Council for animal ethics issues consultative statement on ethics of zoos; my role

Norway´s Council for animal ethics has issues the consultative statement "Etiske grenseoppganger for hold av dyr i dyrepark" (loosely: Ethical limitations for the keeping of animals in zoos). I have been main responsible for composing the text, along with Guri Larsen (though such texts are always ultimately consensus products).

"Wolf play" clip featured in Discovery documentary aired this Spring

Excerpts of my video clip "Wolf play", which has to date been seen some 59.000 times on YouTube, were featured in a documentary series that aired on Discovery Channel this Spring. The excerpts, recorded by me during field work involving socialised wolves in Polar Zoo in 2010, appears in episode 7 of the series Deadly dilemmas, produced by London-based October Films, in the timespan 19.56-20.02 and then again 22.01-22.06. I am acknowledged ("Archives": Morten Tønnessen ...) ca. 22.19-22.22. Series producer is Paul Connolly.

The video clip from the wolf play video is part of a dilemma which involves being lost in wilderness and having to choose between joining a pride of lions or a pack of wolves in order to survive.

Post on "Wolf play" video clip in Minding Animals blog

On November 12th last year I wrote and got posted "Ulvelek fra Bardu til Discovery" [Wolf play from Bardu to Discovery channel] in the blog of Minding Animals Norway.

See the Youtube clip "Wolf play" here.

See also:

Video clip 'Wolf play' to be featured in Discovery documentary

"Wolf play" stats: Seasonal and geographical variations

I have previously posted about my video clip "Wolf play", recorded in Polar Zoo, Northern Norway (which has as of today been viewed 49.476 times) - see:

"Wolf play" a Youtube hit (November 2011)

Wolf play video (July 2012)

"Wolf play" now seen 47.000 times (April 2013)

In the most recent post I noted that 

[t]he ups and downs in views follow the season, with exponential growth throughout the year and then a dive in traffic each Christmas (does anybody know how many videos on YouTube display this pattern - likely due to traffic generating more traffic via increased visibility, combined with a pause in interest for this kind of video during Christmas?).

Here is a more detailed picture of these seasonal variations (weekly number of views, from the clip was uploaded until the last week):

Both in 2011 and 2012 the number of views peaked in week 50 (4.147 and 1.941 views respectively). There's further been a mid-year peak in both 2012 and 2013 - in weeks 24-25 in 2012, with some 800-900 views per week, and in weeks 14-15 this year, with some 900-1.100 views per week. In contrast, there were only roughly 100 views per week in the beginning of both 2012 and 2013, after the hard landing which appears to be coded into YouTube's system.

The map below the diagram shows the countries where the video clip has been viewed the most. Top 5:

1. USA 17.963

2. Canada 3.528

3. UK 2.549

4. Italy 1.888

5. Japan 1.490

Norway is at no. 15 with 628 views.

"Wolf play" now seen 47.000 times

My video clip "Wolf play", from a research visit to Polar Zoo (Bardu, Troms, Norway) in March 2010, reached 10.000 views in November 2011 and some 33.000 in July 2012. By now it has been shown 47.214 times, meaning it has been shown an additional 14.000 times since last summer.

The ups and downs in views follow the season, with exponential growth throughout the year and then a dive in traffic each Christmas (does anybody know how many videos on YouTube display this pattern - likely due to traffic generating more traffic via increased visibility, combined with a pause in interest for this kind of video during Christmas?).

The video clip has received 132 thumbs up (likes) and 3 thumbs down (dislikes), and has generated 60 comments on YouTube.

"Wolf play" a YouTube hit

My video clip "Wolf Play" passed 10.000 views on YouTube at some point by November 18th. Since then it has been shown more than a 1.000 times more (and it has been shown 6.000 times the last month). Where is this gonna stop?

Further wolf vids on YouTube on MrMortenTonnessen's channel:

"Wolves coming to join us at polar Zoo" (435 views)

"A wolf plotting to steal my glove" (371 views)

"Luna chased - the fun is over, time to go" (316 views)

"Wolves wrestle" (289 views)

.... and 6 more.

Summary report from Polar Zoo available online

Last week I finished my summary report after my field trip (in March) to Polar Zoo in Bardufoss, Northern Norway (cf. previous posts, including pictures and links to videos). The 23pp work paper has now been uploaded to Scribd.

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Contents:

1. Factual questions (and questions to the human caretakers)

2. The wolves' interaction among themselves

3. The confinement

4. The wolves and other animals

5. Wolf senses

6. The wolves and their caretakers

7. The wolves and the visitors to the zoo

8. The wolves and me

Langedrag next

New field trip, September 22-25: To Langedrag mountain farm and wildlifepark - 500 km by train + 30 km by car, on the way back 30 km by bike + 500 km by train.

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Langedrag has two enclosures with captive wolves - one socialized and another 'wild'. Unlike with Polar Zoo, where I visited in March, at Langedrag visitors are taken into the confinement of the shyest gang, not the most socialized one. The terms, however, appear to have another meaning than in Polar Zoo, where the shy couple did not receive visits and would not have approached people like they appear to do at Langedrag.

Bear video

Here.

Cf. my recent post Bear pics.

Bear pics

The bear cubs Salt and Pepper of Polar Zoo in Northern Norway were officially let out of the den for the winter this Saturday (2 days ago) (picture in local newspaper, with red ball, here). A few days earlier, when I happened to be present, they tried it out, off the record, to see how the bears would respond. Here's a few pictures of the two leaving the artificial den, and play fighting in the snow.

6 more wolf videos - now up-close

Links to the videos at the bottom.

Wolf couple moving in synch

Wolves wrestle

Wolf play

A wolf plotting to steal my glove

Luna chased - the fun is over, time to go

Wolf tries to steal my glove

And the wolves they are a-fighting

The general pattern was that Nayla and Ylva were the ones fighting (and Ylva in particular chasing Luna, the omega (bottom of hierarchy) wolf), while Steinulv, the alpha male, kept whining and intervening to keep the peace.

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The socialized wolves at Polar Zoo simultaneously carry out their roles vis-à-vis their human caretakers (and visitors to the zoo) and their social roles vis-à-vis each other (this is due to the fact that the zookeepers remain neutral, in stead of taking "a role in the pack"). Accordingly, they can fight one moment and lick a caretaker's face the next, then returning to the fight...

The king of the hill

Wolf kisses

These pictures are of a zookeeper and a long-term visiting animal trainer - but one of the socialized wolves, Ylva, "kissed" me as well. The wolves got used to licking people on/in their mouths as pups, when the zookeepers at times fed them from their mouths.

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The taste of wolf - I now know.

Feeding the wolves of Polar Zoo

Here we're inside of the enclosure of the shy canid couple, Nanok (he) and Gaida (she). The box contains animal feed (meat). The adult wolves of the park get in average 2,5 kg each day (Note: they are not fed every day).

The shy couple kept a distance as long as we were inside. In the neighbouring enclosure, that of the four socialized wolves, they also kept a distance as we were up in the "wooden tower" (or rather ladder) from which these wolves are fed.

Nanok and Gaida eat. Correction: Nanok, the male (to the right), eats - and shows his teeth to his beloved Gaida, to signal that she cannot yet approach the food.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the road/path, the socialiced wolves keep track of what's going on, with us and to some extent also with their parents Nanok and Gaida...

Scary animals I met in Polar Zoo

Feeding the lynx: Before entering an enclosure, the zoo keeper has to go through security measures with you. Before entering the lynx enclosure, I was told that they are unpredictable, and "precision hunters". If attacking to kill they would go for my throat. I tried to think of a cat 10 times a cat's size ... which didn't help easing my fear of these Nordic forest cats. On the other hand, they do not commonly attack humans in the wild, and these particular animals are well fed at that.

There's three lynx in Polar Zoo. This female appears to be the most curious/courageous of them. She tried to get to eat straight from the zoo keeper's box with meat, and hissed at him when he wouldn't let her. To the left: A piece of animal feed (meat).

The same female lynx was not afraid of getting close to us - but run off when the zoo keeper pointed the spade at her.

Feeding the musc oxes: Ester (left) came to eat first, Klaus (right) was more wary of us.

Two times he faked an attack at us - first by leaping ahead and stamping with his front feet, and then, after a few minutes, by "running towards us" - for 1 meter. It did the trick for me - I felt scared (although I was well aware that these were only early warning signals). I wouldn't want to run into this fellow unprotected on a plain.

Wolf pics II

Norway looks like a cake these days.

This poor wolf escaped from soon-to-be-established Polar Zoo in 1993, only to end up, in its afterlife, as a trophy in the zoo's café.

Wolf pics 1

This is not a wolf. The head looks like a wolverine - but the body more like a fat fox...

My first picture of the socialized wolves in Polar Zoo. I am inside of the enclosure.

Man and wolf.

Wolf videos

Here's five videos I have recorded today, during my research visit to Polar Zoo:

Ylva the wolf wants to play fight

Howling to the wolves of Polar Zoo

Howling with the wolves in Polar Zoo

Wolves coming to join us in Polar Zoo

Wolves take off