Maya has had several observations this week of her in a submissive roll over (on her back) with Denali and in social interactions with Aidan. Certainly Shadow's intensity has caused her to show some timid behavior. Her photo this week shows her with Denali, shows very her (and Denali's) ears flat back in response to Shadow and Grizzer.
It's the start of the 25th anniversary celebration weekend, and the Youtube Posting will be delayed until Monday to show some of the weekend events. Maya has been observed doing a lot of blocking around Shadow. This means she blocks Denali, Aidan and even Grizzer from riding up on Shadow or interacting. It also means that she is working twice as hard in dominance with Shadow's more subdued behavior. The transition of Shadow into retirement may relieve some of Maya's stress, which ultimately affects Aidan.
Maya has some very social moments with staff, particularly the wolf curator. This is the second week in a row that she did some intense whining, jumping and greeting much more characteristic of a pup than of a 6 year old adult. This is likely hormonally influenced, and as we have said before, the summer season is the calmest season. Maya has also shown much more social behavior towards Denali, which is something relatively new for her.
Maya has been very calm since Shadow's retirement, and while we have no actual proof that her stress levels have decreased (cortisol samples are being collected for future analysis), her behavior seems to support our theory that Shadow's decline may have been contributing to Maya's redirected aggression. The following observations were made by Ethology Students: Nancy Dreschel, Jen Falkowski, David Martin, Jennie Morris, Jess Ohnmacht, Jack Shero. <br> Maya appears to be fairly relaxed this week even with the changes in the hierarchy of the pack. Maya has participated with the pack in responding to rally howls initiated from Shadow from retirement. One interesting interaction included Maya pinned Grizzer while Aidan pinned Denali about ten feet away. Aidan and Maya held the pins for several seconds. Also, two times this week Aidan and Maya were seen parallel gaiting together.
Maya continues to be the most social with the pups. She did a full submossive roll over at the gate, presenting and lifting her back leg to Attila who was at the gate before a program. Attila responded by rolling over, pawing up at Maya and whining. Of course, this was all through two protective fences, but in less than 2 months, this will likely be the behaviors that we see the pups display.
Maya is an important component to this pack cohesiveness. She interacts well with her littermate (Grizzer), respects her dominant co-leader (Shadow), and spends time with the omega (Malik). One of the most interesting benefits of working with and studying socialized captive wolf behavior, is the opportunity to recognize the different roles displayed by each wolf. Each wolf is unique and has a place in the pack structure that is unduplicated. In this week’s video clip, you will see Maya taking a relaxing moment in the enclosure, but note the multiple ear postures, each position expresses a different communication. Staff can only interpret, but the off to the side airplane ears mean intimidation, ears pricked forward mean interest and ears flat back may mean fear or anxiety.
There are been many comments about the new den camera, some positive and some negative, thank you all for your emails, I am always striving for ways to keep people connected to the wolves. As I spoke about in earlier logs, the addition of the new camera is a transitional phase to give the Center some time to work out the kinks of a webcam delivery before the pups arrive. ElyMinnesota.com will keep hosting the main greeting rock camera, but the retired camera will likely move over to our site soon. The hope is to purchase a third camera that can be placed in the wolf lab for the pup’s arrival (May 2008), then follow the pups around until they are placed in the exhibit pack (around August 2008). At that time, we would put the pup camera in the Exhibit pack overlooking the rock and host all webcams on our site. In the mean time, you may have to go back and forth between the two sites. I know this may be inconvenient, but the transitional plan is a responsible way for us to test the waters on webcam delivery without giving up on people’s access. I worked all day last Saturday, and the wolves seemed to trade off the top spot on the den. It really is a position of status as to who gets den time. But, as summer approaches, the wolves are more likely to retreat to the cooler, forested parts of the enclosure, out of any camera range.
Maya is doing well, still showing signs of being excitable and physically wanting contact, a sign of hormones that are still at higher levels. She continues to be very social with all of her pack mates and is a wolf best known for marking items. If there’s anything left in the Enclosure, she’s bound to find it and do modified raised leg urination on the items, whether its food, tools, gloves, straw… etc. Maya has been a great addition to the exhibit demonstrating many wolf behaviors.
Maya's intensity as a dominant female is waning with the season, and her social response to Aidan seems to be increasing. She does stand and allow Aidan to sniff her, which is much different than earlier this winter. We are certainly mindful of the dynamics one individual wolf can have on the pack.
Maya, as the only female in the exhibit, demonstrates a modified RLU or Modified raised leg urination. This means that she squats to mark, but partially lifts her back leg. She is demonstrating that on the cedar chips on the den, and if you ever observe a Center program entitled “What’s for Dinner, she will mark several times during a feeding. There was a noteworthy point in the staff logs this week. Maya has been doing some digging in search of a rodent that is hiding in the rock area. A group of volunteers from the Twin Cities office was visiting the Center last weekend, and they watched Maya dig a hole under some rocks until only her tail was visible. Staff hauled rocks and logs over the hole, but until the squeaking rodent decides to leave the safety of these rocks, Maya’s predatory instinct will motivate her to dig.
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.