor and outdoor pup pens. Groan is also exhibiting head-shaking behaviors when grabbing Grizz and Nubee.
Today Maya is 43 days old. She is quickly becoming weaned from the bottle to weaning formula. In the past week, she has appeared to be less dominant over Grizz and Nyssa and more tolerant of their domination attempts. When she is in the auditorium during pen cleaning or in the outdoor pup pen, she greets Shadow and Malik enthusiastically with a wagging tail and flat ears. Maya exhibits more confidence in new situations than Grizz and Nyssa and does not appear to be bothered by large crowds during programs.
Maya has been very social lately, also likely a response to the increased hormonal surge that seems to be going on lately. This is the prime time of the year for wolf breeding, and even though our pack is spayed and neutered, there cycle of hormones seems to follow the same schedule. One interesting behavior that Maya displays is pair bonding with Shadow. Video and images in the past few weeks demonstrate this strong social behavior between the pack leaders.
May's image and video this week demonstrate a body posture termed "ponytail ears" in the Ethogram. This means that she is so submissive, that her ears are positioned so far on the back of her head that they appear to be pulled back in a ponytail. She is very submissive to Shadow and frequently greets him with a full face licking. Shadow is very tolerant when Maya greets, but when Grizzer joins in, he is likely to do a soft or hard muzzle bite to curb the excitement.
This week has been extremely warm for Ely, Minnesota standards with temperatures nearing 90 degrees and humidity exceeding 80%. It has been extremely hard on the wolves, and wolf care staff are doing what they can to make them comfortable. Wolves have are covered in hair and don't have sweat glands at the surface of their skin, resulting in a cooling mechanism of panting to evaporate heat and moisture off the surface of their tongue. This isn't a very efficient method in high humidity. Each wolf has distinct tolerances of heat, and has their own method for cooling. <br> Maya is a swimmer, who frequently takes a dip in the pond to cool off. Lately, she's been kept out of the den by Grizzer and possibly Aidan. This is an interesting dynamic, and certainly causes Maya a bit of redirected aggression when the temperatures finally do cool off at night.
Staff have noticed a change in Maya, being far more social. During wolf care today, Maya submitted for one of the staff members and stayed in a submissive posture with Denali on the rock above her. Of course, that only lasted less than 5 minutes as Denali rolled off the rock and landed on Maya, but it was quiet time, at least for a few minutes. It is interesting to watch Maya as she interacts with the pack, and for those of us who raised her from a pup, we need to remind ourselves how timid Maya was as a pup. She would squat urinate from 10 feet away as she approached staff, and she was clearly subordinate to Nyssa. It's hard to believe that she's the same wolf, but Shadow's interest in her boosted her confidence, and look at her today. There's hope for Aidan after all. Maya's down a bit in weight, weighing 85 lbs, down from the 89 lbs in April, but that is typical of summer.
The following log was written by Wolf Watch Observer: Peggy Peregrine<br><br> Maya is definitely the wolf that is very observant of the pack and the surroundings. She is always on alert and investigates sounds and movements inside as well as outside of the enclosure. Maya showed much more tolerance of Aidan than she has earlier in the week, with no chasing behavior observed during our observation period. This week's photo shows Maya rubbing under Aidan's chin, a social acceptance behavior. During our watch, Maya showed a brief submissive roll over to Aidan and Denali. Aidan and Maya spent the night together in the rock den, is this the beginning of an alliance? <br> Note from the Curator <br><br> As a reminder, the Wolf Watch program will be scheduled the first Thursday of the month until the pack dynamics settles into some defined leadership. For more information, check out the Program tab on the website under Seminars…
Maya has been very active guarding food in the enclosure, including beaver and deer carcasses. The wet, cooler weather has increased the wolves appetite, and the twice a week feedings have been a big benefit for Grizzer and Maya.
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