There never seems to be a dull moment at the Predator-Prey Project house! This past weekend there were some parents in town who joined the crew as we worked up two female black bears and their cubs. Unfortunately, I was not able to come out for the second female black bear since the flu began to take over that day.
Caitlin is measuring canines. All four canines must be measured for black bears, plus the spacing between the upper and lower teeth.
Dawn's mom and grandma came out, complete with homemade goodies. Do I want a cookie? Yes, yes I do. Dawn's grandma is the epitome of what I want to be at old age, a rugged woman with all her original teeth walking through the forest to explore a black bear den. It doesn't get more bad ass than that at old age I suspect. T-dog's parents came out as well, along with Tim's (a wildlife technician for the DNR out of Marquette), and Nate's dad. T-dog's parents also came with homemade sweets. Life is wonderful. However, my will power has disintegrated immensely since I moved into this house. The thought of eliminating processed sugar from my diet is now laughable. I have accepted the fact that if a donut is put on the table, I will eat it, and no, eating it quickly does not lessen the shame I feel afterwards.
Nate getting ready to do bioimpedence on a male black bear.
The first black bear we worked up was a bit challenging in the beginning. After Nate successfully dosed her in one shot (it can be difficult since sometimes the needle breaks or the bear moves and you have to try and dose a second time to get in the full injection in), the bear took off running from her den. After tracing her footsteps eventually the bear collapsed from the dosage and was moved to the road behind the trucks. At one point I took her rectal temperature. I will never again forget to put on gloves since I ended up with fecal matter on my fingers. Holding a black bear cub was a wonderful experience. There were two of them, each only around three weeks old weighing approximately three pounds. At this point the cubs should have their eyes open, but one of them still had his closed. Note: pictures will come soon. I was lucky enough to hold one cub inside my jacket as we made it back to the den after everything was done.
I'm putting in ear tags on that same male black bear.
Earlier last week I went out with Josh to check hair snare sites. We caught a possum eating bait at one of them. He/she had a distinct black mark on the end of the tail, which Josh attributed to frostbite. Possums don't have hair on their tales, so frostbite is common. This perplexed me in the evolutionary sense since it would seem plausible that part of adaptation to such a cold environment would be growing hair on the tail. We also discussed green energy and the negative aspects of solar and wind power. What is the cost/benefit of both? How much money goes into implementing this on a global scale? Are solar panels and wind turbines efficient enough to combat global warming?
Josh is putting a radio collar on. This bear had one on before, but after a year or two we usually replace them (this goes for does as well).
Since I have what appears to be the flu, I have been out for three days, although I did do some data entry before my fever rose to a "I feel like crap" stage. This led me to stay in on the evening that part of the crew drove to Marquette to see the sled dog race begin. I was very upset about missing this since I've never witnessed a sled dog race before, but the crew got into town too late and missed it as well. I hope we get another chance to go to Marquette soon. Now I'm wishing to feel well enough to go out into the field tomorrow. We moved some deer traps, which means I'll see a new part of the UP!
I'm not sure what Nate is doing in this picture, but clearly he is holding a paw.
Side note: All the pictures in this post are from Mike Olson. They were taken last month (I think) when we worked up a young male black bear. Since I seem to be behind with pictures, I decided these would appropriate because they're related to the female black bears we worked up this past weekend.
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