Wolf Hollw Pups: Week III

by Michael M. Sweeney
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Methodically, nature has gracefully and gradually activated a number of instincts in all of our puppies, as well as awoken the drive to nurture in the minds of our adult wolves. Amazingly, even though they haven't actually met the puppies at this stage of their infancy, our resident alphas – Weeble and Nina – have begun revealing glimpses of rearing behaviors.

These primal instincts, which have been discussed in our previous two articles, have been triggered in the minds of our alphas by the scent of the puppies alone. The parental dispositions of human beings are molded by culture, and with society being so impermanent these rules and traditions evolve artificially fast when compared to the wild order of Earth. 

Adversely, the parental dispositions of wolves are almost a constant relative to this natural order. While the methods used by a wolf pack to rear puppies must abide by the rule and law of their land, the foundation of these lupine families has remained unchanged since primordial times, ages before the modern construct of human families was even an idea.

LEFT: Weeble, Wolf Hollows ten year old alpha male. RIGHT: Nina, Wolf Hollow's six year old alpha female.
Photography by Wolf Hollow volunteer Jessica Novak.

Wolf Hollow's resident alpha male, Weeble, has participated in the introduction of puppies into a pack as both a youth and an elder. The ten year old alpha was obtained from the Oatland Island Wildlife Center in Savannah, Georgia only days after he was born, and was introduced to the current pack shortly before he turned six weeks old. At the time of his pack integration, the resident alpha was Denali, a massive boy with a hulking black frame.

Four years after Weeble made Wolf Hollow his home, Nina and Osa were donated right from the den by Wolf Park in Battleground, Indiana. Denali was still alpha male at this time, but just as Native Americans believed that the entire tribe should raise children, Weeble was very directly involved in raising the two new female puppies, one of which would become alpha female after he ascended to head of the pack. 

While Nina may not have ever reared puppies before, the aforementioned dormant instincts indicate that she will likely be a good, assertive surrogate mother to the five. Joni Soffron has observed Nina salivating and clicking her front teeth when she smells the puppies on her clothing, which is how wolves groom the fur of their young. To put into context how incomprehensibly in touch wolves are with their instinctual roots compared to us – imagine, if you will, that each time you smelled a baby on someone, you began brushing the air with a hairbrush involuntarily. 

Lineaa, the most dominant puppy of the new litter at Wolf Hollow.
Photography by Wolf Hollow volunteer Jessica Novak.

 

After all of these amazing instances of genetic memory unfolding before our eyes at Wolf Hollow, we are preparing to soon introduce the five puppies to their surrogate parents. Wolves, as mentioned in earlier articles, will accept any puppies into their pack as long as they are younger than two months old. Lineaa, Argus, Niveah, Grendel, and Arrow are now one month of age, and the processes of pack integration will be ensuing shortly.

“I believe that Weeble is going to make it very, very clear to the males that he is in charge,” elaborated Joni Soffron when asked about her expectations for the integration. None of the males have displayed particularly dominant personalities, so it's expected that Weeble's pack positioning will likely remain intact until he is either unable to lead and removes himself, or until he passes away. But while the future hierarchy of our male wolves me be fairly defined, the future of our females is shrouded in speculative uncertainty.

“Lineaa is going to be a handful for Nina,” explains Joni Soffron when asked about observations made during her intimate involvement in the early days of the pups' lives.

Lineaa has exhibited a very organic and innate dominance amongst her siblings, over both her lone sister as well as her three brothers. While this infantile assertiveness may be displayed through harmless banter with her siblings now, it could potentially grow - with a mix of help from Lineaa's genetics and her personal will – to her teeth at Nina's throat.

“Last week when I bathed them, they squirmed,” explained Joni Soffron. “This week, they growl. I have to laugh.”

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