Confusing Communication

After a stretch of several days of quiet with the gliders, I had an interesting time with them in the tent a few nights ago. That night, Foehn and Cirrus were having some serious issues with each other. Foehn seemed to be the one that was taking exception. They would approach each other, sniff a bit, and then one or the other would crab, hiss, and lunge. We were not sure what was going on as they have always gotten along (Virga was the one who was having difficulty adjusting early on). Foehn would bark from time to time as if she wanted attention or was looking for someone, but then didn't like the attention she was getting. One other thing I noticed was that Foehn was making a faint and somewhat rapid clicking sound when they were near each other. It reminded me of the sound of someone's teeth chattering. The only other time I heard this before is when we were first introducing them in the bathtub, and Foehn was making this sound as they were checking each other out. There as obviously some communication, or miscommunication, going on. I posted a note to Glider Central (a glider forum we frequent) asking about the clicking, and the consensus was that the clicking was benign, more of a greeting rather than a warning. Whatever was causing the problem, I think Cirrus eventually figured out that it was just best to avoid Foehn that night and there weren't any serious encounters after the first few.

What has continued to amaze us is that no matter how these "disputes" start, they all end up getting along just fine. The next morning they were all comfortably sleeping together in their large pouch, and apparently Foehn and Cirrus resolved whatever was causing them conflict the night before.