While the Belted Kingfisher is not our national bird, it could well be...............Found across North America during Spring and Summer months(as well as some staying year round), they are a bird of stream, river, pond and lake habitat............."The face of a hillside that has been partially cut away is the ideal location for the nest of this bird, especially if it is relatively close to some body of water"....................... "Because the side of such an unstable cliff prevents ground predators from ascending the slope to raid its nursery, the kingfisher’s eggs and hatchlings are relatively safe"......................."They are ferociously territorial, defending their territory against other Kingfishers, terrestrial animals and man"..................."It wil call out with it's signature 'harsh rattle' to notify the intruder to 'get off my land'..........This bird species is one of the few where the female is more brightly colored than the male

http://adirondackexplorer.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f2786fbb7862339a0b90113d7&id=2051cdb338&e=46b8d98c61

SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2017

Adirondack Wildlife: The Belted Kingfisher

by Tom Kalinowskis

Trout Season has opened, but humans, are not the only creatures that prowl the banks of remote streams, or visit the shores of backcountry ponds, in an attempt to snag a small brook trout. Throughout the Adirondacks, there are numerous forms of life that are well adapted for catching fish, and among the most colorful and noisy is the belted kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon).

With its large head, long, thick bill, jagged crest, and white band around its neck, the kingfisher provides a silhouette that is easily recognized. However, it is not the unique appearance of this stout bird that initially draws attention to its presence. Most anglers and individuals that simply spend time outdoors commonly become aware that a kingfisher is in the immediate area by noting its distinct rattling call.

According to biologists that study it, the kingfisher is a highly territorial creature, and whenever it spots a rival kingfisher, a neighbor that has crossed its boundaries, a predator, like a fox, meandering through the area, or even a human walking in the general vicinity, it quickly voices its displeasure. Whether it is on the wing, or sitting on a favored perch, the kingfisher never hesitates to notify the intruder that it is trespassing and is upsetting the kingfisher by its presence.

Range Map of the Belted Kingfisher

While the kingfisher is normally encountered around a body of water that supports a population of small fish, it may also be noted well over a half mile from any aquatic setting. Unlike most birds that breed in the Adirondacks, the kingfisher seeks out the side of a steep sandy bank in which to excavate a burrow for the placement of its nest. The face of a hillside that has been partially cut away is the ideal location for the nest of this bird, especially if it is relatively close to some body of water. Because the side of such an unstable cliff prevents ground predators from ascending the slope to raid its nursery, the kingfisher’s eggs and hatchlings are relatively safe from a ground assault.

As a general rule the entrance, which is slightly oval in shape, is positioned about a foot and a half to two feet below the top of the bank. This prevents an animal, like a raccoon, from attempting to reach down the face of the bank, and grab one of the adults as it exits the nest.

A slope that is not exceedingly steep, and which can be climbed by a predator, is generally avoided by the kingfisher, however, in the total absence of any suitable land formation, the kingfisher will resort to using such less desirably pitched sandy cliffs.

The female of the species(left) is more brightly colored than the male-unusual in birds

Both the male and female work in the excavation of the tunnel that leads into the side of the bank. With its long and pointed bill, the bird dislodges the soil at the end of the hole and kicks the loose material back toward the entrance with its feet. One individual works for about 2 to 3 minutes before exiting the earthen tube. When its mate enters to continue the work, it initially kicks out all of the loose soil that has accumulated on the floor of the tunnel before proceeding to the end to dig away more dirt. The two outer toes of the kingfisher are partially fused together toward their base which creates a shovel-like feature to these appendages.

The length of the tunnel depends on the ease of digging and on the number of years that the same pair of birds has used that site. A first year nest complex averages from 3 to 4 feet in length before an enlarged area is created to house the nest. Upon their return the following spring, the pair attempts to reclaim the horizontal burrow if the bank is still intact.

It is quite common in the Adirondacks for a pair or two of kingfishers to excavate a nest in a sand bank used by the highway department of a town or village. Because these banks are dug away during the latter part of summer or autumn when sand is being accumulated for dispersing on winter roads, the burrow that a pair made one spring may be gone the next.

In backcountry settings, the side of an esker or a steep slope with workable soil is known to attract the kingfisher in spring during the search for a nesting site. Should its characteristic rattling call be heard in a location away from any body of water, the chances are good that there is some terrain feature in the vicinity that is being used to house a nest.

With all waterways across the region open and the soil thawed, it is time for the return of one of the most proficient anglers in the Adirondacks – the kingfisher.

Playing the "waiting game", New Brunswick, Canada nature photographer Ariele DeMerchant snagged some outstanding pictures of a Canadian Lynx near Scotch Lake(Ontario, Canada).............."For you photography buffs out there, DeMerchant used a "low-end" DSLR camera, a $200 motion sensor and two external flashes and then waterproofed them with Tupperware".............. "A coat of camouflaging paint later and she had a rig ready to catch her elusive subject in its element"................. "The gear sat in the wild during all of this past Winter without getting damaged"..............."In fact, it took her the whole Winter to finally come up with the beautiful pics below"

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/trail-camera-lynx-photo-1.4091491&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoTODg1MTQyNTk5MTg3MDQ1MTk5OTIaMWZiYWM0NmZiZmUyN2MzODpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNGW7hPx18GzrmlP7tAnZQWNKbcK8w

http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/932340291689/

Nature photographer spent months waiting for the perfect lynx photo

Good light and the lynx's penetrating stare result in stand-out shot caught by trail-side camera

By Paul Hantiuk, CBC News Posted: Apr 29, 2017

Arielle DeMerchant captured this lynx looking straight at her camera after months of trying to get the right shot. She rigged up a DSLR camera with a motion sensor in a wooded area near Scotch Lake. (Arielle DeMerchant Nature Photography)

Scotch Lakes is not marked on the map-just above the eastern most
eastern Great Lakes body of water

Nature photographer Arielle DeMerchant has been playing candid camera cat and mouse with a pretty big cat since last November.

After months of observing a lynx on trail cameras she set up near Scotch Lake, about 30 kilometres north of Fredericton, she finally landed her dream shot April 23.

New Brunswick-based DeMerchant tries to observe animals in their natural habitat as part of her hobby. She looks for behaviour that humans wouldn't see if present in person to startle the animal.

She started out looking for coyotes in the area, but things got a bit more interesting when a certain wild cat started appearing on the scene.

"I didn't at all expect I would get a lynx."

The right gear for the job

DeMerchant picked this particular spot because of a deer carcass that she expected would attract scavengers.

She caught the lynx feeding and then returning to sniff the bones on her trail camera once or twice a month through the winter.

DeMerchant picked this spot to place her camera because the deer carcass would attract animals. The lynx took the bait and even returned several times after picking over the remains to sniff the bones. (Arielle DeMerchant Nature Photography)

Over Christmas she worked on a technique she saw on the internet to photograph animals in their natural habitat.

She took a "low-end" DSLR camera, a $200 motion sensor and two external flashes and then waterproofed them with Tupperware. A coat of camouflaging paint later and she had a rig ready to catch her elusive subject in its element. The gear sat in the wild for weeks at a time without getting damaged.

The waiting is the hardest part

After checking her camera roughly every five days into the spring, DeMerchant eventually hit the jackpot.

"I almost had a heart attack when I checked it and saw it," she said.

She says the photo is a fortunate confluence of good light, a fortuitous glance from the lynx and a quick pass through Adobe Lightroom.

"It's just that gaze in its eyes, looking so intently at the camera. It really took me aback," she said of the lynx's reaction.

It's now her personal favourite, supplanting a prized puffin shot taken on Machias Seal Island.

A less glamorous shot of our photogenic lynx taken by one of Arielle DeMerchant's trail cameras. (Submitted by Arielle DeMerchant Nature Photography)

DeMerchant has made photography trips to Iceland and Alberta, but spends most of her time looking for subjects within an hour's drive of Fredericton.

"I like to get off the beaten path as much as I can. It's always nice to be near water features," she said. "It seems to have helped my success."

She hopes she will have another encounter with her new favourite subject before too long.

"Can't stop now," she laughed.

What is "Old Growth" Forest and what biodiversity benefits does this habitat deliver to a given natural system?..........."For a forest to be considered "old growth," it must grow largely undisturbed, usually for several centuries".......... "These ancient forests help foster biodiversity of plants, animal and even fungi — and can help mitigate flooding"..............."Tree falls, from wind or storms are one very visible characteristic of "Old Growth" woodlands, creating important habitat for amphibians, small mammals and invertebrates"............Standing dead and rotting trees(snags) are also very much part of an "Old Growth" forest, providing homes for all sorts of animals from black bears to woodpeckers................."Old Growth" trees are also optimal carbon storage retainers, helping in the battle to mitigate climate change"

new UVM study

Mimicking Mother Nature, UVM Scientists 'Nudge' Forests Toward Old Growth Conditions

By KATHLEEN MASTERSON • APR 25, 2017

In the northeast U.S., there is less than 1 percent of old growth forest left. A new University of Vermont study finds that harvesting trees in a way that mimics old growth forests not only restores critical habitat, but also stores a surprising amount of carbon.

For a forest to be considered "old growth," it must grow largely undisturbed, usually for several centuries. These ancient forests help foster biodiversity of plants, animal and even fungi — and can help mitigate flooding.

But UVM forest ecologist Bill Keeton wanted to see if he could take a "middle-aged" New England forest and "nudge" the forest ecosystem into old growth conditions. 

Mimicking Mother Nature

It's a pleasantly sunny afternoon at the 500-acre University of Vermont Jericho Research Forest in northern Vermont, and Keeton is literally walking me through his 15-year experiment.

"[These forests are] a pretty good example of really the broader New England landscape. So everything that you're seeing here, 150 years ago was just open pastureland," Keeton says.

These approximately 150-year-old trees haven't been logged throughout the experiment, and the result is a rather uniform and homogeneous forest with fewer habitat niches.

CREDIT KATHLEEN MASTERSON / VPR

He says the regeneration of forests on this research plot is basically a microcosm of the recovery that happened across that New England landscape.

"This study is really about how we take this recovering secondary forests, forests that have recovered since the 19th century, and kind of nudge them along toward older, more architecturally complex condition," says Keeton, who conducted the study along with UVM graduate student Sarah Ford.

Using tree shears and backhoes, the researchers have engineered several plots of this middle-aged forest to look much more like an old growth forest.  

But before visiting that plot, Keeton takes me to the control plot. It's 5 acres of untouched trees; the idea here is to measure how the forest would have grown if scientists hadn't tinkered with it.  

"All the trees are roughly the same age, there's a single layer in canopy, there aren't a lot of interesting habitat features like dead and dying trees that are important for wildlife," he says. "It's just very uniform, homogeneous."

But about a 10-minute walk away is a plot that's been engineered to mimic old growth forest conditions. Just like the control plot, the trees are about 150 years old, but this forest looks noticeably different.

"So you're coming into one of the structural complexity enhancement units, and I want to see if you notice any changes as we walk in. Anything look different to you?" Keeton asks.

Researchers created this tip-up mound by pulling over this tree with a cable. A downed tree offers a number of habitat niches for small mammals, insects and invertebrates.

CREDIT KATHLEEN MASTERSON / VPR

I point to a large downed tree, roughly 60 feet long, whose roots have tipped up into the air. Forgetting its scientific name, I call it "an overturned, giant stump."

"This is a tip-up mound. So we made this," Keeton explains, pointing out all the different habitat niches in the roots and in the cave-like ditch left underneath.

Tree falls like this would happen naturally over time, usually from wind or storms, but in this case the researchers pulled over the tree using a cable.

"We needed to take it down to free up growing space for other trees, like that one right there, that nice big one that we're trying to crown release, so that one can grow to a really big size," says Keeton.

"And in doing this we create this great down log, which is habitat now for amphibians, small mammals, invertebrates."  

More biodiversity — and more carbon

The researchers also girdled some tree limbs to create dead branch snags, which also provide key animal habitat. Other trees were selectively harvested to create gaps in the canopy, letting in sunlight to the forest floor.  And, it worked.

The "old growth" engineering technique succeeded in creating diverse habitats. But the kicker, Keeton says, is that it has also allowed the forest to store a significant amount of carbon, much more than several other conventional tree selection harvesting techniques. That's key to fighting climate change.

Now, forests that are left alone — with no trees harvested — store the most carbon. But Keeton's study is finding that it is possible to manage the forest to maximize carbon capture, and still keep it a working forest.

"This greater amount of carbon storage as compared to the conventional treatments was actually a combination of having left more trees behind in the first place, andgrowth rates that were actually 10 percent higher in this treatment as compared to the conventional harvest," Keeton says. "And that was really surprising."

Keeton says after 10 years, the old growth forest management plot stored nearly as much carbon as the unlogged control forest. It came within 16 percent of carbon storage in the unharvested plots.

To calculate the amount of carbon stored in any given tree, researchers measure its circumference and height, and take into account its density.

CREDIT KATHLEEN MASTERSON / VPR

"This does not just have to be a science project. This is a potentially very practical tool that many forest owners could use," says Fred Clark, the director of the nationalForest Stewards Guild.

Clark says Keeton's work shows landowners who are interested in managing their forests for habitat and biodiversity that they can do that and still make some income from the land.

That's income from harvesting select trees, and from a relatively new income source:

"We have forests, primarily large-forest ownerships throughout the country, are now taking advantage of the California carbon market by developing and registering what are called carbon offset projects," Clark says.

It’s not just California. Quebec also has a market where forest landowners can sell carbon credits. Typically businesses buy these credits to make up for their pollution emissions that go beyond what they're allowed to pollute by state or regional laws. These carbon markets are still in their infancy.

Back in the woods in Jericho, Vermont, Keeton says he was surprised that the old growth management technique actually brought in decent revenue. In fact, the technique made a bit more money than harvesting trees in a group selection, but not as much money as individually selecting and harvesting all large-diameter trees.   

"So that was promising to us. Now in absolute terms, again, we harvested about 60 to 80 percent less volume. This is not going to maximize your commercial revenue, it's just not," Keeton says. "But in the right situation, for the right type of landowner, depending on their objectives, it might be something that they could consider."

And if carbon markets continue to grow in the future, that would add even more financial incentive.

This report comes from the New England News Collaborative: Eight public media companies coming together to tell the story of a changing region, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

New York's black bear population is currently estimated at a minimum of 6,000-8,000 bears with roughly 50-60% of the bears inhabiting the Adirondack region, about 30-35% in the Catskill region and about 10-15% in the central-western region(map below)"............ "In addition, bears are now well established in many other areas, including the Tug Hill, Hudson Valley and across the Southern Tier, and transient bears are routinely encountered throughout the Lake Ontario Plains, Mohawk Valley, and St. Lawrence Valley"................"Cornell University and NY Dept. of Conservation researchers estimate that the average density of black bears in the southern New York area is about 13 bears per 38.6 square miles or about one bear for every 3 square miles"............. "Bear densities decreased slightly farther north in the study region, supporting the idea that black bear ranges have been expanding northward".............."Furthermore, the study found no relationship between bear densities and the amount of forest or agricultural land that existed in the region"...................“It’s likely there is going to be further expansion of bear populations northward, which reaches into areas that have higher human populations"

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2017/04/black-bears-move-upstate-new-york&ct=ga&cd=CAEYAioTOTgyMDgzMjM2NjI2Mjc5Njc1NzIaMDMxYmZmYzUyNjEzNzVkYTpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNEwwxzCcHQtn4L-C44ipQfSjf03hw

April 26, 2017

Black bears on the move in upstate New York

By

Krishna Ramanujan

Photograph from a trail camera of three sibling cubs investigating bait-and-scent lures at a research site near Almond, New York. Attractants were necessary to increase the probability of detecting bears that were in the area. Cameras provide a way to collect data on the presence and absence of wildlife.

The black bear population in southern New York has grown and expanded their range since the early 1990s, which has led to increased encounters with humans. But details about bear populations in the state have remained understudied.

New Cornell research, published in the March issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management, estimates the densities of black bears in southern New York and examines how bears are distributed relative to the amount of forest, agricultural lands and human development across the study area.

NY State Female Black Bear with cub

The researchers estimate that the average density of black bears in the southern New York area was about 13 bears per 38.6 square miles or about one bear for every 3 square miles. Bear densities decreased slightly farther north in the study region, supporting the idea that black bear ranges have been expanding northward.

Furthermore, the study found no relationship between bear densities and the amount of forest or agricultural land that existed in the region.

The findings will help inform New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) wildlife managers as they look for ways to effectively manage bears now and in the future.

“Black bears are encountering human populations more now than they ever have before,” said Catherine Sun, a doctoral student in the Department of Natural Resources and the paper’s lead author. “Our study shows how bears are distributed on the landscape at the edge of their range and provides clues for how bears might continue to use landscapes farther north Said Angela Fuller, an associate professor of natural resources, leader of the New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and a co-author of the paper, “There might be limited constraints to bears continuing to move northward because they are using a diversity of land cover types.”

NY State Black Bear in woodlands

Black Bear distribution in New York. 
Primary range refers to areas where breeding bears were known to occur.
Secondary range includes areas with routine bear sightings.
Transient and dispersing bears may be found in all of upstate New York,
including areas generally considered unoccupied by bears

New York has three historic bear ranges: the Adirondack, Catskill and Allegheny mountain regions. But the Catskill and Allegheny ranges have expanded and now are jointly considered a single range that covers the entire Southern Tier region of New York. The researchers focused on a 40-mile-by-40-mile square in this region, choosing this area because it included both historic and expanded ranges. “That’s where a lot of the population growth has been so that’s where we wanted to put our research efforts,” Sun said.

Black Bear scratching on tree

The researchers set up close to 200 research sites, with lines of barbed wire used to snag hair samples from passing bears over two summers. They extracted DNA from the hair samples, and using genetics, identified which bear left each particular sample. Sun collected some 2,000 hair samples from 257 bears.

“We are using a noninvasive genetic approach, an important new method that wasn’t available 15-20 years ago,” said Fuller. “In the past, we had to go out and capture and then physically tag each bear.” “We can collect a lot more data from many more bears than we could have with more traditional methods,” Sun said.

They applied their data to a model to estimate population densities and land-use patterns and to test ecological hypotheses. The noninvasive approach has now been applied to studying populations of other species, the researchers said. For example, Fuller leads a research project on moose in the Adirondacks that utilizes the noninvasive genetic approach – instead of collecting hair, they use dogs that are trained to smell moose pellets, from which they then extract the DNA and identify the individual moose that left the scat pile.

The study serves as a pilot for future studies to better understand black bear densities and distributions within larger regions across the state, Fuller said.

 “It’s likely there is going to be further expansion of bear populations northward, which reaches into areas that have higher human populations,” Fuller added. A citizen science project called iSeeMammals is underway to collect data on bears across upstate New York, in which hikers, hunters and other naturalists contribute information on the presence and absence of bears and bear signs.

Matthew Hare, associate professor of natural resources, and Jeremy Hurst, a wildlife biologist at the NYS DEC, are co-authors of the study, which was funded by the NYS DEC and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Like the chorus of the Spring Peeper Frogs, the drumbeats of Woodpeckers are a harbinger of Spring.............And it should be noted that the pounding into tree trunks and limbs is not some robotic mechanism but in fact "a proclamation of territoriality and an advertisement to the opposite sex"................"Drumming is not to be confused with the arrhythmic tapping we hear from woodpeckers (and other cavity nesters like chickadees and nuthatches) as they excavate nest sites or forage for insects in bark",,,,,,,,,,,,,,. "No, the drumroll, performed by males and females alike, is a force of nature – and fairly diagnostic to species"................. "With a little practice, you can identify woodpeckers just by their drumming patterns"---Click on 2nd link below to see a color photo gallery of our most common North America Woodpeckers

http://adirondackexplorer.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=f2786fbb7862339a0b90113d7&id=b0b8dbc2ec&e=46b8d98c61

TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2017

North Country Woodpeckers: Signs of Spring

Pileated Woodpecker

Trees speak many languages, their leaves whooshing in summer and trunks creaking in winter. At the onset of spring, trees become sounding boards for courtship. Before the thrushes and warblers and sparrows arrive to sing from branches and boughs, woodpeckers kick off the spring chorus with a drumroll.

Although woodpeckers certainly vocalize, usually with sharp calls or harsh chattering, drumming is one of the most reliable early signs of spring – a proclamation of territoriality and an advertisement to the opposite sex.

Drumming is not to be confused with the arrhythmic tapping we hear from woodpeckers (and other cavity nesters like chickadees and nuthatches) as they excavate nest sites or forage for insects in bark. No, the drumroll, performed by males and females alike, is a force of nature – and fairly diagnostic to species. With a little practice, you can identify woodpeckers just by their drumming patterns.

An easy parlor trick, sure to impress your pals in the sugarbush this spring, is to identify a distant yellow-bellied sapsucker. Now returning in migration, sapsuckers drum like no other woodpecker – not really a roll, but more like Morse code: a stuttered opening, and then steady tapping that slows in cadence and wanders away. Sapsuckers begin with bravado and end with reticence: Ta-tapity- tap … tap–tap–tap … tap … tap ….

There is no such reserve in the drum of a pileated woodpecker, our biggest head-banger, the one with the flaming crest. Pileateds drum with power, and that makes their drumroll relatively easy to distinguish. They often pound away high on a snag or big tree, producing a deep, resonant roll that lasts for three seconds or so. In a pileated’s drum, you often feel a hollow tree’s girth and age.

From here, the identification gets a bit more difficult. Your first real test in drumming class is to discern the drumrolls of the most widespread and abundant woodpeckers on the continent: downy and hairy. They look alike and they drum alike: a classic rapid roll.

But the bigger of the two species, the hairy woodpecker, drums faster and longer. A hairy’s drum lasts on average for a full second, and includes about 26 beats (plus or minus a few) in each rendition. The taps roll by so fast that you can just barely discern each one.

The downy’s drumroll last about three-quarters of a second, but with half as many beats – about 13 on average. Yes, it’s still a drumroll, still fast. But in the downy’s performance (a staccato) you can pick out each tap and sense a pause in between.

One other way to tell the two apart is that the downy seems more enterprising. It generally offers you nine to 16 drumrolls per minute during breeding season, pausing only a few second between each rendition. From the hairy woodpecker, you might only hear half as many drumrolls per minute — about four to nine of them.

I tend to lump our other common woodpeckers – the red-bellied woodpecker and northern flicker – into an “average drummers” category, not particularly fast or slow or distinctive. This makes them tougher to identify, but once you learn the easier drums, you’ll start to recognize that these two rolls are somewhat recognizable. Our two boreal woodpeckers – American three-toed and black-backed – tend to drum at an average pace, as well. But they sometimes prefer dead softwoods for their broadcasts, so their drums often sound a bit hollow.

These are all subtle distinctions. But woodpeckers, like the trees on which they tap, have distinctive voices. They shout their identities year-round. If only the trees, in their rustling and creaking, were as distinctive.

Bryan Pfeiffer is an author, wildlife photographer, guide, and consulting naturalist who specializes in birds and insects. He lives in Montpelier, Vermont. The illustration for this column was drawn by Adelaide Tyrol. The Outside Story is assigned and edited by Northern Woodlands magazine, and sponsored by the Wellborn Ecology Fund of New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwixu9Xz-cPTAhWD44MKHd6LBfcQFghTMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thespruce.com%2Fphotos-of-common-woodpecker-species-4121955&usg=AFQjCNFe33APgB2gPnDq1rc99xqQQYkPEA&sig2=bnMf0BzIlEGfgQjrld5K4w

Photos of Common Woodpecker Species

Red-Headed Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

I don't know where all of you come out on Zoos and artificial insemination but I know deep down that we would not need either of these to have our suite of carnivores that occupied North America at the time of colonization(AD1500) if we could somehow re-connect with the natural world, understanding that everything is connected whether we understand or like it ........................Give Wolves(whether they be Mexican, Gray or Red(Eastern) Wolves enough continuous, contiguous and connected habitat and stop shooting and poisoning them at every turn.....................Once accomplished, Zoos(oh, how I hate to see the animals that we keep in these artificial pens) would not be required to keep "10 pairs of a given species alive and potentially exempt from extermination..................Can we evolve beyond the constraints of our one god modern religions that tend through their historical writings to give man the "green light" to get rid of creatures because "all animals are here for our use" and " they do not have souls"....................Hogwash!..............Have you ever stepped on your dog or cats foot.................Do they scream in pain like you and me?..........................Do they learn through experience and convey self-awareness?...........................Do they not have their own language?.................................I am not celebrating artificial insemination as a cure all for endangerred species unless we simultaneously provide the land and protections needed for our fellow creatures to exist and prosper in their natural and wild habitat

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2017-04-24/wolf-pup-born-in-missouri-offers-hope-for-endangered-breed&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoTNjgzNTQ2MTQ5Njg5NTE1Njg1MzIaZGE5N2NmOTQ3ODA0Njk5YTpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNHUy3Vk3i5CWkwrMMj34Q853sz0Ow

Wolf Pup Born in Missouri Offers Hope for Endangered Breed

A Mexican wolf born this month at a wildlife center in suburban St. Louis is offering new hope for repopulating the endangered species through artificial insemination using sperm that had been frozen.

| April 24, 2017

By JIM SALTER, Associated Press

Regina Mossotti, director of animal care and conservation at the Endangered Wolf Center, holds a Mexican wolf born April 2 at the facility Monday, April 24, 2017, in Eureka, Mo. The wolf was conceived by artificial insemination which is offering new hope for repopulating the endangered species by using sperm that had been frozen. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) THE ASSOCIATED PRES

EUREKA, Mo. (AP) — A Mexican wolf born this month at a wildlife center in suburban St. Louis is offering new hope for repopulating the endangered species through artificial insemination using frozen sperm.

The Mexican wolf population once roamed Mexico and the western U.S. in the thousands but was nearly wiped out by the 1970s, largely from decades of hunting, trapping and poisoning. Commonly known as "El Lobos," the species, distinguished by a smaller, more narrow skull and its gray and brown coloring, was designated an endangered species in 1976.

Even today, only 130 Mexican wolves live in the wild and another 220 live in captivity, including 20 at the Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka, Missouri.

A litter of Mexican wolves was conceived by artificial insemination in Mexico in 2014. But the birth April 2 at the Missouri center was the first-ever for the breed using frozen semen.

Regina Mossotti, director of animal care and conservation at the center, learned for the first time Monday that the pup is a boy. He's gaining weight — now at 4.7 pounds after being less than 1 pound at birth — and appears to be progressing well, she said after an exam of the wiggly pup, which has not yet been named.

"He's big and strong and healthy!" Mossotti said as other wolves howled from a distance.

The center has collaborated with the other organizations for 20 years to freeze semen of Mexican wolves. The semen is stored at the St. Louis Zoo's cryopreservation gene bank, established specifically for the long-term conservation of endangered species.

A procedure to inseminate the mom, Vera, was performed Jan. 27.

"The technology has finally caught up," Mossotti said.

It's a big deal, experts say, because using frozen semen allows scientists to draw from a larger pool of genes, even from wolves that have died.

Mossotti said it's possible the new pup will eventually be moved to the wild, where it would feed largely on elk, deer and other large hoofed mammals. An adult Mexican wolf will weigh 60 to 80 pounds.

The Fish and Wildlife Service began reintroducing Mexican wolves in New Mexico and Arizona starting in 1998, though the effort has been hurt by everything from politics to illegal killings and genetics. Many of the wolves in the wild have genetic ties to the suburban St. Louis center.

The nonprofit was founded in 1971 by zoologist Marlin Perkins, a St. Louis native best known as the host of TV's "Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom." Perkins died in 1986.

Mossotti said wolves are a "keystone" species that play a vital role in a healthy ecosystem. She said the caricature of the "Big, Bad Wolf" is a myth about an animal that actually shuns humans.

Do all of you recognize the deep hypocrisy and idiocy that we all display every time we name a sports team THE RED WOLVES(perhaps 50 exist in the lower 48 states) or put the MOUNTAIN LION NAME on a license plate as Nebraska is now doing..................With perhaps just 25-50 "lions" in Nebraska and any number of hunter and rancher calls to resume the hunting of them(suspended the hunt was in 2016), it is a good thing that State Senator Ernie Chambers is upping the wildlife awareness of Nebraska citizens through the issue of Mountain Lion license plates.....................But we always seem to "honor" our trophic carnivores at the moment that we are killing them off.................Strikes me that we are deeply flawed as a species.............Your thoughts?

http://columbustelegram.com/news/state-and-regional/motorists-snatching-up-mountain-lion-plates/article_28cecfc2-6015-533c-9952-0d8dea816301.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

Motorists snatching up (Nebraska) mountain lion plates

• JOANNE YOUNG Lincoln Journal Star
 
• Apr 21, 2017 

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LINCOLN — While the Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission
 is researching mountain lions in the state,

 motorists are showing their interest in the wild cats,
 forking over
 extra money to purchase mountain lion 

conservation plates.

To date, more than 8,700 people have chosen
 the mountain lion
 conservation specialty plates for their vehicles.
 The Department
 of Motor Vehicles has passed on more than
 $92,000 to the
Game and Parks Commission's

 youth wildlife education conservation fund.

The plates, which cost an extra $5 -- or $35
 for a special
message -- went on sale Oct. 1 after lawmakers 

approved a bill to create the plates sponsored
 by state Sen
. Ernie Chambers of Omaha.

Chambers introduced a bill again this year to
prohibit hunting
 of the animals, but the bill was not advanced

 from the Natural Resources Committee.

In the past six months, the plate's applications
have surpassed
 a previous top seller, military honors plates, 

by at least 3,000, said Betty Johnson of the
 Department of
 Motor Vehicles.

The Game and Parks Commission had a
 discussion of the
 plates during a report Friday of a study on the

 big cats led by Sam Wilson, program manager
of fur bearers
 and carnivores, at a meeting in Norfolk.

Mountain lions are primarily in three areas of
 the state: the
Niobrara River Valley, Pine Ridge and Wildcat 

Hills, although they've been spotted in a wide
variety of
 places. The commission is studying them to learn

 their habits and numbers and track their moving
 patterns.
 The research will run through 2019, Wilson said.

Nebraska's on the western edge of a large
 population
of mountain lions that runs through the Rocky
 Mountains
 to California. A larger population than
 Nebraska's is
 north of the state in the Black Hills of
South Dakota.