As the dominant pack leader, Shadow is very confident. This includes standing on the weight scale. We have no issues weighing Shadow, he's actually very cooperative. This week, he weighed in at 89.5 pounds, which is a good weight for him and is consistent with last year's weight. Here's a summary of his weights since he was a yearling. <li>4/23/2001 " 87.3 11 mo <li>5/6/2005 " 95 5 yrs <li>7/7/2008 " 92.5 8 yrs <li>4/22/2009 " 88.6 8 yrs 11.5 mo <li>4/29/2010 " 87.12 9rs 11.5 mo <li>5/25/2011 " 92 11 years 2 weeks <li>6/14/2012 " 89.5 12 Years 1 month <li>6/4/2013 89.5 lb 13 years 1 month
The logs will all be the same this week. The weather creates added challenges to the daily job of caring for wolves and we've had a variety of weather. The warm spell that melted a significant amount of snow led to standing water which later froze when colder temperatures returned. This week's Youtube video features some great demonstration of Aidan doing a stiff leg jump to crack the ice. Boltz is a bit hesitant on the ice since he fell through the ice into about 2 feet of water (thanks to Denali's hefty body size on the ice). Luna's displaying less stiffness as the temperatures warm and she's been spending a lot of time digging. This week is another special week as Grizzer turns 9 years old on May 5th and Shadow and Malik are 13 years old on May 8th.
As the Curator for the Center, I spend the most time with the wolves, and since Shadow and Malik are the oldest and Shadow is dominant, we can assume I have spent the most time with Shadow. Since I've been a bit under the weather lately, Shadow is the wolf that seems to pick up on the difference. I must be careful about all the wolves because this sign of weakness can lead to a challenge, but from the 13 year old retired wolf, the connection seems to be more of a calm, resting posture than one of testing behavior. There may be some sympathy from one set of old bones to another.
IF you watch the webcam, you may wonder why I check my phone when I'm in retirement… No, it's not that I am obsessed with a phone, nor does Shadow get text messages… but, the new webcam is controlled on an Apple operating system, so often you will see me adjust the settings. It is a wireless camera and sometimes the inclement weather can kick off the signal, but it was a good fix for a remote location and we hope to continue to broadcast the arctics throughout their golden years.
On Wednesday, I fed Shadow and Malik 10 pounds of chicken, and we thought it was a bit unusual for Shadow to guard the food from Malik, usually it's the other way around. On Thursday, Shadow appeared to have a swollen joint on his front left leg that may have been caused by some excited activity over the chicken. The surveillance cameras did show a bit of posturing later in the day on Wednesday, but not any definitive view of an event that might have aggravated Shadows leg. I started him on a 7 day anti-inflammatory dose at Noon on Thursday and by 5 pm, he showed great improvement. Shadow and Malik are very different from all the other wolves here, they are very agile and tend to do some quick jumps when greeting each other or greeting staff. This can put some stress on the joints, especially for older wolves.
Shadow's feeling good these days. He's bright eyed, active and controls the top of the den. We were able to configure a wireless webcam to view the retired pack after having a significant amount of network troubles with a network camera and having issues with the amount of cable to run all the way back to the retirement enclosure. The only issue is how a wireless signal will be impacted by leaves on the trees, and the camera is technically an indoor camera that we put in an outdoor housing. So far, the camera is working well, with the exception of a few days when the wireless signal has been impacted by snow. We've had a few nights below zero and it seems to function well. Let's hope this continues; we know it is a priority and we will do all that we can to keep the camera live.
Shadow has some quirks. He's very assertive with staff and is the reason there are a limited number of staff that can enter his enclosure. He is the master of chin rests, direct eye contact, posturing and all of the other traits that are associated with a dominant animal. He still psychologically leads the Exhibit Pack and is the source of most howling communication on site. The Exhibit Pack (Aidan as the leader) rarely starts a howl, but will respond if Shadow leads. This may be due to the fact that Shadow was never deposed as a pack leader, he was retired for health reasons. All the wolves seem to look to him as the leader even though they don't physically interact. But, when food is placed in his enclosure, he avoids conflict, but maybe that's also a trait of a good leader. Aidan seems to be the same way, deferring to the other wolves rather than taking if from them.
The logs will be the same this week. We had snow on Monday that required a lot of effort to gain access to all the gates, water containers and dens. Thanks to Danielle and Linda for helping in that Monday morning check. We also had to redistribute straw beds for all the enclosures, a task that can only be appreciated during the spring Working for Wolves program when we have to remove all that straw. We are very pleased that Shadow and Malik are back to their usual invite chase behaviors and both have fully recovered from the gastrointestinal virus that occurred a few weeks ago. Grizzer is more social than ever and staff continue to have relaxing checks on a daily basis. Most of the extreme sub-zero weather is behind us and even if we do have a cold night, the days warm up quickly. Rank order traits are starting to emerge in the Exhibit Pack with Luna showing Denali that she will jaw spar despite his over-towering height advantage. Fortunately for Luna, Aidan watches from and pins Denali if things get a little intense. Spring fever starts kicking in for staff and wolves alike as the warm days of March seem to stimulate some strong social behavior (at least for the wolves).
As we reported in Malik's log, they both caught a bug of some type, but Shadow seems to be taking longer to recover. He did finally eat about 5 lbs of beef yesterday and we hope he returns back to his chin resting, invite chasing self soon. These wolves will both turn 13 years of age in May, and at this age, any issue is a major concern. I do believe that Shadow, as the dominant leader of the Exhibit Pack for nearly 8 years, probably has more underlying health issue related to stress. Staff have increased their observation periods and we anticipate an improvement by the weekend.
Someone recently asked me if I had a favorite wolf. Certainly some people may think it's hard not to think of some individuals with a greater concern because of their individual needs, but the reality is, every wolf is different and they all have some unique characteristic to make them special. So, I thought I would dedicate this week's wolf logs to those unique characteristics. It's hard to describe Shadow without using an anthropomorphic term, but Loyal comes to mind. When he was a pack leader, his bonds were strong and the pack looked to him for every interaction. He would frequently place himself between the pack and any perceived threat. He led the Exhibit Pack for 8 years, and even in Retirement, he leads the howls and the other wolves listen. His loyalty does include staff, Shadow has his favorite staff and his attitude definitely shows when they're in the enclosure.
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