A Dow Jones Index for Animals

  • Scientists have created a species index that tracks populations much like the Dow Jones (Photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service)

Biologists have created a way to
track endangered species that they say is
similar to the way we track financial markets.
Rebecca Williams has more:

Transcript

Biologists have created a way to
track endangered species that they say is
similar to the way we track financial markets.
Rebecca Williams has more:

The new system is nicknamed the Dow Jones Index of Biodiversity.


It’s put together by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the
London Zoo.


Jonathan Baillie is with the zoo. He says the system helps keep track of which
species are doing well and which ones are close to extinction.


“So if you thought of a group of species like a company you can track what’s
happening to birds through time, what’s happening to mammals through time
what’s happening to amphibians through time – and we’re seeing amphibians
are crashing quite quickly, birds are going down but not as rapidly.”


Of course species can’t be tracked exactly like financial markets. The species
index gets updated every few years instead of every day.


Soon they’re hoping to track things like beetles, mushrooms, and lichens on the
index.


For The Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.

Related Links

Puppies, Poo, and Moose Tracks

  • Aimee Hurt, with the group Working Dogs for Conservation (Photo by Brian Mann)

Researchers and environmentalists are
experimenting with a new method for collecting
biological samples in the wild. They’re using
trained tracking dogs to sniff out everything
from rare plants to moose pellets. Brian Mann
joined the hunt in New York’s Adirondack Mountains:

Transcript

Researchers and environmentalists are
experimenting with a new method for collecting
biological samples in the wild. They’re using
trained tracking dogs to sniff out everything
from rare plants to moose pellets. Brian Mann
joined the hunt in New York’s Adirondack Mountains:

It’s early, the sun still tangled in the alder trees, when we set off
on foot down a
narrow logging road.

(sound of walking down the road)

Soon, Heidi Kretser with the Wildlife Conservation Society finds the
first evidence that
we’re not alone.

“These are moose tracks.”

New York’s moose population has surged in recent years, to move than
500 animals.
Researchers have been tracking moose using airplanes and radio collars.

But today, were tagging along behind a cheerful black lab mix named
Wicket.

(sound of dog’s collar jingling)

Wicket flashes back and forth across the trail, snuffling eagerly.
She wears a bright
red vest and that tinkling bell is designed to keep her from actually
meeting a moose
head-on.

Her owner and handler, Aimee Hurt, says using dogs to find biological
samples – everything from plants to rare birds – isn’t new.

“I think if you talk to a lot of biologists who’ve been out
in the field for
decades, ‘Oh yeah, my dog figured out that we were looking for —
whatever.’ And they
started honing in on it and helping out. So I really think that dog’s
have been
biologists’ partners for a long time.”

Hurt’s organization – Working Dogs for Conservation, based in Montana
– took the idea
one step further, training dogs in much the same way that police train
K-9 units.

Wicket knows how to find six different kinds of scat, including
mountain lion, grizzly
bear – and now moose

“She is an air-scent dog, which means there’s no tracking
involved — she’s
just sniffing the air for a whiff of scat.”

Heidi Kretser, with the Wildlife Conservation Society, says moose
droppings can tell a
lot about why these Clydesdale-sized animals are returning to New York, what they’re
eating, and how they’ll reshape this forest if their numbers keep
growing.

“By understanding the diet, we’ll get a better sense of what
habitats they
might impact long-term, since they eat 40 pounds of vegetation a day.”

(sound of birds and footsteps)

Wicket leads the team on long ramble through the radiant lime green
forest, and down
across a burbling creek.

(sound of creek)

We see moose sign everywhere – mule-sized tracks, maple trees
stripped of bark. And
then Wicket sniffs out her first pile of droppings.

“Whoopee, good girl. Very nice!”

More poop means better data. So the pellets are trucked away in a
plastic bag for the
trip back to the lab.

For Wicket, the reward is a few minutes of joyous play with a squishy
rubber ball.

(sound of squeezing toy)

“Let’s get to work!” (bell jangling)

Then the team is off again, with Wicket snuffling happily through the
trees. Biologists
hope to use the same method to study other wildlife – from grizzlies
to mountain lions.

For The Environment Report, I’m Brian Mann.

Related Links

On the Lookout for Fireflies

  • Researchers have started a project to document firefly sightings (Photo by Don Salvatore, courtesy of Museum of Science, Boston)

Scientists want your help counting
fireflies. Mark Brush reports researchers
hope to answer a commonly asked question:

Transcript

Scientists want your help counting
fireflies. Mark Brush reports researchers
hope to answer a commonly asked question:

People often ask, ‘Why don’t we see as many fireflies anymore?’

Don Salvatore is an educator at Boston’s Museum of Science. He says he and other
researchers don’t have a good answer. They don’t even know whether there are fewer
fireflies or not.

So Salvatore and a few bug scientists started up the Firefly Watch Project. They’re
asking people to help them out by spending a few minutes in their backyard.

“So what we want them to do is to go outside at night and then for a ten second period
count the number of fireflies they see. As well as that we ask them to just key in on a
couple of fireflies and give us just a little information.”

Salvatore says they hope to discover whether thinks like frequent lawn mowing, light
pollution, and pesticides are harming firefly numbers.

For The Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

Related Links

Online Map of Wildlife Diseases

  • Dr. Robert McLean works on a West Nile disease project at the National WIldlife Health Center with a Carolina Chickadee (Photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service)

There’s a new online map for tracking
wildlife diseases that threaten animals and
people. Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

There’s a new online map for tracking
wildlife diseases that threaten animals and
people. Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Diseases such as West Nile Virus, Chronic Wasting Disease, Avian Flu, and
others are now often in the news. A website partly developed by the US
Geological Survey aims to track reports of the disease outbreaks around the
world.

Veterinarian Josh Dein leads the project. He says he hopes both health care
professionals and the general public use the online map.

“One of the things you can do is say ‘what’s happening in my neighborhood,
what’s happening in my state, my country?’ And maybe I’m traveling to
someplace else. Maybe I want to look to see what’s happening somewhere else.”

Dein says the map also allows people to narrow their search to specific countries, types of
disease and affected species.

For The Environment Report, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

Related Links

WILY COYOTES IN THE CITY (Short Version)

  • Coyotes have started to lose their wildlife habitat, and now they are adapting to cities and suburbs. (Photo courtesy of Michigan Department of Natural Resources)

In recent years, coyotes have been increasing in numbers in many cities and suburbs. The GLRC’s Lester Graham reports there might be more of the predators because there are more Canada geese:

Transcript

In recent years, coyotes have been increasing in numbers in many cities
and suburbs. The GLRC’s Lester Graham reports there might be more of
the predators because there are more Canada geese:


Coyotes are sneaky, so people don’t see them often, but researchers have
caught a few and put radio collars on them to track their movements.


Justin Brown is part of an Ohio State University study following coyotes
in suburban Chicago. He says the research indicates coyotes might be
keeping a nuisance in check. It seems coyotes like to eat young Canada
geese.


“Coyotes are actually showing to be very important predators of them
and we’re actually even finding some adult kills, which is pretty amazing
that they can catch adult geese. They’re very wary. They’re always
watching. Even when they’re sitting on the nest, the geese do not sleep.
So, I mean, it’s just amazing seeing how good coyotes are at what they
do.”


Brown says it looks as though coyotes are also taking young deer, which
ultimately might reduce the number of car – deer accidents in the
suburbs.


For the GLRC, I’m Lester Graham.

Related Links

Whooping Cranes Following by Example

Researchers began a program to reintroduce whooping cranes in the eastern U.S. in 2000. This winter, some young cranes are learning how to migrate south from older birds. The biologists tracking the birds say so far, the new recruits are catching on. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Christina Shockley reports:

Transcript

Researchers began a program to reintroduce whooping cranes in the
eastern U.S. in 2000. This winter, some young cranes are learning how
to migrate south from older birds. The biologists tracking the birds say
so far, the new recruits are catching on. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Christina Shockley reports:


At first, humans led the new flock of whooping cranes from Wisconsin
to Florida by flying ultra light planes. Now, some of those birds are
teaching a few younger cranes how to make the trip.


Kelley Tucker is with the International Crane Foundation, one of the
groups involved in the reintroduction project. She says this winter, four
young whooping cranes are flying with older cranes and sandhill cranes
on the migratory path. They’re relying partly on instinct, partly on the
lead of the older birds.


“The birds will be a couple miles apart, but some of the biologists have
said ‘I have a sense that the younger birds know where the older birds
are.’ Sometimes they’ll roost within a mile or two of the older birds.”


Tucker says eventually she hopes all the chicks will learn to migrate
from older birds, and the ultra light planes won’t be used. She says it’s
important for the cranes to make it back to Wisconsin in the spring to
mate.


For the GLRC, I’m Christina Shockley.

Related Links

Keeping Tabs on Eagles Infected With West Nile

  • Crows are not the only birds affected by West Nile virus. Some Bald Eagles have come down with the virus as well. (Photo courtesy of the USFWS)

A wild bird sanctuary is using high-tech tracking devices to keep track of bald eagles recovering from West Nile virus. There’s no medicinal cure for the disease. But volunteers have nursed some bald eagles back to health. They’ve recently released a few of the birds and are watching to see if the disease affects their long term behavior. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Patty Murray has more:

Transcript

A wild bird sanctuary is using high-tech tracking devices to keep track of
bald eagles recovering from West Nile Virus. There’s no medicinal cure for
the disease. But volunteers have nursed some bald eagles back to health. They’ve recently
released a few of the birds and are watching to see if the disease affects their long term behavior.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Patty Murray has more:


Marge Gibson is crunching through the snow on the grounds of the Raptor Education Group
Incorporated. Several big brown buildings stand stark against the gray Wisconsin winter. They
make up a hospital campus for injured or sick raptors.


(bird chirping)


Gibson approaches a screened in gazebo.


Inside is a very talkative young female bald eagle who’s hopping around on a perch and giving
Gibson a knowing look.


“She’s very vocal and she likes to chat…She’s doing her rendition of ‘poor me, get over here and
pay attention to me’ in bald eagle.”


West Nile Virus began showing up in birds here about two years ago. It’s not known if a bird can
ever fully be cured of it. But in January the sanctuary released three bald eagles that had
sufficiently recovered.


Gibson says it would have been irresponsible to let them go without first observing the lingering
effects of the disease. She’s studying West Nile Virus in eagles with the help of Nick Derene.
He’s a graduate student from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.


Derene logs onto a special website and tracks down one recently released bald eagle that’s been
tagged with a satellite transmitter.


A topographical map shows the region where the bird has settled. A red “x” marks the spot
within 100 yards of where the bird is at that moment.


“And he’s found a nice place on a bluff alongside a stream outside of Black earth About 3 miles
off the highway that runs from Madison to Blackearth.


“Very nice secluded spot atop a hill.”


The satellite transmitters are more accurate than traditional radio monitoring. And they’re a lot
more expensive. Since the Raptor Education Group doesn’t get state or federal funding, Marge
Gibson foots most of the bills herself. The monitoring project could cost as much as 60-thousand
dollars.


Just getting birds to the sanctuary is an involved process. Volunteers pick up birds they think
need help and drive them here. Then Nick Derene keeps an eye on the birds to see if they exhibit
any tell-tale signs of West Nile Virus.


“They’re usually convulsing, they have poor balance, head tremors. Usually
eye problems, sometimes they can’t fly-usually they can’t fly.”


West Nile Virus can also affect an eagle’s voice. That’s a problem because its mate might not
recognize its call.


When the sanctuary staff suspects a bald eagle has West Nile Virus they draw
a blood sample and send it to a local clinic for testing. Once the virus is confirmed, the only way
to treat it is with some tender loving care.


“Hi…lookit”


The birds are kept in cardboard boxes so they don’t expend energy flapping around. And they’re
fed baby food so they don’t waste energy in digestion. When the birds feel up to it they’re put in
an indoor flight room.


It looks like a warehouse-150 feet long and almost three stories high. It’s essentially a rehab ward
for birds who need to test their wings. An immature eagle flies overhead, but he hasn’t perfected
flight yet. He misses his perch, hits the wall and falls to the gravelly floor.


“Flapping, hits wall….is he okay?”


He’s okay but almost looks a little embarrassed.


On the floor of this flight room is a pile of fish, a deer carcass, and the ribcage of an animal that
became eagle chow.


Marge Gibson says she wants the eagles to stick to their wild diet. That’s why the satellite
monitoring program is so important because the birds’ behavior in the wild will indicate the
lasting effects of West Nile Virus.


“We can judge certain things in captivity, in a flight building. Whether the bird is flying well.
But one of the things we can’t judge is his visual acuity, his mental acuity and those things we
have to rely on once they’re released. And the satellite transmitter can follow them to see how
they’re reacting with their own species and other species once they’re in the
wild.”


So far, West Nile Virus is fairly rare in wild bald eagles. In Wisconsin, more bald eagles die
from being hit by cars than they do from West Nile virus.


Nationwide the birds have made a remarkable recovery since being nearly wiped in the 1970’s by
the pesticide DDT. It’s now banned.


It doesn’t look as though West Nile virus will reverse that upward trend.


Marge Gibson hopes to keep tabs on just a few of the eagles infected by the virus to help shed
light on a still mysterious disease.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Patty Murray.

Related Links

Moose Population Gets a Checkup

  • Researchers collect as much information as they can to take advantage of the rare opportunity of being close to a tranquilized moose. (Photo by Stephanie Hemphill)

Many wildlife lovers consider moose to have a special mystique. Adult moose are bigger than horses, and they seem fearless. But biologists don’t know much about many moose populations. A team of researchers is just beginning to learn about one herd of 4,000 moose in the Northwoods. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:

Transcript

Many wildlife lovers consider moose to have a special mystique. Adult moose are bigger than
horses, and they seem fearless. But biologists don’t know much about many moose populations.
A team of researchers is just beginning to learn about one herd of 4,000 moose in the
northwoods. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:


Half a dozen big four-wheel-drive pickups are parked at a boat landing on MacDougal Lake. It’s
about 30 miles west of the Lake Superior shore, in the heart of the Superior National Forest in
Northeastern Minnesota. The forest is twice the size of Delaware.


It’s 25 degrees. At the edge of the frozen lake, men in conservation officer uniforms are standing
around a small fire. They’re waiting to hear from the helicopter. The crew on the helicopter is
shooting moose with a tranquilizer gun. They need to get up close to the animals to learn more
about them.


Scientists think more moose could be living in this area. Mike Shrage is a biologist with the
Fond du Lac band of Chippewa. He says they’d like to know why there aren’t more moose here.
There are several possible reasons.


“Wolves, bears, lack of habitat, hunting and other kinds of human-related mortality, automobile
accidents.”


Shrage is listening to a radio cradled in a canvas holster on his shoulder. He cocks his head to
catch every word.


“There’s three of them there.”


The helicopter crew has spotted some moose.


“Yeah, I think they’re bulls.”


“These are three bulls. It’s not uncommon this time of year, you’ll get small groups of them
hanging together for awhile. Little bachelor groups.”


Shrage says the helicopter crew will try to chase one of the moose into an open area, like a frozen
lake, where they can get an easy shot.


“And if it lays down right in the lake, then they can sit down on the ice next to it. It makes
everything a lot easier.”


“Yeah, he’s gonna hopefully drop in the spot where they can get right to him.”


“I think they must already have a dart in him and they’re just waiting for it to take effect.”


The helicopter drops off a crew member to stay with the moose, and comes back to the boat
landing to pick up a radio collar.


(sound of helicopter)


Counting moose is a challenge. A recent survey in this area showed a drop from 5,000 to 4,000
animals in one year. But researchers admit there could be a 25% margin of error in those figures.
That’s because it’s hard to find the moose in heavily wooded areas. The collaring project will
make counts more accurate.


Three biologists are gathered around the latest moose to be fitted with a collar. He’s a mature
bull. He’s lying on his side in the middle of a huge frozen swamp.


He’s blindfolded to make the process less stressful. He seems to snore, while the biologists poke
and prod.


(sound of moose)
“Sounds pretty peaceful, doesn’t it? Pretty nice looking animal.”


They take blood samples to check on hormones and blood chemistry, and to look for disease.
They also pull a tooth to send to a lab. They can get an exact age by measuring the rings on the
tooth.


Glenn Delgiudice takes notes on the animal’s fat reserves. That’s a good indication of its overall
health.


Delgiudice even uses an ultrasound machine to measure the fat in the moose’s rear end.


“Rump fat is one of the main fat depots of these animals, and also one of the first to go. They
mobilize their fat depots generally in a sequence. So we measure the depth of the fat with
ultrasound.”


Another key indicator of the animal’s health is the condition of its hair. This moose has most of
its hair. They aren’t all so lucky. Some of them have scratched a lot their hair off.


<"Rick yesterday saw a calf of one of our cows that was what'd you say Rick, only 25% hair. So that one's been rubbing and scratching for a long time. And, of course, when they're doing that rubbing and scratching and biting, they're not foraging, and it can drain them over time."


The collar has to fit just right. If it’s too loose, a moose can get a foot caught in it. If it’s too
tight, it can bind, especially in the fall mating season when the bulls’ necks get thicker.


“Yep, that looks good.”


(clicking)


Finally the moose is given an antidote to the tranquilizer, pain-killer, and sedative that have kept
him immobile for about half an hour.


“You know, you’ll see his ears twitch, and he’ll start to lift his head,” Delgiudice says. “The
moose are better at getting up than deer typically. They just get up, loosen up a little bit, and
then lope away.”


The moose struggles up, stands for a minute, and then saunters off toward the trees.


That’s moose number five for the day. The team is planning to track 60 moose for five years.


It’ll tell them what kills these moose and what’s keeping the population from growing.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Stephanie Hemphill, in the Superior National Forest.

Related Links

Moose Population Gets a Checkup

  • Researchers collect as much information as they can to take advantage of the rare opportunity of being close to a tranquilized moose. Photo by Stephanie Hemphill.

Many wildlife lovers consider moose to have a special mystique. Adult moose are bigger than horses, and they seem fearless. But biologists don’t know much about many moose populations. A team of researchers is just beginning to learn about one herd of 4,000 moose in the Northwoods. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:

Transcript

Many wildlife lovers consider moose to have a special mystique. Adult moose are bigger than
horses, and they seem fearless. But biologists don’t know much about many moose populations.
A team of researchers is just beginning to learn about one herd of 4,000 moose in the
northwoods. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:


Half a dozen big four-wheel-drive pickups are parked at a boat landing on MacDougal Lake. It’s
about 30 miles west of the Lake Superior shore, in the heart of the Superior National Forest in
Northeastern Minnesota. The forest is twice the size of Delaware.


It’s 25 degrees. At the edge of the frozen lake, men in conservation officer uniforms are standing
around a small fire. They’re waiting to hear from the helicopter. The crew on the helicopter is
shooting moose with a tranquilizer gun. They need to get up close to the animals to learn more
about them.


Scientists think more moose could be living in this area. Mike Shrage is a biologist with the
Fond du Lac band of Chippewa. He says they’d like to know why there aren’t more moose here.
There are several possible reasons.


“Wolves, bears, lack of habitat, hunting and other kinds of human-related mortality, automobile
accidents.”


Shrage is listening to a radio cradled in a canvas holster on his shoulder. He cocks his head to
catch every word.


“There’s three of them there.”


The helicopter crew has spotted some moose.


“Yeah, I think they’re bulls.”


“These are three bulls. It’s not uncommon this time of year, you’ll get small groups of them
hanging together for awhile. Little bachelor groups.”


Shrage says the helicopter crew will try to chase one of the moose into an open area, like a frozen
lake, where they can get an easy shot.


“And if it lays down right in the lake, then they can sit down on the ice next to it. It makes
everything a lot easier.”


“Yeah, he’s gonna hopefully drop in the spot where they can get right to him.”


“I think they must already have a dart in him and they’re just waiting for it to take effect.”


The helicopter drops off a crew member to stay with the moose, and comes back to the boat
landing to pick up a radio collar.


(sound of helicopter)


Counting moose is a challenge. A recent survey in this area showed a drop from 5,000 to 4,000
animals in one year. But researchers admit there could be a 25% margin of error in those figures.
That’s because it’s hard to find the moose in heavily wooded areas. The collaring project will
make counts more accurate.


Three biologists are gathered around the latest moose to be fitted with a collar. He’s a mature
bull. He’s lying on his side in the middle of a huge frozen swamp.


He’s blindfolded to make the process less stressful. He seems to snore, while the biologists poke
and prod.


(sound of moose)
“Sounds pretty peaceful, doesn’t it? Pretty nice looking animal.”


They take blood samples to check on hormones and blood chemistry, and to look for disease.
They also pull a tooth to send to a lab. They can get an exact age by measuring the rings on the
tooth.


Glenn Delgiudice takes notes on the animal’s fat reserves. That’s a good indication of its overall
health.


Delgiudice even uses an ultrasound machine to measure the fat in the moose’s rear end.


“Rump fat is one of the main fat depots of these animals, and also one of the first to go. They
mobilize their fat depots generally in a sequence. So we measure the depth of the fat with
ultrasound.”


Another key indicator of the animal’s health is the condition of its hair. This moose has most of
its hair. They aren’t all so lucky. Some of them have scratched a lot their hair off.


“Rick yesterday saw a calf of one of our cows that was, ‘what’d you say Rick, only 25% hair?’ So
that one’s been rubbing and scratching for a long time. And, of course, when they’re doing that
rubbing and scratching and biting, they’re not foraging, and it can drain them over time.”


The collar has to fit just right. If it’s too loose, a moose can get a foot caught in it. If it’s too
tight, it can bind, especially in the fall mating season when the bulls’ necks get thicker.


“Yep, that looks good.”


(clicking)


Finally the moose is given an antidote to the tranquilizer, pain-killer, and sedative that have kept
him immobile for about half an hour.


“You know, you’ll see his ears twitch, and he’ll start to lift his head,” Delgiudice says. “The
moose are better at getting up than deer typically. They just get up, loosen up a little bit, and
then lope away.”


The moose struggles up, stands for a minute, and then saunters off toward the trees.


That’s moose number five for the day. The team is planning to track 60 moose for five years.


It’ll tell them what kills these moose and what’s keeping the population from growing.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Stephanie Hemphill, in the Superior National Forest.