Animals of Montana

The Creation of the Wolf...

2012-02-14T09:54:00.008-07:00

Mating season for the Wolves is well under way. Wolves only breed one time of year and this takes place anywhere from January through April with the alpha female having only 5-7 days of estrus. When this takes place, the alpha pair may move out of their pack temporarily to prevent interruption from other pack members. Almost all of the time, the alpha pair is the only pair to mate, avoiding over population.

When the pair are about to mate, they bond, sleeping close, they greet each other making quiet whining sounds, bump their bodies together and various other bonding gestures. As the courtship progresses the male can smell the readiness of his mate, his tongue will flick in and out, testing the air for traces of her sex hormones. If she happens to not be ready to breed, she will deny the male with snapping of her jaw and growling.

Once the breeding process begins, an actual physical tie occurs caused by the swelling of the males penis and constriction in the females vaginal wall. After about five minutes the male stops, twists around so the two are end to end. This is where the actual exchange of sperm takes place. The two can remain tied together for up to a half hour!

After the mating process, the pair continues to be affectionate. Wolves do often have long lasting bonds with their mates, but if one wolf passes, the widowed mate may breed with another wolf. Also, some wolves bond to different females of the pack in different years, destroying the myth that they "mate for life". It is an interesting process to learn about and we are fortunate enough to witness the entire process with our captive wolves! We get film and photography requests for "breeding interaction between wolves". Our wolves are not shy and will go through the motions with or without an audience present! This makes for great wolf footage that is rarely captured in the wild.

Photographing Mountain Lions in West Yellowstone Montana!

2012-02-09T16:11:00.013-07:00

Embark upon the rare occasion of photographing a Mountain Lion in the Wild! For those that seek to tackle this task, you will spend hours upon hours just waiting patiently to see this elusive creature in your viewfinder....Only hoping to get close enough for a great picture. Most often when one does come upon a wild Mountain Lion, it is up a tree. When looking at a photograph in a magazine, calendar or article of Mountain Lions, if the cat is pictured in a tree, it's likely that it's wild. It is speculated that the best time of year to view wild Mountain Lions is during late Fall, when snow first starts sticking to the ground. After the storms they seem to move around and check things out. Also, with the snowy setting, it makes it that much easier to spot the Cougar and see his tracks. During the summer months this cat is extremely rare to see, let alone photograph. During the warm months they travel on deer trails, deep into the Mountains, making it that much more difficult to find them. One of the best ways to locate a wild Cougar is to watch the deer. If there are deer in the vicinity, there are cougars. It is definetly a rare and unique occasion to photograph a Mountain Lion in West Yellowstone or anywhere in the wild for that matter! If you've been one of the few to capture an image in the wild, you should feel very lucky! The possibilities are endless when Photographing a captive Mountain Lion. Our adult Male Cougar will run right at camera, jump across ledges/canyons, climb trees, stalk, and give stares that will curl your toes! Visit Animals of Montana's website and see for yourself just what opportunities are awaiting you! http://www.animalsofmontana.com/.

The Myth of the Prickly Porcupine

2012-02-06T12:48:00.009-07:00

The porcupine is the prickliest of the rodent family, it's latin name meaning, "Quill Pig". They carry a full coat of needle-like quills to give predators a sharp warning that it won't be an easy meal! Some quills have measured at nearly a foot long! It is a myth that Porcupines actually "shoot" their quills at predators, that is false and the predator does actually have to come in contact with the quills. Once a victim of being "quilled", the sharp tips and overlapping scales or barbs make them very difficult to remove. A porcupine does grow new quills to replace those that are lost.

Porcupines spend much of their time in trees. Their prehensile or gripping tails aid in their great climbing ability. They have a healthy appetite for wood using their large front teeth, making their meal of natural bark and stems. Fruit, leaves and springtime buds are also a large part of the North American Porcupine's diet.

Female porcupines give birth to one or two young. The babies quills are operational within just hours of being born!

Our prickly Wildlife Model, "Rusty Roo" has been bottle fed and hand raised, from just hours old. He actually had free range of the house UNTIL he reached a couple of months old and then began climbing into my houseplants and eating them down to the roots :)!

"The Eye of the Tiger" - - Animals of Montana Animal Actors at their BEST!

2012-01-25T14:24:00.007-07:00

Our NEW Website has been launched!

We're proud and super excited to introduce to you, the New and Improved Animals of Montana website! Lots of changes and improvements have been made and will continue to happen for the next several weeks! So....stay tuned and check back often for new video's and photo's of our Wildlife Models! Our first, "knock your socks off" video teaser for you - - "The Eye of the Tiger".... A MUST SEE!

NEW Website Coming Soon!

2012-01-14T10:35:00.004-07:00

Yes, that's right!!!

Animals of Montana will be launching a new website in the next few weeks, it’s going to be a HUGE step up from the existing site! To help us promote and circulate the word we are asking for anyone that can help us and is willing to advertise/post this “news” on your blog/website/facebook, etc. (Thank you) The website address will remain the same: http://www.animalsofmontana.com/.

Also, if anyone is interested in contributing to our Blog as a “guest blogger”, we welcome it, please get in touch!

The animal actors are all doing great! Still in desperate need of snow for photographing ~ but the weatherman is predicting a fair amount for this coming week. Fingers and toes are crossed that it happens!

We are in the midst of our Winter Wonderland Wild Cat tour and we have a great group of photographers! The Snow Leopard performed wonderfully for the group along with all of the other animals we've filmed...but by far, Photographing the Snow Leopard in the snow has been the all time favorite!

Hibernation is for the birds...'er' I mean the BEARS!

2012-01-05T17:26:00.002-07:00

Typically when you think of hibernation, you think of winter and bears. Well, here at Animals of Montana, our bears don't follow that rule of nature. The other day while I was out in the facility, I noticed Muckaday, one of our black bears, leave his den, waddle over to some feed we had for him, sniff it, and decided sleep overruled hunger so he returned to slumber land. Usually Muckaday dens up late in the Fall straight through into Spring, with Awly sleeping side by side together, but that day the temps climbed into the 50's, so it felt enough like spring, and sprung him from his sleep. Our grizzles are a different story. The mischievous trio, Adam, Griz and Yosemite are much too curious and worried that they are going to miss something, so they pretty much stay awake throughout the winter months. Another reason why our bears don't truly hibernate is that we supply a constant feed source for them if they choose. Those that want to stay awake, eat. Those that don't, slumber. Guess who the 3 "little" piggies are!

Photographing or filming our wildlife models during the winter months can produce interesting and unique photo opportunities with these big bruins in the snow. The black bears are a bit more sluggish, but still very photogenic. Our grizzlies take advantage of having something new to play with! They definitely live up to being known as "opportunists" and take advantage of every opportunity that comes their way!

There are times we wish our infamous five would suspend their eating in exchange for 6 months of shut-eye. It would certainly help in reducing our enormous feed bill! Alas, we would miss their longing stares as they follow our every move, hoping we'll come over so they can "nuk" on us for comfort, until they loll themselves back into their dream-like state. That is, until another "can't resist" opportunity" comes knocking!

A Labor of Love

2012-01-04T14:22:00.004-07:00

Today is our feed and clean day. Yesterday we had to make a run to Billings to get a pressure washer part that needed to be replaced. Expensive machinery for parts, especially when it's a 300 mile round trip too, but it's a must to keep cages clean and our animal acting family disease-free. Although, those pesky little mites still sneak their way in sometimes, and then we get the lovely experience of sulphur dipping those animal actors infested in the "green goo". Let me tell you what a fun experience that is dipping our 700 pound grizzly Adam! Afterwards, we look like ghost busters that have been slimed! And it stinks to high heaven on top of it all!

This year we've gotten a bit of a break because of the unseasonably warm temperatures, so our back breaking ice picking before pressure washing has been at a minimum. There's still a whole lot of winter left in Montana! I wish I could describe the excitement and anticipation that envelopes our entire facility when we begin the F&C day. Our animal family are all in the best of moods, wagging tails (if they have one), talking to us either individually as we approach them, or in a harmonious chorus of wolves howling, mountain lions chirping, and Mufasa, our Barbary African Lion, bringing up bass with his deep roar that vibrates deep down into your soul and throughout the Shields Valley we call home. It makes for a great way to start our day here at Animals of Montana! A magical place to photograph or film our animal actors who are clean, happy & healthy critters!

And who needs a gym when we have a F&C day! We get an all day workout with either carrying 100 pounds of food at a wack, or hanging on to the wand that's spewing out 3000 pounds of water pressure cleaning every cage inside and out. Definitely a labor of love, but we wouldn't trade it for the world! By the end of the day, we're exhausted and our animals content.

It's makes for a nice way to end our day.

Beyond the Controversy of Wolves in Montana...

2012-01-02T08:30:00.001-07:00

Otherwise known as Canis lupus, the subject of “Wolves” is a very controversial topic, especially here in the West. Add "captive" to the whole conundrum, and you have stimulating table talk. (more on the subject of The Controversy of Captivity in a future blog) All of our Wolves here at Animals of Montana are born in captivity, as with all of our animal actors. Captive wolves can be very tricky to raise and train in regards to the amount of time and patience involved to develop that strong bond between beast and trainer. This process is crucial to ensure our animal actor learns to know us and trust us. We begin when the pups are just a few days old with the simple act of 2 hour around the clock bottle feeding, followed with positive play interaction until they are a couple months old. During this time we become a part of their pack, and a social bond between us and animal is created that is unbreakable.

Sharing a few facts about wolves…

The Gray Wolf is the largest of the wild dogs. Adult male Gray Wolves in Montana weight around 104 pounds and females weigh around 80 pounds. Males average approximately 73 inches in length, while females average about 70 inches. About half of the wild Gray Wolves in Montana are black with the other half gray, although both color phases may be found in a pack or in a litter of pups. Our wolves vary in color from silver to gray to even black.
They are opportunistic carnivores, which means they'll accept a free lunch, but they are also highly socialistic, so they'll share it among the pack. Predominant prey in Montana are large ungulates, such as deer, Elk, and Moose (Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks 2003). Bison calves can also be on the menu where the ranges of the two species overlap in and around Yellowstone National Park. Domestic livestock such as cattle and sheep are also preyed upon-thus the fuel for the controversy of Rancher vs. Wolf. Alternative prey, such as rodents, vegetation and carrion will eaten, but being a pack animal, the majority of their meals come from hunting prey as large as a full grown Moose. (Thurber and Peterson 1993).

Our Wolves give the Call of the Wild several times through the day and night. It’s the most calming yet haunting sound. Some visitors ask, “how do you sleep at night with all the howling?” For us, it's a soft lullaby that gently croons us to sleep. Howling is their way of communicating to each other within the pack, or miles away, and sometimes just to express happy or sadness too.

We will be doing a “Harvest Full Moon Tour” with our wolf pack in October of this New Year 2012. The Harvest Moon is the first full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. About once every four years, it occurs in October in the northern hemisphere, so how appropriate that in 2012 it falls next to Halloween! Often, the Harvest Moon will be bigger or brighter or more colorful than other full moons throughout the year, so what perfect photo opportunities await you on our Moon Tour! We'll be shooting when dawn breaks to when the sun sets to give you all the different color phases of the full Moon throughout the tour. For more information, please visit our website about our "Harvest Full Moon Tour".

"11 Things we are Thankful for in 2011!"

2011-12-31T09:59:00.009-07:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR from Troy/Tracy and of our animal actors! We received a great blessing last night ~ about 5 new inches of SNOW! It's a gorgeous day for photographing! Sun is shining strong in the blue blue sky!

With the approaching New Year we have so much to be thankful for in the year that is coming to a close. Sharing 11 of the things that we are most thankful for....

1) Getting our U.S.D.A. License back! September 2011 we became relicensed after being closed for over two years! What a blessing!

2) Special friends and colleagues generosity thoughout those past two plus years.

3) 20 plus years of friendship with Bret Hicken - our dear friend that passed away September 21.2011. Bret never missed attending our Red Rock Moab Utah tours. And in his honor we have scheduled and dedicated the upcoming "Bret B. Hicken Red Rock Tour" April 13-15.2012 in his memory.

4) We celebrated our 3rd Anniversary of Marriage. 8.8.2008.

5) Our daughter, Briana's visit this last summer from Wisconsin!

6) We are still blessed with sharing life with five healthy parents and one grandmother.

7) A thriving and healthy animal actor family!

8) Our good Aussie friend, Demetri visiting and lending a helping hand in a time of need!

9) Being blessed with our own health.

10) All the experiences, good and bad, that made us stronger and wiser.

11) Thankful for what the New Year 2012 will bring to Animals of Montana - new friends, new additions to our animal family and new and exciting beginnings!

We wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Snow Leopards in Montana!

2011-12-29T13:15:00.017-07:00

It's a warm, windy day with temperatures still in the 30-40's every day. It’s almost The New Year and we still have barely just a skiff of snow on the ground. January is predicted to be a great month for snowfall and we and all of our animal actors are anxiously awaiting the weatherman’s prediction to ring true, bringing Snow Leopard temperatures and lots of snow! We especially need great snowy weather for our upcoming "Rocky Mountain High" Helicopter tour, February 18-19.2012. Our Snow Leopard, "Mekong" is one of many of my favorite trained animals in our animal kingdom.

Troy has done a great job of bonding with and training Mekong from just days old, even before his eyes were open. Mekong loves to frolick in the snow and enjoys the frigid temperatures that Montana offers each winter. Mekong has been flying in the helicopter since he was just five weeks old and continues to at 11 years old. This is done to enable great photo opportunities high atop the nearby mountain ranges such as the Bridger Mountains or Crazy Mountains. Afterall, his natural habitat is at elevations of 9800-18,000 feet! Their secretive nature means that their exact numbers are unknown, but it has been estimated that between 3,500 and 7,000 snow leopards exist in the wild and between 600 and 700 in zoos worldwide, one of which resides at Animals of Montana! We have our "Rocky Mountain High Snow Leopard Tour" coming up in February or in 2013 our "Shadow of the Mountains - Flying High Snow Leopard tour" of which both involve transporting photographers and Leopard to the Bridger Mountains for a one of a kind session photographing this elusive creature in a natural habitat. We are hoping for great weather and great photo opportunities.
Troy has been training not just Snow leopards but also many other animal actors such as Black Leopard, Grizzly Bears, Bobcat, Wolves, Lions, even skunks and many more! We invite you to meet all of our animal actors!