For those of you that have been reading Megan’s wolf blogs over the past couple of years, I have some exciting news to kick off our 2012 season.

Did you know that we have three separate wolf packs at Busch Gardens? If you're wondering why, it's because wolves are so territorial. Even if they have lived next to each other for years, they still view each other as outsiders.

Out in the wild, it is critical for wolves to defend their territories becuase there is not enough food nor space to be sharing with other packs. Therefore, they will defend that territory to the death, if necessary.

The number one question running through our guests minds during our show at Wolf Haven is, “How do they train the wolves?” It's a very intricate process that takes lots of patience and consistent behavior. However, it's well worth it in the end and actually a lot of fun.

Instead of actually telling you how we train them, we would like to show you. We'd like you to train one of our wolves so you can understand the process. Join us on the Wolf Training Up-Close tour for one-on-one training with a Gray Wolf that you've only dreamed about. Sounds cool, right?

Everyday, at 12:15 p.m.

You've read about what a wolf's winter coat does for the wolf, but I bet you'll be surprised by what the wolf's winter coat does for other wildlife. No, I'm not talking about the birds that use it as nesting material, although that is one of its uses. I'm talking about all the coastal wildlife potentially harmed by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. What in the world does wolf fur have to do with the oil spill?

A few weeks ago I told you about the wolves' beautiful, thick winter coats. As promised, here's an update.

If you haven't noticed, it's getting pretty toasty lately.

Exciting news, wolf fans. One of our trainers, Liz, just had her first free-contact introduction to a wolf. Free-contact means going into the habitat with the animal, which is something every trainer has to work toward and earn.

Liz worked very hard to develop a solid, trusting relationship with Tala in protected-contact first (with a fence between them). This allowed her to build up a history with Tala, so she already understood that Liz was a fun person to be around.