Nyssa and Maya spent the week alternating between raucous play and noisy dominance behaviors. She is still very vocal in both play and food defense. Nyssa spent some time this week watching visitors to the center through the auditorium window, and was observed jumping up to capture an icicle dangling from the center's roof.
If you read the other logs, you will notice that Nyssa's getting a bit of dominance focus from the pack. Don't feel too sorry for her, she gives plently back, especially to Grizzer. Nyssa seems to be very independent and doesn't seem to seek much social interaction from the adult wolves. Maya is often observed in a submissive posture paying homage to Shadow, Nyssa is usually in their face snarling. This may have been influenced Shadow's behavior in favoring Maya. The female dominance role can go back and forth and may not be settled until they reach maturity between 19 and 24 months.
Nyssa continues to be the dominant force on a deer carcass. During Saturday's feeding on the 6th, Nyssa was quite vocal in her defense (probably to make up for her smaller size)… She showed aggressive dominance towards both Shadow and Malik. At this time, Malik and Shadow still back off, but as winter approaches, they will likely take a more defensive roll with the carcass and spend more time putting the pups in their place.
As the pups were being raised, personalities were developing. Most people would agree that Nyssa showed most dominance with the other pups especially around food. What is somewhat surprising is her skittish behavior towards activities in the main Exhibit. While the other wolves take things like wheelbarrows, student workers, rakes, shovels and rock hauling in stride, Nyssa has become exteremely nervous about people who are not part of the regular staff and activities that involve new objects. Her timid behavior often results in her avoiding the holding pen where the other wolves willingly enter, and leads her to retreat to the top of the enclosure to avoid the things that startle her. Even though these wolves are socialized, this skittish behavior is instinctual, and probably what allows wolves in the wild to survive a human dominated environment.
Nyssa seems to spend a fair share of her time with Grizzer. There's usually a chase or a grabbing of the neck scruff involved with the observations. Nyssa continues to be a bit skittish around new things, whereas Maya tends to be tolerant of the wolf care staff and all that they do. This may be why Maya is making ground over Nyssa in dominance. Nyssa's timid behavior may be perceived as a weakness that Maya takes advantage of.
We had an interesting response from Nyssa that we didn't expect. Last week, we put the heated winter waterer in the enclosure. Due to the fact that it needs to be in a concrete box to prevent the wolves from getting at the wiring, the waterer had to be wheeled in on a two wheel cart. Nyssa freaked at the movement of the cart and began hiding in the pack of the woods. She wouldn't even go into holding with the rest of the pack. (Grizzer playbowed to it and attempted to bite the tires). It took Nyssa almost a week to get over this experience, she was reluctant to approach any staff after the incident. It's just a reminder that wolves have instincts selected for the wild, and the activities of a human world are best to be avoided. Nyssa is back to normal today, but staff need to be conscientous of all activities in the pen to avoid negative conditioning.
Of all the wolf interactions, the dominance between Grizzer and Nyssa is most notable. Grizzer and Nyssa like to play rough and are ususally found biting each other with the full neck scruff in each others mouth. It's actually a technique wolf care staff have used when Grizzer is being mouthy; push Grizzer toward Nyssa and they go after each other. They both have the hide for it, and seem to seek each other out. Nyssa seems to be over her skittish behavior related to the wheeled carts, but this weekend is the Workin for Wolves weekend, where staff and program participants will be moving rock into the enclousure. Special attention will be paid to Nyssa to see how she deals with this.
Nyssa is a very confident wolf. She appears to do whatever she wants, whenever she wants to do it. The one thing she seems to enjoy is the attention of Shadow. There are many photos since the introduction showing Shadow and Nyssa face to face, either greeting, howling or just sharing a moment. Nyssa is quite the dominant pup when it comes to a deer carcass. She still dominates the feeding program and has no concern about taking on Shadow or Malik. Shadow, being more of the caregiver role in the pack, allows the pups to eat whatever they want without too much contact. Malik, doesn't seem to be as patient, and often tries to grab the carcass and run, usually facing the wrath of Nyssa. When staff enter the enclosure, Nyssa jumps right up on the rock to get her greeting, even if it means pushing another wolf off. Last week, Grizzer returned the favor, rolling Nyssa off the back side of the rock to the ground.
Nyssa is 55 days old today. She was very content, playing by herself with all toys and a deer bone. Outside she was being chased and tackled aggressively by Maya and Grizzer. She ran into the dogloo and stood her ground in the entrance. Neither Grizzer or Maya attempted to go in or challenge her. later,a loud motorcycle went by and Nyssa got scared. She stopped playing and ran up and down the fence, then started looking for somwhere to hide. She then got up and sat on top of the log in the center of the pen. She was anxious for about 5-10 minutes. She calmed down but any noise seemed to startle her for a while afterward.
Today Nyssa is 49 days old. When the pups went outside, in the early excitement, Nyssa was ganged up on by Maya and Grizz. As the play continued, she was an equal participant in the chase in which the prize was a pig's ear. Nyssa did very well during the programs. She controlled some deer hide and vigorously defended it from Maya using growls and snaping at her. She chewed on it for the duration of the programs, and had to be taken out of the pen with it in her mouth. She was trying to run back into the pen after we took her out. Nyssa consistently seems to be the least phased by public programs, occupying herself with various toys, or sleeping next to a nanny.
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.