Shadow had a great feeding on Saturday night. As we've said before, we feed chicken daily, with mixed response from Shadow. But, we still want to feed a large amount of food to allow the wolves to satiate, which is much more in line with their natural feeding patterns. It's been a challenge, until last Saturday, when Shadow took control of a deer leg, stood over it and lip curled and growled when Malik approached. Of course, the Curator was standing next to Shadow doing her own guarding postures towards Malik, but it worked, and Shadow had a great scat on Monday (yes, we call scat great). The scat was dark, large and well formed, indicating a large volume of meat was consumed. We will see if he maintains the same behavior this weekend.
The current situation with the Exhibit Pack can be summed up in one statement: Shadow was a great dominant male and kept the younger wolves in line. When Shadow left the pack, so did any sign of leadership. The decision to remove Shadow was based on his health, with weight loss down to 71 lbs, and a increasing level of aggression. Anytime one of the wolves approached, Shadow was aggressively pinning them to the ground, clearly in charge, but also causing some frustration from the other wolves. This behavior gave us the indication that his age and age related pains were too much for him. We don't regret the decision to remove Shadow, he's back to 88 lbs, he's greeting wolf care staff with more exuberance than a pup and while he has some feeding quirks, he's doing extremely well. But, the removal of Shadow forced Grizzer to be the pack leader, when he didn't have the behavior, or the respect from the younger wolves. If we had let Grizzer or Denali depose Shadow in a dominance rank order change, we may not have the issues we are facing today, but Shadow may have been seriously injured and that was not a risk we were willing to take. Shadow was dominant and he wouldn't have given up his rank without a fight, and his age and weight loss would have made him a weak target. Grizzer will need to show some leadership, gain some respect, and grow into the role of dominant. His behavior since Denali has been in holding is improving. He's at the gate with a high posture, showing his status, similar to Shadow's role as a dominant.
Sorry for the delay, a power outage seemed to take out the internet connection on Friday night and it continued through the weekend. So, the wolf logs will be all the same this week as we have already moved into a new week and 2 snowstorms have resulted in another foot of snow to clear from the wolf yard, the gates, the fences and den sites. It’s been a calm week. We are trying four different techniques to keep the pack in a lower stress environment. We continue to feed the Exhibit pack small amount of chicken Monday through Friday with a deer carcass or beaver on Saturday nights. We also are using Dog Appeasing Pheromone spray in straw beds daily, making sure there is always fresh straw available. We have added a supplement to their daily meds called Anxitane® (L-Theanine) Chewable Tablets, a green tea derivative, donated by the manufacturer that promotes this product as an all natural product to reduce stress related responses to environmental issues. The 4th issue relates to wolf care interaction, we make sure Grizzer gets the attention first as the dominant male of the pack. The retired wolves have had a good week, despite a renewed spot on Malik’s cheek, they are active, play bowing, eating both chicken and deer legs, and overall, not acting like wolves approaching eleven years of age.
The tension between Shadow and Malik is increasing, with Malik showing more dominance over food, but Shadow showing more excitability and chase behaviors when wolf care staff enter the enclosure. The camera view shows them both still resting together, so while the tension is higher, it doesn't have a noticeable influence on sleeping behavior. Although, it does appear that Malik prefers the upper deck and Shadow prefers the lower deck of the den.
We have some beautiful photography of Shadow this week. A light snowfall (well it started light, now we have 8 inches on the ground), and a layer of snow in the trees make a great backdrop for this subspecies. Of all the subspecies, the arctic wolves certainly look at home in these conditions. Shadow did a lot of "Stand Tall" postures today, which is a show of confidence when a wolf stands on a high vantage point and extends their body as high as their legs will allow. It is impressive to observe, and the body posture is clear, but what is more impressive is the look of confidence in his face. Shadow portrays this well and pictures can't express what we are honored to observe as wolf care staff.
I was recently asked about Shadow's staining on the side of his mouth. This is a caused by a substance called Porphyrin (derived from the greek word for purple). Porphyrins are a group of naturally occurring organic compounds that are found in saliva, urine or on areas where moisture is present (between the pads). The presence of Porphyrin stains is related to an ongoing process of the breakdown of red blood cells in the body. This stain is visible on all the wolves here, but is more pronounced on the white arctic pelage. It is definitely more pronounced on Shadow than Malik, and may be related to an increased amount of salivation with Shadow's particular feeding habits. He does tend to wait until the wolf care staff get the chicken in the right size (his choice, not the staff), and this may stimulate more salivation.
Malik may try to gain some status on Shadow, but Shadow has been a leader since he was a pup and we don't see that changing much. Shadow has no equal when it comes to posturing, direct eye contact and that threat display growl that will make an opponent drop their ear posture (including humans). When the Exhibit Pack has issues, it is Shadow that is first to howl and often try to posture and growl as if he still ran the Exhibit Pack.
Written by "Wolves at Two Years' program participants Kathy Kerns and Jim LeBlanc. Shadow as the dominante male is aware of things going on both inside and outside of his enclosure. In this week's photo, you will see Shadow listening to the activities of the group's breakfast. The rock pillar and window frame don't seal well, so he investigates sounds coming from inside.
Shadow remains confident and social. Of all the wolves in the exhibit, staff is most often greeted by Shadow and he continues to display play bows to Grizzer and Maya stimulating them to chase or roll around together. This is very uncharacterisitic for Shadow, but it makes for a calm and peaceful exhibit.
Shadow had a recent bout with a probable yeast infection in his ear. Grizzer and Malik may have had the same thing. Grizzer was treated every day, since he'd sit there for the treatment. Shadow and Malik would run the other way when they saw the bottle, needless to say, they didn't get much for treatment. Occassionally, wolf care staff would bait Shadow and Malik with a meatball outside the fence while another staff person would come up from behind and deilver the ointment. This trick only worked a few times before Shadow caught on and refused to turn his back on the staff. It appears that Shadow and Malik's ears are better (they're holding them erect, before they held them to the side). Grizz's are cleaner than ever. It may have been the frost killing the last plants and associated pollens, or it may have been the recent cleaning of the pond and associated algae, either way, everyone has perky ears and no signs of irritation.
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