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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

PRODUCED BY THE UK WOLF CONSERVATION TRUST - www.ukwolf.org

ISSUE 23 JANUARY 2014

Dear Members.We really look forward to seeing you during this new year and hope you will find one of our events suitable. We would also like to thank you for your continued support of the UKWCT. We have been able to send over £25,000 to projects working towards keeping wolves in the wild during 2013, and to date we have given nearly £200,000 away. This would not be possible without your help.

The Ethiopian wolf project and the Red Wolf Coalition in particular really rely on the funds we send them to be able to carry out their vital work in monitoring and working to save these endangered wolves. You may remember a bit about these wolves from features we have

done on them in past issues, but helping them is an

important project for us.

There is also a change with our events this year. Our regular, three large open days had become too successful, with over

2000 visitors on each day and the wolves felt

very uncomfortable with this large number of people

on site. As always at the Trust our wolves come first and their health and welfare is paramount. Instead we now host “Visit Wednesdays” which will allow anyone to come and see us any Wednesday and our visitors will be in a much smaller number.

We really hope that you enjoy this issue of Wolf Chroncicle. Tsa Palmer

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From the Director

p2 UKWCT NeWsp3 A UKWCT CHrisTmAs p4 WOLF NeWs p7 FeATUre: BATs!p8 pUZZLesp9 BOOK reVieWsp10 YOUr LeTTersp11 VisiT WeDNesDAYsp12 eVeNTs

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Pumpkin Party!To celebrate Halloween we hosted our very own party, with some of you as our guests! The wolves were fed a delicious pumpkin each which had been carefully carved by your own fair hands. As you can see, Torak especially loved his treat.

These events are not only just for fun, they also provide important enrichment for our wolves. By giving them a pumpkin each it gave them something different to think about!

A Howling Christmas!Christmas time at the UKWCT is a happy affair - we always plan lots of fun and games for our wolves and visitors! This year we ran three events for Junior Members alone: a wolf walk, Howling Christmas and our annual Christmas Cracker. Guests were invited to enjoy Christmas with the wolves, spending it by either making the wolves’ tasty treats in crackers or by joining them with their carol singing! The wolves enjoyed

specially made wolf-safe Christmas cake and mince

pies to get them in the Christmassy mood.

Michelle Paver We also had Michelle Paver come and visit the Trust this month. Many of you came along to enjoy the company of the wolves while Michelle gave you tips on how to enhance your creative writing.

Tara Armstrong

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I t has been busy at the UK Wolf Conservation Trust recently! From

our Halloween events to our Christmas

celebrations, the wolves have been involved in all of them. Take a look at what we’ve been up too...

Torak with a pumpkin

Carving your pumpkins!

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Christmas at the UKWCT!

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Our six youngest wolves are now rising three years old and reaching maturity. In the wild, wolves at this age leave their family in their third year in the breeding season to find a mate. Maturity in wolves always brings increased tension in the pack.

So far Tundra, of the Beenham Pack, has managed to keep her place as the dominant female, but she is still very shy with strangers. However an event which often emboldens Tundra is if she thinks her sister Tala is not behaving as she should. This could mean anything from howling without permission to making too much fuss of Nuka! With breeding season looming the tensions between the two girls could potentionally

increase, however with them both being neutered last year it is hoped that they will stay calmer.

Luckily Tala still seems happy to accept her place as the subordinate female with relatively good grace. She will often start games of chase in the enclosure, encouraging her siblings to run after her. These games also have the potential to end in a beating-up from Tundra, but if Nuka thinks Tundra has overstepped the mark he will protect Tala.

Nuka will soon be a fully mature, stunningly beautiful male wolf. But with maturity comes confidence and he will sometimes give a quiet growl if he is not completely happy with any given situation. Much like a human teenager - not yet sure of this place in the world but metaphorically flexing his muscles to find out. The transformation will soon be complete and he will be a force to be reckoned with, one powerful wolf. Nuka has become quite a good mediator

in the squabbles between his sisters and will put them in their respective places with growls, nips and lots of posturing, just as a wolf should do.

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W .inter draws ever closer and the dropping temperatures are

forever a reminder. As it is now colder the wolves coats are at their thickest, perfect for insulating them against the frozen temperatures to come while they

wait eagerly for the snow.

Turn over for more!Nuka, Tala & Tundra

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Mai and Motomo have swapped enclosures with Mosi and Torak. Moving Motomo is not an easy task, as he is our only unsocialised wolf and cannot simply be collared up and taken out on a lead! Some intensive planning is required but, as always with wolves, plan A does not always work so we try plan B, and then plan C... Eventually Motomo agreed to move through a gate and into the new enclosure, to be reunited with Mai who was already in there. The pair of them then set about the important task of over-marking the scents left by the previous owners, which included Mosi who is Mai’s arch enemy.

In her own mind, Mai is now the Queen of the Wolf Trust. She still loves to come out on a walk with her favourite handlers and will rush onto the yard, squeaking with excitement, when they appear with her collar and lead. Mai is a joy to take out on her private enrichment walks; she is in to everything - scenting, scraping, howling and moving at a great pace. While Motomo will never join Mai in her friendliness towards humans he grows bolder and more confident every year.

Torak and Mosi still love their enrichment walks. Torak is very excited when he sees his special handlers walking towards his enclosure and rushes down to the gate to be ready for collaring up. Mosi is a little dynamo on her walks and marches her handlers along at a great speed, giving them a good work-out. There is no time to stop... Every smell leads on to a more exciting one all along her walk and each one must be dealt with, either by rolling in it or over-marking.

Torak is probably our tallest wolf, still looking magnificent at seven years old. He adores his enrichment walks with his handlers and runs happily up to the gate and onto the yard to be collared up. He is a joy to take out, walking quietly but enjoying every sight, sound and scent to the maximum. Torak likes his food and eats well; however, there is one particular type of food that he feels should receive attention other than eating. Paunch is the lining of an animal’s stomach and is very smelly, Torak cannot resist rolling in this horrible stuff!

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Mai & Motomo

Torak & Mosi

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The Arctic pack have moved house now into the bottom enclosure. They still have a pond to play in and they take full advantage of it, even in the cold weather!

Massak is still the dominant male, despite half-hearted attempts from Pukak to challenge him. He is not quite as tall as Torak but much more heavily builty, so he looks bigger overall. Massak can make himself look even bigger than he is by posturing and raising his hackles and tail to the maximum. He dwarfs Pukak during their squabbles, which is a feat in itself; Pukak is not a small wolf. Most of the time Massak is an easy-going sort of chap, still a bit wary of people he doesn’t know but is getting more confident as he matures.

Sikko, nicknamed “Squeako”, because she continually does so is still very much the princess of the pack. With two much bigger brothers to stand up to she has learned that she can’t really compete on the size front, so uses other tactics.

Sikko is very affectionate to handlers but quite often gets pushed out by her jealous brothers. Sikko loves the pond and can actually swim in the deepest part, which she enjoys immensely. As she emerges from the pond her coat is completely flattened to her body, but it only takes a quick shake to get it back to being fluffy!

Pukak can be a wolf with attitude. On the other hand he can be affectionate and playful as well. He is a wolf who is a bit unsure of his place in the pack and would like to have a higher status. Pukak has always loved his food, anything will do as long as it is edible. He even tries to steal Massak’s food and Massak has to pull out all the stops to tell him off with growls and impressive displays of body language. Pukak is the clown of the pack and does everything he can to make himself popular with his handlers - and he has succeeded.

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Sikko & Pukak

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what bat is flying around you. Bat’s use echolocation to help them hunt for insects in the dark, their source of prey. Bats listen to the returning echoes to build up a sonic map of their surroundings. A bat can tell how far away something is by how long it takes the sounds to return to them! We are unable to hear these calls as the frequency is too high for our ears. So just think, there could be many Bat’s flying around above you without you knowing!

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Wildlife Factfile: Bats

The Trust has always encouraged our native wildlife and we are home to many different species of bat. Most of our resident bats live in nesting boxes on trees around the Trust that were placed to provide additional roosting sites.

Since Autumn 2011 the Trust has been working with the Berks & South Bucks Bat Group (BSBBG) to identify what species of bats are living on the Trust’s lands. Brown Long Eared and Pipistrelle bats are the most common species we have here.

Bats can be identified by sight like any other animal, however they are special because they can also be detected by echolocation! Using a special ‘Bat Detector’ the frequency the bat is echolocating at can be recorded. It is possible to relate each recorded frequency to a bat of a particular species so that you are able to know

Nuka

Long Eared Bat

W .e love our bats so much at the Trust that we even have an

event focused around them! Our “Bat Walk and Wolf Viewing” event is a great chance to see our wolves in the evening and listen to the bats while our experts explain about these amazing creatures. Why not come along?

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Why not use the templates of Alo below and colour in your very own wolf?

Wolfie Wordsearch!Can you find the hidden words?

ClawsCubsDenGrowlHowlHuntingPackRendezvous SnarlSniffWhineYip

9THE BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE FROm OUR SHOP @ UKWOLF.ORg

young child’s interests. While the book is undoubtedly factual, it has a light tone which will only help to keep the audience engaged about the life of the wolf.

Being such an easy read it is bound to have children going back more, whether for reference or just for another read of a wolf’s life. An incredibly lovely little book, the illustrations make it.

Tara Armstrong

WOLVES by James Maclaine

Wolves have an uneasy and fearful relationship with man, which can be blamed on the incorrect myths and legends told about them. Part of the Usborne Beginners series, this title presents the real facts about wolves and how they live with charming and enriched drawings. It is perfect for a wolf fan wishing to learn more about this majestic creatures, and the lovely drawings on help to spur on your imagination. The book manages to portray an impressive amount of information in short bursts, avoiding large blocks of texts which may wane a

The Last Wolf by Michael Morpugo

This may only be a short story, but Michael Morpurgo packs a lot of action into it.

Robbie McLeod has the misfortune to be orphaned at a very young age and is brought up for a while by his heartless uncle. He is also born into a difficult age, being young and idealistic, in Scotland, at the time of the Jacobite Uprising in 1745. That’s when Bonnie Prince Charlie came back to Scotland out of exile in France, to claim the throne which was rightfully

his. The charismatic Prince swept through Scotland calling men to arms as he went, and Robbie joined them. Robbie was there at Culloden, when the Scots were overwhelmed by the English, and Robbie ran for his life from the field of battle.

And he became a hunted man. Except he was still no more than

a boy of sixteen. The English redcoats hunted the Scots mercilessly. Robbie hid in a distant and remote glen, and it was there that he made the best friend of his life, Charlie. Now, not everyone would be able to make a friend from a wild wolf, but Robbie did. And if you want to know how he did it, you will have to read the book.

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We were also sent this absolutely fantastic poem by Daisy Betony Cahalane-macGuinness. Read it below, we think it’s great!

There’s a wolf in the wood,what do I hear?

a big large growla big large howl

There’s a wolf in the wood,what do I taste?

fleas and bonesand animals breath

There’s a wolf in the wood,what do I smell?

sheep meat,oh what a horrible stenchThere’s a wolf in the wood,

what do I feel?the bump of a heart beatunder warm grey fur

There’s a wolf in the wood,what do I see?

grey, white and blackand it’s looking straight at

me.

W e’ve had some lovely letters from you recently! As you know, we do

really love to hear from our Junior Members so please send in anything you would love for us to know about!

This month we’ve heard from seán maxwell, who has adopted Nuka, one of the Beenham pack. He absolutely LOVES wolves and he has made his very own Wolf Den to hang out in!

Seán has collected a few wolf bits and bobs and with a big wolf poster on his wall he set up his “wolfden” so this folder that comes with his adoption is now a prized possession. You can see a picture below, do you have a wolfden you could show us?

From you to us!

The ‘wolfden’

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WEDNESDAY VISIT DAYS!11am - 4pm

The UK Wolf Conservation Trust now hosts a new event, where we are open every single Wednesday! You can simply turn up on the day and buy tickets, and even better during Half Term weeks Junior Members like yourselves get to come along for free! Look for your ticket in the pages below, all you have to do it is cut it out and bring it with you when you visit the Trust.

We will host lots of activities throughout the day for you on these special Visit Days. We feed the wolves in the afternoon around 2pm and you’ll get to see them have their dinner first hand and get great photos! They may have enrichment trails and other fun things to do.

In the Education Centre we also have more things for you to see and do. Here we’ll have lots of fun activities for you collect to take around the site, such as Nature Trails and our Wolf Quiz. During the day there will be games for you to join in with and activity sheets for you to complete in the Education Centre if you wish too.

We’ve plenty to see and do!

Ticket prices£8 - adults£5 - children (3-11 years) and senior citizens. Children under three are free.

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HALF-TERm VISIT DAYS19th Feb, 9th and 16th April 201411am - 4pmFree tickets for Junior members below

HOWL NIgHTFriday 11th April 2014, 7pm£10 per person per booking. Come and see our wolves in the evening you’ll have a tour of the Trust and then will try howling with them after a talk about communication.

CHILDREN’S WOLF WALKMonday 21st April 2014 11am - 2pm £13 per person per booking. Maximum of 1 adult per booking.Take a walk with UKWCT wolves.

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EASTER Egg HUNTFriday 18th April 201411am - 2pm£15 per person (6 years +). Maximum of 1 adult per booking.Have you ever wondered what the wolves love to do at Easter? Well, they do enjoy hunting for eggs! Come for a walk with the wolves and then decorate some eggs for their very own wolfy Easter Egg Hunt!

FREE ENTRYFOR A JUNIOR

mEmBER

19th February

VISIT WEDNESDAY

FREE ENTRYFOR A JUNIOR

mEmBER

16th April

VISIT WEDNESDAY

FREE ENTRYFOR A JUNIOR

mEmBER

9th April

VISIT WEDNESDAY

Bring these tickets with you to the Wednesday Visit Day!