Sponsor: Kristina Horback, Ph.D. Animal Science North American gray wolves must adapt to human-altered landscapes, which present them with novel challenges in their environments. Knowledge surrounding the impact of this novelty and how wolves, as social species, respond to it is essential to wolf conservation. This study explores wolf behavior towards novel objects and how it correlates to observation of a packmate interacting with novelty. Two packs from Californian facilities (n = 9) were given three novel object types: a paper-mache ball, a rainstick, and an open-door puzzle box. Object types were presented during separate two-hour sessions and recorded on camcorders. Coded behaviors included instances of contact with, proximity to, and investigation of the novel object. Observing a packmate interacting with a novel object had no significant correlation to their own instances of contact (p = 0.226), proximity (p = 0.721), or investigation (p = 0.416) of the novel objects. These findings indicate that packmate observation may not have a significant impact on individual exploratory behaviors in wolves. This could indicate an individual-level motivation for risk-taking and exploration (i.e., personality) rather than a pack-specific behavior response to novelty. Further research with a larger sample size is necessary to gain a more complete understanding of this relationship. Language Environment and Age as Predictors of Attention in Infants

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