It’s a busy week for the curator, so all the logs will have the same text: In the Exhibit Pack, there’s been a lot of raven activity around the left over food, and as Maya’s video shows, some ravens are caught by the wolves. Maya killed this raven that was too close to the carcass. Dominance in the Exhibit pack remains fairly calm. In Shadow’s video, you see him taking a leadership position on top of the den, moving with a high tail position toward the pack. He vocalizes to Grizzer and gets the response he was looking for. Malik continues to show signs of being a third ranking male, in his video, you see him watch Grizzer take a deer carcass up the hill. On Sunday’s feeding, staff fed 1 full deer and a second deer torso to ensure that everyone had plenty to eat. In the Retired Pack, Mackenzie has her good days and bad days. The video for MacKenzie shows one of her bad days, She prefers to rest in her straw bed and not interact with staff, but she shows submissive ear postures to the staff off camera. We are very watchful of these days and give her the respect and space that she needs. The day after that video, she had a great day with staff member, Matt Fetterer. She rolled over on her back and got a full massage from Matt, stretching all 4 legs to full extension for the full effect of the massage. Lakota’s change in antibiotics did the trick. The abscess has drained and she’s back to her playful self. On the same day as Mac was getting the massage from Matt, the curator was doing playbows with Lakota, as she raced around the pen and even jumped over the curator’s head. Of course, she was sitting on the ground, so it wasn’t that high of a leap, but for a wolf nearing 14, it was very limber.
Written by Workin' For Wolves program participants Michael Mallory and Cathy Gray: During Sunday's morning wolf check, Shadow showed anxiety at seeing oiur group near the fence. His tail dropped between his legs and he ran up the hill away from the fence as other pack members followed. As the others grew more comfortable, they returned by the fence area by the auditorium. Still uneasy, Shadow moved down, jumped on a rock and started to bark-howl. The rest of the pack gathered around him and chimed in. Due to this stress response, the curator asked us to leave the fence area out of sight. While the remainder of the Ambassador pack calmed down, Shadow, still agitated, continued to bark-howl until program participants were no longer visible.
While Shadow still has some intense fear-based dominance responses toward Grizzer, he often shows a timid ear posture when following Grizzer. Dominance continues to be a daily part of the Exhibit Pack. In this week’s video, you will see Shadow maintaining the important dominant role of watching out for the pack. Grizzer and Maya are relaxing on the straw, while Shadow is on alert.
As we’ve stated in earlier logs, Shadow is the object of some of Grizzer’s test, but most of the time, Grizzer focuses on Malik. The intensity is different when it’s Shadow. One thing I notice from the photos posted for Grizzer and Shadow is the Grizzer is not intimidated by Shadow and is willing to look Shadow right in the eye. Direct eye contact is also a sign of dominance, and something worthy of noting. In Shadow’s video this week, you will see Shadow prancing down the hill as he waits for the rest of the pack to come out of the woods. There’s a game of chase going on and while it started by Maya chasing Grizzer, it ended with Malik being followed by Grizzer, Maya and Shadow. For this particular moment, Shadow wasn’t the focus, so he shows the confidence of a high tail and good ear position.
Due to time constraints, there will be one log posted for all. Spring has arrived, causing significant snow melt filling the pond in the main Exhibit Pack enclosure. The colder weather quickly followed and created an ice covered pond that the wolves have been enjoying. Initially, they tested the ice for stability, now they run across without consideration. More snow fell on Sunday night, requiring new straw beds and more shoveling. Dominance was calming down, but this new snowfall stimulated the pack again. The dominance seems to be focused toward Malik, but Shadow is alert and assertive if Grizzer shows and testing behavior. In this week’s photos, Jacky Fallon from the Minnesota Zoo provides two great photos showing the dominance hierarchy and Shadow’s strong role when leading the pack in howls.
Shadow surely takes the lead in communicating for the pack. He is first to sense any external threat, in this week’s photo, he was howling in response to wild wolves that howled from the wooded area behind the enclosure. He postures himself on top of the main rock and faces the direction of the intruders. He is still very social with Maya and Grizzer, if Grizzer allows it, but it is clear his confidence has been decreased this winter. When Grizzer is behind him, he tucks his tail and attempts to whirl around and face him. This causes Grizzer excitement and intensifies the interaction. There have been no physical bites between the males this winter and that’s a good sign. Dominance between wolves can sometimes be more physical. Our hopes are for continued pack compatibility through next winter and the presence of the 2008 pups will bring the focus on the young and not on the weaknesses of the older animals.
As brothers, there continues to be camaraderie between Shadow and Malik. Shadow also maintains a strong bond with Maya as the dominant (and only) female in the pack. Grizzer and Shadow do have social moments, but Shadow’s anxiety over Grizzer’s testing tends to reduce the social play behavior between these two. Over the past week, the staff has noticed that Shadow is back to his “playful behavior of spring and summer. When the hormones transition from testosterone in the fall and winter to prolactin in the spring and summer, the behavioral change is most noticeable in Shadow. He’s always been a good pack leader, initiating social contact among the individuals. He’s started this behavior again, but Grizzer still pushes the dominance a bit, causing Shadow to get defensive. This will likely change in the upcoming months, overall, this pack is very compatible with one another. In the video for this week, you will see Maya give a full greeting to Shadow, while Malik growls at Grizzer.
In the past logs, we have made reference to Shadow’s willingness to interact socially in what’s been termed “Play behavior. We put the word “Play in quotations, because there are some Ethologists that debate if wolves play. They believe that wolves’ behavior is a function of instinctual survival, and that every action has a reason or motivation tied to an instinct of survival. Play is often termed for no specific reason or for the fun of it. In some aspects, our observations would have to agree with the Ethologists. While we say Shadow is in a playful mood, what we are really saying is that Shadow is willingly stimulating social contact within the pack and creating pack cohesiveness of the social group. If wolves are hunting prey much larger than themselves or raising a litter of pups that need a good food source to maintain an incredibly fast growth rate, wouldn’t pack cohesiveness and stimulating social behavior be a function to making for a more efficient hunting unit? Regardless of the theory, Shadow was the most likely wolf to stimulate social interaction when Grizzer and Maya were introduced in 2004, and he continues that behavior today. His video shows his command of his position by high tail body posture and eye contact.
One event that happened this week is the launching of the Center’s new Web cam that features a view from the top of the den. The den top is a favorite resting spot for wolves during the winter months. The cooler temperatures inside the den make it a favorite during the summer months, and we often have wolves lying in the doorway of the den when the temperatures increase. We would like to acknowledge one of our members, Johanna Goering, for donating this new camera and the resources necessary for bringing it to our website. Our plan is switch the retired pack camera to the Center’s website and, after fundraising efforts, get a camera that can follow the activities of the new pups in 2008 and thereafter reside in the Exhibit Pack. As we move through this transition, you can still find the existing webcams hosted by www.elyminnesota.com. In this week’s video, you see Shadow show food defense threat display when Grizzer and Maya approach. He’s not too serious with the follow through, but the low wagging tail of Grizzer acknowledges Shadow’s dominance in this situation. Shadow is starting to show some of that spring/summer social behavior, pawing at the left over carcass and doing a small spring hop. It’s not uncommon for wolves to throw pieces of hide or bones in the air, catching them or inviting other wolves to interact.
As we mentioned in Malik's log, we have noticed a few changes in Shadow. He's had several days when he hasn't taken his meds, which alone is not all that unusual, but couple it with an increase in water consumption and less interest in chicken and we might have an underlying issue with a wolf nearing 11 years of age. One other thing that we've noticed is that he has increased his growling towards some staff and we know from experience, when Shadow doesn't feel well, he is selective about who he wants around the enclosure. When Malik has his dental inspection, we will immobilize Shadow as well and do a complete blood panel.
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