Wednesday, October 2, 2019

"As we all know, Gray wolves seek out large hoofed browsers such as elk, moose, bison, deer and caribou".............."A healthy set of teeth is essential for these predators to kill, eat and defend themselves"........ "As a result, they tend to avoid biting down on tough body parts, such as bones, so that their teeth do not break"............"Broken teeth cannot heal, so carnivores are not going to chew on bones and risk breaking their teeth unless they have to"................"If food becomes scarce however, the wolves may resort to consuming bones, eating more of the carcasses, leading to more damaged teeth".............."It is therefore possible to assess the food levels available to existing wolf populations based on how many broken teeth the animals have".............What must also be factored in to this analysis is the age of the Wolf pack members, as older individuals are also more likely to have more damaged teeth"

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190924143158.htm Date: September 24, 2019 Source: University of California - Los Angeles...
Friday, September 20, 2019

"A new study finds US and Canada have lost more than 1 in 4 birds in the past 50 years"............. "Hardest hit are sparrows, warblers, finches, and swallows who are critical in ecosystem seed dispersal and pest control"............"The major factor driving these declines is loss and degradation of habitat, due to agricultural intensification and urbanization"..........."Other bird-killers include domestic cats; collisions with glass, buildings, windmills and solar farms, deforestation and pesticides"

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https://phys.org/news/2019-09-canada-lost-birds-years.html New study finds US and Canada have lost more than 1 in 4 birds in the past 50 ...
Monday, September 16, 2019

As we have reviewed many times in the past, research has revealed that hunting cougars or thinning their numbers as a method of wildlife management can actually increase the number of young male cats on the landscape, upping the likelihood of those inexperienced felids getting into conflicts with people and livestock"..................Reiterating this finding-----“There is evidence that densities of young, dispersing cougars are likely to be comparatively high where local densities of resident adults have been depressed by hunting, as long as other nearby and less-heavily exploited areas serve as sources of dispersers from other meta-populations".................."Under such a scenario, heavy localized hunting of older cougars could increase rather than reduce exposure of people to close-threatening encounters with cougars".............."Additionally, sport hunting of cougars to benefit wild ungulate populations is not supported by the scientific literature"..............…"Any effort to control cougars should be part of an effort that addresses all factors impacting the ungulate population"..............."Finally, the odds of increased complaints and livestock depredations increased dramatically (36% to 240%) with increased cougar harvest"

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https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.boulderweekly.com/news/are-state-actions-increasing-the-risk-of-cougars...
Monday, September 9, 2019

Orca Killer Whales from the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean are rarely spotted off of the southern California coast............But this summer, a pod of the Orca's were seen first hand chasing and getting a dolphin calf meal for their efforts..........Like a pack of Wolves on land, Killer whales are among the world's fastest-moving marine mammals"............."They are capable of clocking speeds over 30 miles (48 kilometres) per hour (an impressive feat when you consider that they can weigh up to 11 tons!)".............."The black-and-white predators are armed with a mouth full of large, interlocking teeth and are highly intelligent and social – which makes them particularly efficient hunters"..........."When it comes to elusive and agile common dolphins, the hunt often sees killer whales teaming up in a coordinated attack and pursuing their quarry at high speed".............Click the link below to witness first hand the teamwork and persistence of Orca Whale pods

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https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/predator-vs-prey/incredible-aerial-footage-shows-orcas-hunting-down-a-dolphin Orca Whales hun...
Thursday, September 5, 2019

"While rabbits, squirrels, and rodents make up the bulk of their prey, the 9-40 pound Bobcat is powerful enough to take down young deer and other ungulates, nimble enough to capture much smaller prey, including insects like grasshoppers"........."Because of both their abundance and their hunting prowess, the cats play an important role in their ecosystems, controlling the populations of a number of species that might otherwise go unchecked, including lyme disease and other tick-borne carrying rodents"............Comfortable enough around people to call suburbia home, below are pictures of a West Texas homeowner who allowed successive families of "Bobs" to make his porch home in 2017-18

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https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/natural-world/bobcat-manor Bobcat Manor Earthtouch News August 27, 2019 ...
Thursday, August 22, 2019

While Gray Wolves will and do kill Coyotes, famed Wolf researcher Paul Paquet studies in Manitoba, Canada revealed that "there was no evidence that Wolves actively searched for Coyotes to kill"..........."In the area where Paquet conducted his study, elk served as the major winter food for both wolves and coyotes"............"Wolves killed elk while coyotes scavenged the remains"............"In this regard, coyotes weren't dumb"............."As Paquet notes, "Because predation on [large prey] involves considerable risk of injury and is likely energetically expensive owing to a low rate of success, there is no apparent advantage in killing prey if good quality food can be scavenged"............Pacquet goes on to say: "If Wolves and Coyotes co-exist in a region where the smaller bodied deer is the main prey for both canids, "then coyotes lose the opportunity to scavenge wolf kills because wolves preying on deer leave few remains"........."In Montana, Researchers ERic Gese and Todd Atwood Atwood and Gese located 92 wolf kills (presumably elk and deer), 85 percent of which were visited by coyotes"............"They witnessed 36 conflicts, involving 6 different coyote packs and the Bear Trap wolf pack, at wolf-kill sites"............"Although coyotes gained possession of the contested carcass on 17 occasions, all such carcasses were already nearly depleted"............"During the course of study, wolves killed one adult coyote and 2 pups, whereas 3 adult coyotes were killed by cougars; all such mortalities occurred within 200 meters of a wolf-killed deer or elk"................Atwood and Gese concluded the following: "Coyotes do not perceive wolves as a threat requiring generalized spatial avoidance"..........."Rather, the threat of aggressive interactions with wolves is spatially discrete and primarily contained to areas adjacent to carrion resources"

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by John Ozoga May 01, 2012           Gray Wolves will sometimes kill Coyotes                                  that seek to scavenge  ...
Thursday, August 15, 2019

"In the face of danger, some animals will enter a tonic state(Thanatosis) as a last-ditch shot at survival".............. "In fact, playing dead" can be a life-saving behavior"............."Opossums sell their performance by releasing a foul odor during thanatosis that suggests they've been rotting for days".............."The eastern hog-nose snake uses a similar, smelly defense mechanism while laying motionless, and has also been known to spit up blood"............."Playing dead can also be used as a mating strategy"............."The nursery web male spider offers a silk-wrapped insect to a female"............"The male plays dead and allows himself to be dragged along with the package"............"He revives himself when the female starts to feed-----An ingenius way to make your own bed, getting to sleep in it!"

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https://www.thoughtco.com/why-some-animals-play-dead-373909 Why Some Animals Play Dead 2/2/18; Regina Bailey A number of animals ...