Whilst Nuka is affectionate and confident with his handlers, he can also be at times a ball of mischievous furriness. He loves to welcome his favourite handlers into the enclosure although he does tend to get a little enthusiastic leaping up and licking in excitement. However, he soon calms down and rolls over to have his tummy rubbed. He also wants his ears to be fondled. His soft and boyish affectionate nature belies the very powerful wild animal he really is.
He is totally in command of his sisters and shows all the natural behaviours of a dominant mature male wolf, although sometimes the girls have the last word! He is quite happy to drag the girls by the tail if he needs to remove them from a situation he disagrees with.
Nuka must be the centre of attention and he is quick to push his sisters out of the way to get strokes from his human friends. This can cause fights but peace is soon restored. On public walks Nuka will try to flop over for a tummy rub and the public find this very endearing. Not so the poor handler on the front lead faced with an upside-down wolf with legs all over the place!
Nuka likes to eat deer and if he knows it is in the bucket will refuse to eat anything else until the deer has all gone. He is a fast eater and soon goes over to see what he can grab from the girls. He also furtively watches the girls bury food and then when they have gone, digs it up and eats it.
Nuka has an ice fetish and will chew vigorously on the inch thick slabs that are removed from his water bucket in the winter mornings. When he is out on walks he loves it when ice from a horse trough is given to him to snap at, crunch up and then he rolls on in obvious bliss. In the summer he enjoys his meat filled ice lollies.
He enjoys playing with Tala and Tundra, pouncing on voles and squirrels, digging holes, finding things in the pond and sitting in the sun on the platform.
He dislikes hot air balloons, red kites or any raptors flying overhead, his sisters stealing his food and strong winds.
He can be an amazingly gentle wolf; one day visitors could not believe what they were seeing! Tundra who often won’t go into the side enclosure, was standing outside watching Nuka and Tala eating their enrichment melons filled with meat near the visitors. Nuka noticed, picked up a melon and took it and placed it at Tundra’s feet then went back to eat his own. Wolves in the wild have been seen feeding injured wolves from their packs.
Nuka is very loveable wolf with a distinct character which makes him popular with volunteers and public alike. He is also a powerful dominant male wolf who needs to be treated with respect.