News + Videos: Land Mammals

[carly]

I'm always happy and scared when I read about species that were thought to have gone extinct being sighted again.  Why?  Because I'm afraid someone will hunt them.   I'm encouraged they are working on a way to protect them, hopefully this one stays safe, as well as any others - which there must be some since he had to come from somewhere until a concrete plan is made.

[The Peregrine Chick]

This is just so cool


Lost species of fanged 'mouse deer' spotted for first time in 30 years
Jonathan Forani  /  CTV News  /   11 Nov 2019



A lost species known as the “mouse deer’” has been spotted for the first time since 1990.

The “shy and solitary” silver-backed chevrotain, which is the size of a rabbit and has two tiny fangs, was last recorded more than 25 years ago. It was since thought to have been lost by snare poaching in Vietnam.

The discovery, published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, was made by a team of researchers who set up a series of “camera traps” for five months in a southern region of Vietnam where locals said they may have spotted the deer-like creature with grey fur. The colour distinguishes it from “more common lesser” mouse deer, according to researchers.

It is the first mammal rediscovered as part of a Global Wildlife Conservation project to find lost species.

"For so long, this species has seemingly only existed as part of our imagination," said An Nguyen, associate conservation scientist for GWC and expedition team leader, in a statement. “Discovering that it is, indeed, still out there, is the first step in ensuring we don't lose it again, and we're moving quickly now to figure out how best to protect it."

Scientists know little about the species, which was first described in 1910 after four of them were discovered in southern Vietnam. A fifth was collected in central Vietnam in 1990 before mouse deer were thought to be lost.

“The rediscovery of the silver-backed chevrotain provides a big hope for the conservation of biodiversity, especially threatened species, in Vietnam,” said Hoang Minh Duc, head of the Southern Institute of Ecology's Department of Zoology, in a statement.  This also encourages us, together with relevant and international partners, to devote time and effort to further investigate and conserve Vietnam's biodiversity heritage.”

The mouse deer are neither mouse or deer, but the smallest of small hoofed mammals known as “ungulates.” Scientists are now setting up a wide survey of the area to determine how stable and populous the silver-backed chevrotains are in Vietnam.

"It is an amazing feat to go from complete lack of knowledge of the wildlife of the Greater Annamites 25 years ago to now having this question mark of the silver-backed chevrotain resolved," said Barney Long, GWC senior director of species conservation, in a statement.

The team of researchers have also released accompanying illustrations by artist Eric Losh depicting the discovery.

source:  https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/lost-species-of-fanged-mouse-deer-spotted-for-first-time-in-30-years-1.4680185?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+New+Content+(Feed)&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

[The Peregrine Chick]

Foundations fund urgent wolf transfer to Isle Royale
Up to six wolves, in danger of starvation, could be moved this weekend

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - ​National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation (The Foundation) announced today that, with the support of the International Wolf Center, an urgent final effort is underway to move four to six wolves to Isle Royale National Park over the next four days.

Earlier this year, two wolves from Michipicoten Island (located in northern Lake Superior) were moved to Isle Royale. Four to six wolves still remain on the island and are at risk since their only available winter prey on the island, caribou, are gone. Officials had hoped to move all of the wolves off Michipicoten earlier, but poor weather, government shutdowns and a lack of funding delayed that effort.

The Foundation and the International Wolf Center agree that this wolf relocation project needs a strong start to have a more immediate impact on the current burgeoning moose population on Isle Royale, where an estimate of more than 1,600 moose are threatening the ecosystem.

"On Michipicoten, nature's lessons can be cruel and starvation is one of them,” said Sona Mehring, the chair of the Foundation. “For the remaining wolves on Michipicoten, that will be their fate unless we help move them to Isle Royale National Park, where their hunting skills and genetics can add value to establishing a new population of wolves on Isle Royale.”

“We’re especially proud of the fact that the International Wolf Center is helping to save the lives of a small pack of wolves on Michipicoten Island,” said the Center’s Executive Director Rob Schultz. “Since all of the caribou have been removed from Michipicoten, there’s nothing left for the wolves there to eat this winter and there is a real threat of starvation.”

It is estimated that the four-day effort, which will begin either Friday (March 22) or Saturday (March 23), will cost $100,000. The Foundation raised $30,000. The International Wolf Center raised an additional $45,000. The organizations have started a GoFundMe page to raise the final $25,000. That page can be found at ​bit.ly/isleroyalewolves​.

"As we discussed this project, we found many people who supported seeing the forests of Isle Royale remaining healthy,” Mehring said. “We are close to realizing the goal of providing
   
 another capture opportunity to move these iconic wolves to an island that needs them in its ecosystem.”

Science has long showed that wolves play an important role in nature. This translocation shows how wolves can be used to naturally manage ungulate populations.

“Since the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park, we’ve seen first-hand the positive impact wolves have on ecosystems,” Schultz said. “A thriving wolf population in Isle Royale’s ecosystem will make a similar impact. If left unchecked, moose would over-consume the island’s vegetation. Apex predators, like wolves, are important components of any healthy, natural ecosystems.

“This shows just one more way we put our donor’s support to hard work to advance wolf populations around the world. We’re honored to team up with National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation to make a difference together.”

National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation​ is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preservation of the natural resources and unique cultural heritage of Lake Superior’s five U.S. National Parks. National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation funds research, restoration, education, and resource protection projects for Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Grand Portage National Monument, Isle Royale National Park, Keweenaw National Historical Park, and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation has a proven record of funding projects both large and small providing more that $1.5 million in funding across all five parks.

The International Wolf Center​, founded in 1985, is known worldwide as the premier source for wolf information and education. The mission of the Center is to advance the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future. The Center educates through its website, its ambassador wolves, museum exhibits, educational outreach programs, International Wolf magazine, and a beautiful interpretive center in Ely, Minnesota.

[The Peregrine Chick]

And the fattest bear in Alaska is ... this rotund mother bear
CBC/Thomson Reuters  |  Oct 10, 2018


<A shaggy, brown and possibly pregnant mother bear known as 409 Beadnose, crowned on Tuesday as Fattest Bear of 2018, is seen on the bank of the Brooks River in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska, on Sept. 30, 2018. (NPS Photo/A. Ramos)>

In an Alaska clash of tubby titans that has become a social media sensation, a shaggy, brown and possibly pregnant mother known as 409 Beadnose was crowned on Tuesday as Fattest Bear of 2018.​​  Beadnose nosed out a larger Alaska brown bear, a male called 747, and likened to a jumbo jet in online votes collected by staff at Katmai National Park and Preserve during a wildly popular event called Fat Bear Week. Male bears are bigger, but Beadnose was deemed to be more rotund.  Her radiant rolls were deemed by the voting public to be this year's most fabulous flab, the park said on its Facebook page.  "Our chubby champ has a few more weeks to chow down on lingering salmon carcasses before she heads up the mountains to dig herself a den and savour her victory." 

Katmai, which hugs the mountainous Gulf of Alaska coast, is known for its massive, salmon-chomping ursine residents.

GORGING IN PREPARATION FOR WINTER

October, the month before bears go into their dens to hibernate, is when the animals work the hardest to build the body fat they need to survive winter. And October is a perfect time for nature lovers to watch Katmai's livestream video as the park's brown bears do their pre-hibernation gorging.  Fat Bear Week may be fun and games for human spectators, but it is serious business for bears, said Andrew LaValle, a Katmai ranger who is in charge of most of the park's social media postings.


<Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. (Shutterstock/Gilles Baechler)>

"This might be entertaining, especially with these beautiful, majestic animals, but this is a life-or-death struggle," he said.  The bears have to eat a year's worth of food in a few months but really start to chow down in June when sockeye salmon begin swimming upstream through the park to spawn. Bears can lose a third of their body weight while hibernating, LaValle said.

Fat Bear Week got its start in 2014 as a one-day educational event called Fat Bear Tuesday, LaValle said. It became a week-long event the next year.  Throughout the past week, park staffers have posted photos of individual bears and gathered input from viewers who selected ​favourites in a bracketed, tournament-style competition. This year's competition started with 12 bears before reaching ​Tuesday's Beadnose-747 faceoff.

Luckily for Katmai bears, their home holds a river teeming with fish from the world's largest natural salmon runs. The Brooks River is a spawning site for salmon based in southwestern ​Alaska's Bristol Bay.

source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/fattest-alaska-bear-409-beadnose-1.4857813

[Jazzerkins]

Poor little squirrel.  What horrible teeth.  I hope the trim helps and the teeth now grow properly.  If not, this wonderful person is ready to help out again.

[burdi]

Sabretooth squirrel saved by Alberta tooth fairy

By Sarah Kraus
Reporter  Global News

https://globalnews.ca/news/4278244/sabretooth-squirrel-alberta-dentistry/

[burdi]

If anyone needs a quick pick-me-up, try watching this video!

Boy befriends bear at Nashville Zoo, films 'cutest' viral video ever

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2018/06/14/boy-befriends-bear-at-nashville-zoo-films-cutest-viral-video-ever.html

[The Peregrine Chick]

High-tech cameras suggest polar bears having tougher time hunting
Bob Weber / The Canadian Press / 1 Feb 2018


A polar bear is seen in this handout image taken from video from a camera attached to another polar bear. Researchers have attached tiny cameras to polar bears for a bear's-eye view of them hunting on the sea ice, one of a suite of high-tech tools providing what could be the closest look yet at how the iconic animals are coping with a rapidly changing Arctic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, U.S. Geological Survey *MANDATORY CREDIT*

Researchers have attached tiny cameras to polar bears for a bear's-eye view of them hunting on the sea ice, one of a suite of high-tech tools providing what could be the closest look yet at how the iconic animals are coping with a rapidly changing Arctic.

"This study was designed trying to get a much more detailed understanding of what the bears were actually doing on the ice," said researcher Anthony Pagano of the University of California in Santa Cruz.  Pagano wanted to capture hard data on how often bears catch seals and how many they need to keep healthy and strong in their demanding environment. 

He and his colleagues studied nine bears in the Beaufort Sea over the course of about a week during three successive Aprils from 2014 to 2016. They equipped the bears with GPS-enabled video cameras as well as with instruments to measure the speed and distance they travelled, how quickly they burned energy and how much time they spent in the water.  "It allowed us to actually monitor the behaviour of the animals," said Pagano. "(The camera) gave a perspective right underneath the bear's chin."

One big conclusion is that polar bears need a lot more food than previously thought. Scientists have believed that because bears hunt mostly by waiting for a seal to pop through a blowhole, they don't use much energy. Others theorized the bears were able to lower their metabolism during those waits. Wrong, said Pagano. His study concludes bear metabolism is about 60 per cent higher than previous estimates, meaning the animals need to eat that many more seals to maintain weight. "Overall, the metabolic rates of these animals are similar to other marine and terrestrial carnivores. They need to be catching more seals than would have been predicted previously." The cameras recorded footage of bears catching seals and hauling them out of the ice, as well as of bears wrestling with large seals in frigid waters. "It was quite fascinating and really exciting to watch," said Pagano.

Ominously, he found that five of his nine bears lost weight during the study, up to 10 per cent of their body mass. That's despite the study taking place during the time when bears normally have their most successful hunting.  The Beaufort Sea has seen dramatic losses in sea ice. It's population of polar bears is known to be in decline. Pagano cautions the conclusions of his study are tempered by its small sample size and limited time span.

Andrew Derocher, a polar bear biologist at the University of Alberta, warned that there is wide variability between bears and different times of year.  "You might get a very different picture on weight gain from many more individuals," he said. Still, he said, the study backs up others looking at how polar bears are coping with shrinking sea ice, their favourite hunting platform. "Pretty much every component they've found was largely confirmatory in nature," Derocher said. "The true beauty of this work is that it's all integrated at once, in one place, in the same individual bears. You get a much more holistic perspective of the ecology of the bears."

source: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpage/high-tech-cameras-suggest-polar-bears-having-tougher-time-hunting-472189303.html

[The Peregrine Chick]

From the Discovery Wildlife Park in Alberta - big cute factor, especially for a such a big bear! 

Bear On Ice

Berkley The Bear has discovered a small stream covered in ice and decides to show off her ice skating skills. Berkley is a Kodiak brown bear cub who is currently living at Discovery Wildlife Park in Innisfail, Alberta, Canada. This video brought a smile to my face as it’s always fun to see wildlife playing in the great outdoors. If you enjoyed this video and want to learn something interesting watch Counting Bears In Canada.

source:  https://biggeekdad.com/2017/12/bear-on-ice/

[burdi]

Rusty the Dog & Winnipeg Business Man Honoured for Service to St. Boniface Hospital

Written by Stephen Burns
Published: 15 December 2017

https://www.chvnradio.com/news/rusty-the-dog-winnipeg-business-man-honoured-for-service-to-st-boniface-hospital

[burdi]

Here's a sweet dog who is nearly 15 years old and still continues to brighten up the lives of many people.

Rusty, Winnipeg's glasses-wearing hospital therapy dog, to be honoured with ceremony

George Ames and his therapy dog Rusty volunteer at St. Boniface Hospital 3 days a week

CBC News Posted: Dec 14, 2017 10:15 AM CT Last Updated: Dec 14, 2017 10:15 AM CT

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-rusty-dog-hospital-1.4448212

[burdi]

THIS IS INCREDIBLY SAD -  I would say don't watch the video below but this is something we have caused and we should have to see what we have, and are continuing, to do.  I'm not posting a photo because that makes it easier not to watch the video, even just a couple of seconds of it.  If this wasn't enough of a warning then you didn't read it.

Undoubtedly, it was incredibly sad to watch this starving polar bear ... I would not have been able to stand by and watch an animal suffering so severely without trying to seek help ... still, realizing the various ways we've contributed to the loss of habitat for many species of wildlife - all around the world - is very distressing.

[The Peregrine Chick]

THIS IS INCREDIBLY SAD -  I would say don't watch the video below but this is something we have caused and we should have to see what we have, and are continuing, to do.  I'm not posting a photo because that makes it easier not to watch the video, even just a couple of seconds of it.  If this wasn't enough of a warning then you didn't read it.


Heart-Wrenching Video Shows Starving Polar Bear on Iceless Land
By Sarah Gibbens / National Geographic / 7 Dec 2017

video & story = https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/12/polar-bear-starving-arctic-sea-ice-melt-climate-change-spd/

When photographer Paul Nicklen and filmmakers from conservation group Sea Legacy arrived in the Baffin Islands, they came across a heartbreaking sight: a starving polar bear on its deathbed.

Nicklen is no stranger to bears. From the time he was a child growing up in Canada's far north the biologist turned wildlife photographer has seen over 3,000 bears in the wild. But the emaciated polar bear, featured in videos Nicklen published to social media on December 5, was one of the most gut-wrenching sights he's ever seen.

"We stood there crying—filming with tears rolling down our cheeks," he said.

Video shows the polar bear clinging to life, its white hair limply covering its thin, bony frame. One of the bear's back legs drags behind it as it walks, likely due to muscle atrophy. Looking for food, the polar bear slowly rummages through a nearby trashcan used seasonally by Inuit fishers. It finds nothing and resignedly collapses back down onto the ground.

In the days since Nicklen posted the footage, he's been asked why he didn’t intervene.

"Of course, that crossed my mind," said Nicklen. "But it's not like I walk around with a tranquilizer gun or 400 pounds of seal meat."

And even if he did, said Nicklen, he only would have been prolonging the bear's misery. Plus, feeding wild polar bears is illegal in Canada.

The wildlife photographer says he filmed the bear's slow, beleaguered death because he didn't want it to die in vain.

"When scientists say bears are going extinct, I want people to realize what it looks like. Bears are going to starve to death," said Nicklen. "This is what a starving bear looks like."

The Climate Change Link

By telling the story of one polar bear, Nicklen hopes to convey a larger message about how a warming climate has deadly consequences.

Polar bears have long been unwitting mascots for the effects of climate change. As animals that live only in Arctic regions, they're often the first to feel the impacts of warming temperatures and rising seas.

The large, half-ton bears find concentrations of seals on sea ice. During summer months, it's not uncommon for polar bears to go months without eating while they wait for Arctic ice to solidify.

In 2002, a World Wildlife Fund report predicted that climate change could eventually lead to polar bear endangerment or extinction. Even then, the report found that polar bears were moving from ice to land earlier and staying on land longer, unhealthily extending the bears' fasting season. By the end of summer, most bears studied by the World Wildlife Fund showed signs of starvation.

Fifteen years later, polar bears' icy hunting grounds are in even worse shape. The National Snow and Ice Data Center, which tracks sea ice cover annually, has regularly noted record lows in sea ice coverage—a decline that is expected to only get worse.

A study recently published in the journal Biosciences looked at how climate science is often falsely discredited. The study found climate deniers are able to downplay the threat of climate change by discrediting the threat facing polar bears.

However, a study published last year by the European Geosciences Union and this year by the U.S. Geological Survey confirms melting sea ice continues to be an existential threat to polar bears.

[burdi]

Police dog finds near-frozen kittens beside remote dirt road

By Darren Bernhardt, CBC News Posted: Dec 06, 2017 1:31 PM CT Last Updated: Dec 06, 2017 1:31 PM CT

A cold, evening walk in rural Manitoba became a rescue mission for an RCMP officer and his canine partner.

Const. Taylor Burns and his service dog Hix were getting some after-work exercise Monday night, walking a dark, dirt road alongside a snowy field in the Woodlands area, when Hix caught a scent and darted off.

Two of the kittens that Hix caught a scent of were able to be saved; unfortunately, it was too late for the others.

Read the rest of this story here

[burdi]

Incident report of Banjo Bowl moose immobilization lays no blame

An incident report has been released on the September 9 moose chase that took place near Investors Group Field.

Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/3855109/incident-report-of-banjo-bowl-moose-immobilization-lays-no-blame/