Updates and blog organisation

So it's been about a month since I returned back to Aberdeen. Ever since then I have been struggling to get back to the normal routine since my dissertation and review essay are taking most of my time. This is a little post to just remind you that I am still active. Species of the week will return this Sunday and I will attempt to post something at least once a week apart from the Species of the Week.
Thank you so much for reading

Wolf Science Center final thoughts

It's been a week since I left the Wolf Science Center. Since that week I managed to sort out my university courses, start working on my dissertation and return to regular life. Wolf Science Center however will always be a great and wonderful experience. In this post it will be bit of a letter to all the people I worked with and a bit of an experience blur for those who weren't there.

Firstly. I keep mentioning that the people working there are great. This for me was a huge component to what made the experience work. Wolves in captivity aren't hard to find, however a great group of people to work with sure is. From the students( whom we all bonded together through nights of drinking, playing werewolf and experiencing wolves together) to the trainers (who we joked around with, convinced to do extra pack visit and all sorts of funny stuff), the Wolf Science Center is staffed by great people. Never have I bonded with a group of people so fast ans so strong as the summer spend there. I am sure a lot of people share similar experiences but getting along with coworkers make everything better. Like every workplace there are kinks in the system that need to be worked out of course and some days can become frustrating. This to my experience is natural and is just the day. Even if the day was bad, the animal refused to cooperate there is always someone there with a better mood to cheer you up. If any of you guys are reading this, keep smiling, give Wamblee and Amarok a big kiss for me and stroke Enzi's cute ears.

Secondly. The animals are kept under great conditions. One my main concerns before I visited were in regards to animal welfare. The wolves are kept in great conditions and so are the dogs. There is of course the issue that they are in captivity. They can't escape conflicts and obviously whatever life they would have in the wild would be in theory better than captivity. They are however more than happy to participate in any tests and experiments on going there and now testing that I have seen influences animal behavior in a long term.

Finally it was great working with animals there. I learned so much and I really enjoyed my dissertation work there. Good luck to everyone in the Wolf Science Center and if anyone is in Austria pay them a visit. The place is great.

No. You can't own Nature

This is a topic that has been vexing me for quite a while. Ever since I started working with captive wolves and even before, I've always heard or read about people having the desire to have wild animals as pets. Although some wild animals can be “domesticated”without much effort (see  birds of prey for falconry and wild horses broken for riding) some others don’t. If you think it would be awesome to have a wolf, a lion, a tiger or whatever other animal as a pet well then you should understand that you can’t own or tame nature and here is why.

Our ancestors did a great job at selecting traits they wanted from the wild cousins of our domesticated animals. They breed aggressiveness out of wolves and cats, they domesticated farm animals and made our lives a lot easier. They did all that because at some point someone realized that some animals were easier to handle and selected for them. They did so because some people probably were injured or killed by aggressive animals. So why would you want to go back to the wild animals?

My theory is because people want to own a piece of wilderness. The wolf is and will be a symbol of what is wild. The lion and tiger are both majestic animals that demonstrate the raw ferocity of nature.  Sharks and crocodiles represent predators, effective killing machines. It is then no wonder why most people who want to own wild animals choose to own predators. Predators have always magnetized us. If it’s not predators then it will often be primates or other animals which are deemed as intelligent. Very few people want to own a pet deer or a pet boar. And here lies the problem. Predators are wild animals that are tuned to hunt for prey. They receive cues for hunting and will always take the opportunity to hunt and kill if they are hungry. To think that people can tame these animals is ridiculous.

 One of the theories that seem to be oddly prevalent is that if a predator has not had blood or meat then it will be friendly and will not need to kill. Unfortunately it does not work that way. If you watch at least one documentary on predators, you will notice that most young emulate or attempt to hunt even if they haven’t observed family members doing so. Predators are hardwired by their DNA to response to certain cues which trigger their predatory instinct. Jerky movements, nervous behavior, loud screeching and anything that would emulate a prey animal in distress triggers the instinct. While they are still young, they may not succeed at the hunt. Even if they grow up they may not succeed in killing an animal alone. However they will try and this will of course mean that the animal will become potentially dangerous for the owner.

Another theory is that if animals are obtained when young, then they can be socialized and act as regular pets. In the Wolf Science Center here as well as Wolf Watch UK I had the pleasure of working with socialized animals. These wolves were hand-raised when they were puppies and are relaxed around humans and will obey commands given to trainers. Hence they can be pets right? Wrong.  Let’s assume that someone wants to own a wolf. Apart from the part that wolves don’t do well as lone wolves as they become more neurotic and shy, let’s say they manage to provide all the socialization needed as well as all the space and stimulation needed. What is the issue here is a few things. Firstly wolf play is not like dog play. Wolves play hard. They are used to con-specifics tolerating biting, pulling, scratching and all sorts of rough play. Rough play for these animals can equate to serious damage for humans.  Some of the so called animal attacks are actually captive animals wanting to play or getting riled up and wanting to play.  In addition to that, most of the trainers here, and everywhere else that socialized animals are kept, work hard to maintain a working relationship with the animals. And not only that, the trainers sometimes also understand and give these animals room and time if a strain occurs on the relationship. Owning a wild animal as a pet and forcing them to interact with you when they don't want to is a disaster waiting to happen. Also if you cannot properly read the animal's behavior you may mistake certain situations which may put you in danger.

These wild animals are not suitable as pets. Regardless of how many books or films you watch, having a wild animal as a pet is an accident waiting to happen. There are a lot of domestic animals who need love and care and you won’t be risking your life or their life by having them.

One month in the Wolf Science Center. Project finalized and the Wamblee Tale

So here is an update on my recent adventures.

From left to right Wamblee and Yukon

My first month here has come and passed and boy has it been rather fast.  The first project I was assigned to was inequity aversion. Unfortunately that is still in the works and has been put on hold for a month due to the certain fence issues and also the PhD student leading the project will go on holiday and our supervisors don't feel that I should be testing alone. Which is all fair enough as this is a tricky project and people wanted to make sure the right shots were called.
So roll on my second project. We had a lone wolf here called Wamblee and he was to be introduced into a pack of three. The introduction and the effects the introduction had on the wolves' behaviour, would be my second project. In order to stick to the point I willwrite  his story below. But the introduction didn't go as smoothly as expected so that project had to be scrapped as well. At this point I was a month in and without a shred of data to show. After a discussion with one of the bosses and another PhD student who is now my supervisor I reached my final project which is greeting behaviour in captive wolf packs. I will look at how dominance affects greeting, location affects greeting and whether affiliative relationship scores affect greetings. It's quite interesting and I will be taking cortisol levels to boot which is really cool.
 Wamblee's introduction was a really great event to watch.It started off slowly. First Wamblee was introduced to Nanuk, the pack's dominant male.  After a few shaky days, Una ( the pack's submissive female)was introduced. She led Wamblee around on a chase for a day or two and then was removed and replaced by Yukon who was the pack's dominant female. It was all great for the two weeks they were together. Wamblee at first was at one corner being entirely submissive but through time he managed to overcome his anxiety and nervousness and join the pack. There was the question of Una though. She remained alone for some time and although joined by Nanuk and Yukon at some stages, she began to show a more dominant approach to Yukon when they were together. It should also be noted that Wamblee had taken a great interest in Yukon as he spend time sleeping close to her and playing with her.
The day came that Una was also put in the pack. She immediately attacked Yukon in a dominant stance, asking her to submit. A few fights broke up as Yukon refused to submit entirely. Wamblee wanted to intervene but Nanuk kept him away. It was after a few really bad fights that Wamblee decided to attack Nanuk in an effort to be dominant and possibly help Yukon.  As soon as that broke out, Wamblee and Yukon were separated from Nanuk and Una by the trainers and the pack of 3/4 was made into packs of 2.
At this point it should be noted that the whole procedure was always observed and trainers were on standby to intervene. Animal welfare was and is always the priority of the Wolf Science center and although Una and Yukon were both injured, care was and is given to the wolves and it is nothing they wouldn't sustain in a dominance fight in the wild.  A pack that is artificial is harder to click together. Packs in the wild consist of parents and their pups as well as older siblings and maybe grandparents. Regardless they are always a family unit and this is often not the case in captivity.
Which is what the 2 packs of 2 will be. Next year when the wolves will breed, the plan is to hand raise the pups( to ensure that humans don't phase or fear the wolves) and then introduce them to their parents again hence forming pack family units.
It was definitely something interesting to observe from behavioural aspects and also from the way the introduction was handled

Service dog welfare part 1: Guide Dogs and Military dogs

So while I am in Austria, I've become more and more interested in animal training and in particular Canid training. There are some very interesting aspects of how to train dogs and wolves and the results of such training.  When think that has been bothering me for a while is how a lot of people assume that service dogs actually have poor welfare standards and never have fun because they work all the time. So allow me to dispel a few of those myths.

Guide dogs: One of the most common misconception regarding Guide Dogs is  that they are forced to work all the time. While I am not an experienced service dog trainer or handler I managed to get some information from Erin. Erin has just graduated with a Ba(Hons) Psychology from the University of Aberdeen and has been involved with guide dog raising for a long time now.  She is an experienced guide dog raiser and sitter and here blogs can be found here(old blog)  and here(new blog). Also, I got to visit a Guide Dog center in Forfar and I got to see Erin dogsit two puppies so I managed to form an opinion. Guide Dogs are not forced to do anything they do not want to do. Granted raising guide dog puppies includes some rules regarding behaviour, food and the way they are raised. No sleeping on the bed, no begging on the table, no feeding them human food is some of the rules that Guide Dog charities have in place for their pups and it's some rules that a lot of people have  for their pet dogs.

And in regards to the myth that these dogs are forced to work, if a puppy doesn't want to work it doesn't have to. There are dogs that enjoy working and dogs that don't. Those puppies who make it clear that they do not want to be a Guide Dog are dropped from the program. Often times, if the puppy’s temperament isn't right for Guide work then they will be offered to other service dog organisations. If the puppy simply does not like working, then the guide dog school will find a home for them as a pet. In the U.S.A and U.K puppies that don't make it as guide dogs are not put down but instead given a loving home.

Most Guide Dog schools are really familiar with the issues that arise from inbreeding and  often try to ensure genetic diversity within their breeding dog stocks. Guide Dog schools  have really strict breeder evaluation programs to ensure the health and wellbeing of future generations. There are international breeding exchange programs to ensure that the genetic diversity within the breeding stock remains.

One of the biggest myths about Guide dogs( and all service animals) is that they don't get to play. When the harness is on, it's work time. When the harness is off it's play time or chill time.  The dogs know the difference too and it's reflected on their behaviour.  The puppy I got most exposed to was Marco (pictured above). When he was out of "uniform" he was pretty much a regular dog. He runs, jumps, plays with toys and is in general a basket case. When the jacket or harness was on, he was a different dog.He was focused and alert. Granted, Marco is still a puppy and like all puppies he makes mistakes and gets too excited sometimes. But that's why it takes up to 2 years to fully train a Guide Dog. The fact that these dogs can distinguish working and playing time is remarkable.

Military dogs: I've never had much hands on experience with military dogs but I have read a lot about it and I managed to talk to a few people who owned ex military dogs or even active service marines and their canine companion. Everything said about Guide Dogs applies to Military dogs and in fact all service dogs. The only difference is that military dogs have their life on the line. Despite that, the military dogs are not expandable. Soldiers would never send the dog forward to get shot and would never risk the dog's life to save their own. Although dogs are instrumental is several operations such as clearing houses, tracking bombs, smelling insurgents, guarding locations and so forth, military dogs are highly valued due to their training. It would be stupid to spend money and time training a dog just so it would get shot  instead of a soldier. They are of course in risk of injury or death much like the men that handle them and whether or not that should be the case is tricky. The animal is taken care of, only does a limited service and then is retired. From there on it depends on each individual's ethical perspective. For what is worth I think dogs have their own value in warfare and if they aren't abused or misused then it is definitely an interesting relationship.

Military dogs however have a much stricter training regime. They have longer training times, different kinds of training is used on them and some are obviously trained to be aggressive. Not only that but they are exposed to explosions, loud noises, bullets, injuries etc and much like humans, dogs can suffer from PTSD. Is this a welfare violation? Should dogs not be exposed to such situations? Well pretty much like every other dog, military dogs only work if they want to work and they can leave the program anytime they want. Also dogs are retired if they demonstrate signs of PTSD. Is this something that is right to ask of a dog? Well yes in my opinion. Dogs were domesticated to be used by humans and this is one use for them. Given the love they get from their Marine handlers, the often comfortable retirement situations they get and the usually low risk jobs they perform I would say that military dogs have a good welfare or at least as humans in that situation do. It can be argued that dogs don't make the active choice that humans do to join combat and the military and that to an extent is true. However they are exposed to explosions, noises, gunshots etc before they are sent to service and can always opt out if they don't want to.

In the next article I will be discussing police dogs and search and rescue dogs and their relative welfare.

Wolf Science Center week 3 update

So I am on my third week here in the Wolf Science Center and I decided to update all of you on some of the happenings here.

First of all I got myself a project. I am aiding a PhD student here in inequity aversion in wolves and pack dogs. Inequity aversion essentially boils down to whether wolves or dogs understand that they are being treated unequally and whether or not they do or feel anything about it. It's a very interesting subject and the more I read into it the more I get excited about the results we might yield. The person I am working with (all people remain unanimous unless they say okay) is great. She knows a lot about the subject, lets me do hands on work and she knows exactly what she wants. I am very glad about that.

As a side project I am doing wolf observations on my free time. This is to ensure some data to comfort my advisor back home. There is a lone wolf here that is currently being introduced into a new pack and my aim is to observe any relationship changes/conflicts that happened to the back after the wolf introduction. At the moment the wolf has been introduced to two of the three pack members and things are looking good.

What is very interesting here is training and the methods used. Although we aren't told much, some of the students decided to shadow a few of the trainers and I got taught a few very interesting things about training and in general animal behavior. I think animal behavior is definitely something a lot easier to understand when the subjects you are studying are not just in theory but rather present.

In addition to that I began work on my dissertation. It is probably too soon given that I have no idea of results or data collected yet but I started my research and the basic introduction stuff just to give myself a heads up.

I think the most important thing that made the transition here really easy are the students. Everyone here is great. It's a great company that bonds easily and there have been many interesting conversations between us. We share many things in common but are still diverse enough to have different view points on things and it's interesting to see biology and animal behavior from other schools and other perspective.

Three weeks have past faster than I thought and soon we will begin collecting data and I look forward to it. I will go in depth about certain aspects of what I learned soon.

Wolf Science Center first impressions and dissertation topics

As I a writing this I am sitting in Wolf Science Center student house in Austria. I am here for three months to collect data from my undergraduate honors project.

First things first is that I have no idea what my project will be as of yet. A lot of ideas are floating around as of now and obviously we need to test whether they can be conducting in the center or not. I think so far my project will be about cognition in wolves and dogs or behavior. Everything seems exciting here and the other students all have exciting projects so I am hoping my project will be equally exciting.

The Center is very well organised. Wolves and dogs are all raised in the same conditions and exposed to the same stimuli so their behavior would be comparable. The staff are all very careful about repetitions, stats and are very science oriented which is good for me as it means my data would be quite concrete. Testing enclosures are always sought after so organisation is present to dictate which person tests which wolves or dogs.

Also it is a great place for dog lovers. We spend some time with puppies, we have access to the puppy house where you can sit and be loved for hours on end by young puppies( just dog puppies for now) and dogs are around everywhere as members of staff all have dogs. It is great to be exposed to so much nature as the forest and birds and animals are all around us.

Lets take a minute to talk about sacrifices though. This is a bit more of a personal note but I feel it should be here. Throughout the blog I have talked about following your dream and pursuing a career you always like Working with animals usually means travelling and that means making commitments you may not like. At the time of the writing I still have about 117 days left( a few more or less depending on my data collection). This is the first time for me that I have committed to something big.I left Aberdeen and ventured into an unknown place with unknown people and for me that was terrifying. Not to mention not seeing friends or family or people you love. It is a bittersweet feeling. On the one hand leaving people and your house behind and on the other hand pursuing a dream and a project you spend a lot of time organizing. Endless emails, phone calls,money, networking and writing went into making this project and trip a reality and when it came to the last few days I was feeling very anxious and nervous about it. Pursuing your dreams and making sacrifices isn't as easy as people think it is.

Overall I am extremely pleased with my selection on where to conduct my project whether it may be and I am happy I got to pursue my dreams. On the other hand the sacrifices and the worry just work as a painful reminder that not everything good comes free. This project has to be perfect and get me a good grade. Otherwise it may not be worth it.