Calgary Zoo participates in third black-footed ferret release (CANADA)

For the third year in a row, on October 18th, Calgary Zoo staff along with participants from Parks Canada, Toronto Zoo, Husky Energy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment and over 75 local-area students helped to release fifteen black-footed ferrets into Grasslands National Park. The ferrets began their journey nearly 20 hours earlier at the Ferret Conservation Centre in Colorado and were driven throughout the night by U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo staff. As the sun was setting over the prairies, the captive bred ferrets were transported by release teams to eight different prairie dog colonies within and around the Park.

This summer Calgary Zoo staff with the Husky Energy Endangered Species Program also joined in the annual monitoring of black-footed ferrets by spending a week in Grasslands National Park looking for captive released adults and their kits. High powered spotlights are used to locate ferrets during the night and are identified by their emerald green eye shine. The ferrets are then trapped, implanted with microchips, vaccinated and given an overall health check up. Over the two weeks of spotlighting, Recovery Partners and volunteer ferret trackers confirmed at least 12 ferrets and celebrated the discovery of three new wild born litters, each on separate colonies. Another reason to celebrate is that 2011 marks the 30th Anniversary of the re-discovery of black-footed ferrets in North America.

Since 2006, the Calgary Zoo has been working in partnership with Parks Canada to monitor ferrets throughout the year as well as to study the population dynamics of prairie dogs, the primary food source for ferrets. This information is used not only to manage the sustainability of the prairie dog population, but also to help guide ferret recovery by identifying preferred ferret release sites and determining the appropriate number of ferrets to release each year.

Calgary Zoo black-tailed prairie dog research in Grasslands National Park- Canada

The Calgary Zoo’s Centre for Conservation Research, in collaboration with Parks Canada, is leading multi-year research on Canada’s only black-tailed prairie dog population, located in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan. The research on this keystone species aims to determine what influences prairie dog distribution and population dynamics within the grassland ecosystem.

Black-tailed prairie dogs play a pivotal role in the short and mixed grass prairie. Known as ‘ecosystem engineers,’ they dig extensive burrow systems, which provide refuge for other grassland species. They are also a significant prey source for animals such as the recently reintroduced black-footed ferret. As specialist predators of prairie dogs, ferret recovery in Canada hinges on the health and persistence of prairie dog colonies.

Over the last century widespread pest control campaigns, habitat loss and disease caused the extirpation of prairie dogs from over 98 percent of their original North American distribution. Although Canada’s prairie dogs reside in a national park and are protected from anthropogenic threats, their small population size, isolation from other colonies and location on the northern edge of their range, may make them more vulnerable to extirpation. In order to evaluate their persistence or implement effective conservation strategies, a thorough understanding of the factors driving their distribution and abundance is needed.

Biologists from the Husky Energy Endangered Species Program at the Centre for Conservation Research use techniques such as live trapping, vegetation sampling, visual surveys and motion sensor cameras to assess size, density and overall health of the prairie dog colonies. The knowledge gained will be used to determine locations for the proposed black-footed ferret release this fall; to understand how climatic factors, resource availability and disease influence the restoration and persistence of the ferret-prairie dog system; and to inform current and future recovery strategies to ensure both ferrets and prairie dogs remain a part of this highly endangered ecosystem.

Northern leopard frog conservation in Alberta, Canada

For the third consecutive year, Calgary Zoo Centre for Conservation Research (CCR) biologists are weaving through masses of giant cattail, boot-sucking sloughs and the occasional herd of cattle to gain a better understanding of northern leopard frog ecology in western Canada.

In the last three decades for unknown reasons, the leopard frog has been disappearing from Alberta and the Pacific Northwest. There is a real concern among conservationists that the decline in the west could be hinting at the beginning of a larger continental decline. Attempts to stop this trend have been unsuccessful and it is widely accepted that a better understanding of the ecology of this species is needed.

Using intensive fieldwork and highly focused science, CCR researchers have been surveying for leopard frogs through 69 wetland sites across 90,000 square kilometres of southern Alberta. As they are sparsely distributed over a broad geographical range, leopard frogs can be difficult to detect in some habitats, making accurate population counts difficult. The survey information and measurements on water, climatic conditions and vegetation will be used in a mathematical model to develop a new high accuracy survey technique. Development of such a methodology will be essential for establishing the relationship between factors such as disease prevalence, habitat loss and fragmentation, water quality and leopard frog demographic parameters in Alberta and western Canada.

Preliminary results suggest that one-off site surveys historically used to monitor frogs in Alberta are likely to miss many of the individuals that are present at those sites. Survey accuracy can be improved by avoiding strong winds, wind chill and cold temperatures which limit frog activity and affect their detectability.

The five year study will help determine whether and to what extent northern leopard frogs are declining in the province, identify key habitats, find the best conditions to survey in and determine the amount of management necessary to ensure their long term survival.

Images from the Calgary Zoo, Alberta Canada

For more news on the Calgary Zoo see http://www.calgaryzoo.org/#axzz1Ug05YIgB