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By Jakob Von Andrian, Wildlife Projects Assistant July 2nd 2021 My name is Jakob von Andrian and I am an undergraduate student at UBC Okanagan. This summer I was fortunate enough to work for the WIRE Lab as Wildlife Projects Assistant. While I primarily worked on the Southern BC Cougar project, I also had the opportunity to work on Southern Interior Mule Deer (SIM deer) Project lead by PhD candidate Chloe Wright. The two projects have overlapping study areas in the West Okanagan and the Boundary region. Together these studies will provide insight into how Cougars and Mule Deer interact on the landscape. Early this spring I spent a few weeks assisting with neonate capture for the SIM deer project. The objective is to collect data on the survival of Mule Deer fawns during the first 6 months of their life. Before we find a fawn, we need to know where to search. The SIM deer project monitors 30 GPS-collared adult Mule Deer does in each study area. Chloe closely monitors their locations during the onset of parturition, the period when deer give birth from late May to mid-June. If the doe spends long periods of time in a small area, her GPS locations will “cluster” in one spot. Similarly, we identify clusters to locate the kill sites of GPS-collared cougars. A Mule Deer cluster is an indication of a birth site and is our starting point to search for newborn fawns. To conduct a fawn search, we head out to a cluster in groups of 3 or more and slowly walk a transect line from the outer edge of the cluster, zigzagging to the other side. Many of the birth sites occur within forestry clearcuts, while others occurred in thick vegetation and rocky terrain. The goal is to cover every square inch of the area because fawns are tiny and well camouflaged with their brown coats and white spots. To find them, we had to stay focused and check thoroughly. Finding a fawn is very exciting because the searches can take over 4 hours to complete, and sometimes we are unsuccessful. When we find a fawn, we put on gloves to reduce our scent. This is a very important step because if they smell too much like humans the does could abandon them. We place a blindfold over their eyes to reduce stress and measure their body size and weight using a hanging scale and a pillowcase. The final step is to attach a mini GPS collar to acquire location information and mortality alerts. A movement-sensor in the collar triggers a mortality alert if it did not detect movement for 4 hours. When we receive a mortality alert, we hike out to locate the GPS-collar using VHF telemetry and investigate where and how the fawn died. During the first few weeks of their lives, Mule Deer fawns stay still and rely on their spotted coat to hide from predators. They are too shaky on their feet to escape predators by running away. In British Columbia, they are commonly eaten by Black Bears, Grizzly Bears, Cougars, Coyotes, and Gray Wolves. Since fawns have few defense mechanisms, about half of all newborn Mule Deer do not live to be one year old. !We found several predated Mule Deer at Cougar kill sites this summer, including fawns toward the end of June. We know that other predators eat fawns in the study areas, and so we hope to learn how fawn survival rates affect the Mule Deer population. The data we collected this spring will help Chloe find some answers.
Working on both studies provided me with the incredible opportunity to learn how to safely investigate predator kills, handle newborn fawns, collect data, and analyze camera trap images. I was surprised to learn that Cougars live, hunt and feed near clearcuts and roads during the spring. Sometimes we would find kills in a thicket just a few meters from a road, and yet Cougars are rarely seen in the back country. Cougars are also very tough and strong. We found an adult Moose at the kill site of a 1.5 year-old female Cougar weighing less than 100 lbs. I never saw a Cougar while working, however I knew they were around by tracking them using radio telemetry equipment from a distance. I hope to continue developing my wildlife tracking skills on other research projects in the future!
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Authors
The authors are Southern BC Cougar Project team members & volunteers. Past Blog Entries
September 2023
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