Staff have been commenting on how they are seeing a lot of Shadow in Aidan’s behavior. It makes us wonder if the traits that Aidan is displaying (and Shadow displayed for so many years as a pack leader) are just inherent leadership traits or did Aidan watch Shadow and learn from the Master. We do know that a strong leader keeps the pack from having significant conflict. If everyone has a place and that place is defined every day, the testing behavior is minimized.
The main pack had an uneventful week, with the exception of a special program scheduled on December 28th. An enclosure enrichment was a special offering this week to holiday visitors at the Center in Ely, Minnesota. At 1 pm, wolf care staff locked the wolves into holding and placed some treats throughout the enclosure, including a 10 lb turkey, some pigs ears, milk bones and meatballs. The purpose of enclosure enrichment is to give the wolves an opportunity to use their sense of smell and investigate the hidden treats inside the enclosure. In this wee's video, you will see Shadow climb the rocks and the den to recover his share of the treats. The sound you hear in Shadow's video is a 2-way radio between the curator in the pen and the visitors inside the building. The curator interpreted behavior as the visitors watched the action unfold.
Shadow remains the calm, leader that he has been for the last several years. Grizzer's testing seems to be focused on Malik, although it has diminished significantly since the late fall. Shadow appears to enjoy watching over his pack, and spending time with all the members. He and Malik are frequently found sleeping near each other as brothers. He and Maya have their moments of special bonding and when Grizzer wants to roll upside down in the snow, Shadow is there as well. The warmer temperatures may be influencing the activities, but so far, the winter has been calm.
Shadow ha really shown an improvement in his feeding behavior. When he was first moved to retirement, he was very timid about feeding, which created some intense guarding behavior from Malik. As winter approaches and we are feeding larger quantities of food, we see much more confidence. I know this surprises people because Shadow is so confident in all other interactions, but in wolf social rules, food possession doesn't always correlate with status.
Shadow seemed a bit off today. We had indications that something had changed in this pack based on Grizzer's response before we even entered retirement. When we did our morning wolf check, we watched Malik with some very high tail responses and noticed that Shadow just didn't display his normal behavior. We noticed when we were filming for Youtube that he had 3 or 4 single coughs, which could just be a response to environmental conditions or could be something more serious. We will watch him closely over the weekend and see if there's any pattern or change in his behavior.
This week’s logs are written by “Workin’ for Wolves program participants Cathy Jents and Lee Williams. Although Shadow has been experiencing potential dominance plays from Grizzer, he still appears the ever-watchful guardian and maintains leadership. Shadow and Maya have been seen at play and rest consistently. At one point, Maya even wrestled a bone away from Grizzer to present to Shadow. Their actions toward one another still display a very strong bond. An interesting behavior noticed this weekend was Shadow starting short, lone howls. It appears the purpose of this howling is a bit guarding, but unknown as to why the rest of the pack doesn’t join in. A demonstration of this occurs in Maya’s video clip this week. In Shadow’s clip, you see him stand guard in front of Grizzer and Maya maintaining an alert behavior. He did demonstrate a few bark howls towards the weekend group, but he also instigated group play with the pack and several rallying howls.
This week's logs were written by Walter Loesberg, a regular visitor to the wolf center from the Netherlands. Shadow was the focus of Grizzer's attention today. While the younger wolf conducted several dominance-related behaviors, Shadow responded in a confident way by play bowing and jumping around. However, a carefully placed chin rest by Shadow made it clear who is the leader of the pack. On Wednesday, November 8th, Malik and Shadow will be turning 6 1/2 years old (born May 8, 2000)… We also know of another birthday on Wednesday, Happy Birthday Eamonn Briem.
The wolves are all doing well, and the wolf care staff certainly are appreciative of all the support from members and viewers of the wolf logs. As always, the wolf care staff will be doing wolf care throughout the holidays and people can rest assured that the wolves and wolf care will always main our first priority at the International Wolf Center. Have a great holiday season, and check out the Youtube video, it shows the pack in good spirits, especially Grizzer and Denali who have become great pals. Malik is joining in on pack howls, and has adjusted well to life in retirement.
Shadow has been very social and playful, especially with Aidan. This is good for Aidan, as his interactions with Denali get a bit rough. Denali has been mainly wrestling with Grizzer, and when that's your standard for interaction, it can be a bit much for other smaller wolves. Aidan prefers less physical and more social, and that's what Shadow offers. Shadow does like a fresh snowfall, and has been observed in behaviors such as snowplowing, roll on back, and overall burying his head in snow. Shadow watches Denali and Grizzer's wrestling matches, but when Grizzer shows too much dominance and possible increase in status, he puts an end to the show quickly.
Sorry for the delay in the logs, the spring semester started at Vermilion on Monday, and the Curator has a full teaching schedule on Monday and Tuesday mornings. The Priority for time at the Center was placed on the wolves, leaving other duties to wait until Friday. We will transition the logs to be posted on Friday's throughout the spring semester. This week has been especially busy for wolf care staff trying to understand some issues with Shadow. Shadow has started to show some growling, testing behavior towards some of the staff, and that has required some changes in staff interaction. Shadow has always been a complex animal, with some great behaviors, which is what has made him a strong leader for so many years. It's our job to figure out what this testing means. We know from observations that Shadow is always aware of the dynamics in the pack. Denali and Grizzer's constant activity keeps Shadow active. But is it possible that Shadow is getting overworked and looking for a bit of a confidence boost by showing status over some staff members or is it just redirected frustration? This is the task before us, we know the psychological aspect of retiring wolves is much harder to identify than the physical. At this time, Shadow has quality visits with the curator, and extra time is being dedicated to make sure he feels comfortable and relaxed.
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.