So Dora and Diego are growing fast, and starting to look like real wolves. Believe it or not, they will grow into these ears.

sniffing out the camera

 Any time we raise an animal instead of their parents, its critical that we find ways to make sure they are properly socialized and grow up to be well socialized, rather than thinking they are people. These pups are cute right now, but soon they will be much larger and wilder, and someday they will go off to be paired with other wolves. In order for that to be successful, we need to make sure they know how to act like maned wolves.

The best option would have been to introduce them to another maned wolf litter that was being mother-raised but there were no other females due at the same time as our pups. So we looked internally and one candidate stood out as being right for the job: Taji, the Anatolian Shepherd Dog.  Taji was raised with the cheetahs and works as part of our Cheetah Ambassador Program. You may have seen her out greeting our guests or hanging out with cheetahs Kito and Kiburi.

When the puppies were just a few days old, we started letting Taji come up to clinic to meet them. She was immediately interested in them and and seemed eager to help.

naptime for everyone

As you can see in this photo, things got off to a great start and so Taji is hired as the latest member of the maned wolf pup team.

Need to catch up on Dora and Diego’s story? Check out these earlier posts.

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