Author: Holly Strand

Holly is a Communications Specialist for the State of Utah’s Division of Emergency Management. A geographer by training, Holly received her master’s degree from the University of Colorado. She worked 10 years for World Wildlife Fund, helping collect expert knowledge to map and describe conservation priorities in biodiverse regions around the world. Before that, she led specialty tours to northern and eastern Eurasia. Over twenty years of professional work in great places with unique habitats and endemic species has given Holly an appreciation of what’s special within the Utah landscape.
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American Pronghorn

American Pronghorn Buck
Courtesy US FWS Digital Library
Photographer: James C. Leopold

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

The American pronghorn has an identity problem. It’s Latin name Antilocapra Americana means “American antelope goat.” But the fleet-footed animal of the American West is neither an antelope nor a goat. It is the sole survivor of a family of hooved animals that flourished in the Miocene, from 7-25 million years ago. More than 13 species of that family have been found in the fossil record, but only one pronghorn survived to modern times. 
 

American Pronghorn DoePhotographer: James C. Leopold Courtesy US FWS Digital Library

Many consider the pronghorn to be the fastest land animal in the world. Certain individuals have been clocked up to 60 miles an hour. It’s true that cheetah can go 70 miles per hour,–but only for several hundred yards. The pronghorn on the other hand, can go for great distances at high speed without breaking a sweat, leaving pursuers such as coyotes and wolves in the dust. Mountain lions occasionally creep up behind them, but that’s tricky in the open grasslands and shrub steppe that pronghorns prefer. Simply put, no land mammal on earth can keep up with the pronghorn over a significant distance.

Pronghorn Herd RunningCourtesy US FWS Digital Library
Photographer: Jack Woody

So why is this animal so implausibly fast? John Byers of the University of Idaho believes that the pronghorn and its relatives evolved traits to enhance speed under the influence of ghost predators. These predators are now extinct but their existence is memorialized through the adapted traits of their prey.

Before the late Pleistocene extinction, a variety of carnivorous megafauna filled grasslands often referred to as the American Serengeti. The giant short-faced bear, the American lion, a jaguar, a form of hyena and the saber-toothed cat were likely ambush predators of the pronghorn. But the most compelling reason for the pronghorn’s improbable speed is the presence of the North American cheetah. This long -limbed cat with powerful heart and lung capacity set off an evolutionary arms race with the pronghorn. Natural selection favored speed since slow cats went hungry and slow pronghorns were devoured.

American Pronghorn BuckCourtesy US FWS Digital Library
Photographer: Harvey Doerksen[/caption]

Nowadays, lacking the need for such swift getaways, it’s possible that the pronghorn has slowed down. But if slowing down is 60 miles an hour, imagine what a high speed chase with the powerful prehistoric cheetah must have been like!

For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.
Credits:
Images: Courtesy US FWS Digital Library
Text:     Holly Strand, Stokes Nature Center
Sources & Additional Reading:

Adams, Daniel B. 1979, “The Cheetah: Native American” Science 205 (4411): 1155–1158. https://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/205/4411/1155

John A. Byers, American Pronghorn: Social Adaptations and the Ghosts of Predators Past, University of Chicago Press, 1998, https://www.amazon.com/American-Pronghorn-Social-Adaptations-Predators/dp/0226086992

John A. Byers, Built for Speed: A Year in the Life of Pronghorn, Harvard University Press, 2003, https://www.amazon.com/Built-Speed-Year-Life-Pronghorn/dp/0674011422

Pronghorn, ANTILOCAPRA AMERICANA, Utah Conservation Data Center, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/rsgis2/Search/Display.asp?FlNm=antiamer

Pronghorn, Wildlife Library, National Wildlife Foundation, https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Library/Mammals/Pronghorn.aspx

Antilocapra americana, Pronghorn, Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Antilocapra_americana/

 

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Censuses and Surveys

Wolf with Radio Collar watches biologists FWS Digital Library, Photo by William Campbell
Wolf with Radio Collar
Photographer: William Campbell
US FWS

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

This year’s Census is the 23rd national headcount in United States history.

Census results affect the allocation of all kinds of government financial and program resources. The Census also determines the distribution of seats in
the state and federal House of Representatives.

It is also important to know the number and whereabouts of different wildlife species. This information is used for a number of management purposes– for instance, monitoring the status of endangered species or determining hunting or fishing quotas.

Mountain Lion with Radio Collar
Photographer: Claire Dobert
Courtesy US FWS

Counting wildlife isn’t as easy as counting people. You can’t mail
animals a survey with a self-addressed stamped envelope and you don’t necessarily know where to find them at any given point in time.

True censuses of animals are rare for in most cases a complete count is either too expensive or too difficult to undertake. Only animals conveniently and visibly grouped in a particular location can be censused– such as fish in a fish hatchery, or large animals along a certain migration route.

Setting a waterfowl capture net
Courtesy US FWS

Instead, biologists define an area of interest, then sample at random locations within that area. Samples usually consist of a number of transects or randomly selected quadrants. Counts from these samples are then extrapolated to an entire habitat or study area.

Along with selecting a sampling method, you have to figure out how you are going to effectively count an individual occurrence. This can be extremely tricky. Especially if your animal is reclusive or nocturnal. According to Dr. Eric Gese, a specialist in predator ecology at Utah State University, biologists use tracks, scats, scratches, burrows, hair samples –even roadkill counts as proxies for individual animals.

FWS Biologist Tracking a Black Bear
Photo by John & Karen Hollingsworth,
Courtesy US FWS

Capturing, marking and recapturing animals is one of the most reliable–albeit expensive– ways to do a direct count of animals. Captured animals are marked with ear tags, radio collars, dyes or even radioactive isotopes. In a future program I’ll describe an example of how one scientist tracks and counts large and elusive predators in the wild.

Thanks to Utah State University’s College of Natural Resources for supporting the development of this Wild About Utah topic.

For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.
Credits:
Images: Courtesy US FWS Digital Library
Text:     Holly Strand, Stokes Nature Center
Sources & Additional Reading:

Gese, E. M. 2001. Monitoring of terrestrial carnivore populations. Pages 372–396 in J. L. Gittleman, S. M. Funk, D. Macdonald, and R. K. Wayne, editors., Carnivore conservation. Cambridge University, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Video: Biologists track hibernating bears for research, KSL Broadcasting Salt Lake City UT, 27 March 2010, https://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=647&sid=10166167

American Black Bear, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, wildlife.utah.gov/publications/pdf/bearnew.pdf

(tracking) Black-footed Ferrets, Wildlife Review Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, wildlife.utah.gov/wr/0804ferrets/0804ferrets.pdf

 

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Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion
Courtesy USDA

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

One cold dawn in January I glanced out the kitchen window at the snow-covered yard. Something moved and my eyes focused on a large dog-sized animal half hidden and crouched behind some rabbit brush. Funny I thought. I’ve never seen a large dog like that in this neighborhood. I continued to watch the backyard visitor but it was very still and hard to see. I raced upstairs to get a better view from the second floor window. As I reached the window I got a brief glimpse of the animal as it melted away into a large ravine. It was definitely not a dog. Dogs don’t “melt” as a method of locomotion.

Courtesy US FWS Digital Library

Given the size, the color, the time of day, and the way it moved, I’m pretty sure that I saw a mountain lion. In winter our yard is a mountain lion pantry, plentifully stocked with live mule deer steaks browsing on our trees. Undoubtedly that’s what attracted my morning visitor.

The mountain lion, or cougar as it is often called, was once the most widely distributed mammal in the Americas. Nowadays, In the United States, it is now mainly restricted to remote areas in the western part of the country including in Utah. According to the Division of Wildlife Resources, the only place in Utah they’re not found is in the salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake.

Photographer: Larry Moats
Courtesy US FWS Digital Library

Although they are found everywhere in the state, the animals are rarely seen. They are extremely secretive and largely nocturnal. They usually know where you are before you know where they are, so they can easily avoid human contact .

Mountain lion attacks are extremely rare and there have been no deaths from them in Utah. Nevertheless, they can kill people and with wildlife-human confrontations on the increase it’s good to know what to do if you meet one of these big kitties. First of all, don’t run from or turn your back to a mountain lion. Its instinct is to chase running animals. Make yourself look as big as possible by raising your arms up high. Speak loudly and fight back if attacked. If you live near mountains or rocky cliff areas keep a close eye on children and pets especially at dusk and dawn.

Photographer: Claire Dobert
Courtesy US FWS Digital Library

Thanks to the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for supporting the development of this Wild About Utah program.

For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.
Credits:

Images: Courtesy USDA and US FWS Digital Library

Text:     Holly Strand, Stokes Nature Center

Sources & Additional Reading:

Mountain Lion, Wildlife Notebook, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://wildlife.utah.gov/publications/pdf/newlion.pdf

Starving Cougar Attacks Vernal Man, Hans Moran, Deseret News Nov. 12, 1997, https://www.deseretnews.com/article/594408/Starving-cougar-attacks-Vernal-man.html

Mountain Lion, National Geographic, https://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/mountain-lion.html

 

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Snowshoe Hare

Snowshoe Hare Summer Coat
Courtesy US National Parks Service

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from Stokes Nature Center in beautiful Logan Canyon.

The approach (opening) of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver brings back fond memories of Utah’s stint as host of the winter games back in 2002. Many Utahns will recall that among Salt Lake’s three Olympics mascots was “Powder,” a playful snowshoe hare.

Powder represented “faster” in Salt Lake’s triumvirate motto of “Citius, Altius, Fortius” (Faster, Higher Stronger) and the description is apt for the nimble mammal that owes much of its survival to its comically large feet.

USU wildlife biologist Dustin Ranglack says the snowshoe hare’s feet are ideally suited for racing from predators in deep mountain snow. “Snowshoe hares are known as the ‘Snickers bars of the forest’ because they’re a popular treat for a host of carnivores, including coyotes, foxes, lynx, bobcats, bears and birds of prey.”

Ranglack notes that the hare, which he describes as “the cutest bunny rabbit you’ve ever seen,” sports another defensive trait that serves the animal well: its distinctive camouflage coat. In winter, the hare’s soft, fine fur turns white to blend into the snowy terrain. As spring thaws the wintry landscape, the hare’s fur turns brown to help it elude predators.

Snowshoe Hare Winter Coat
Courtesy USDA Forest Service

Coupled with its prolific breeding habits, the snowshoe appears to have a robust arsenal of defenses as it feeds at night following well-worn forest paths to feast on trees, shrubs, grasses and plants. Yet scientists observe that climate change may disrupt photo cycles that keep the color of hares’ fur in sync with its surrounding landscape. A white hare may end up sitting on brown earth in full view of ravenous predators, upsetting the delicate balance of advantage.

“The hares are fast, yes, but their best mechanism of defense is camouflage,” Ranglack says.

Thanks to Mary-Ann Muffoletto and Utah State University College of Natural Resources for supporting the development of this Wild About Utah program.

For Wild About Utah and Stokes Nature Center, I’m Holly Strand.
Credits:

Images: Courtesy US Forest Service and US National Parks Service

Text:     Mary-Ann Muffoletto, Holly Strand, Stokes Nature Center

Sources & Additional Reading

Dustin Ranglack, USU Department of Wildland Resources https://www.usu.edu/ust/index.cfm?article=35951

Huang, Lilly. “The Case of the Disappearing Rabbit,” Newsweek, July 25, 2009.https://www.newsweek.com/id/208445

Snowshoe Hare Lepus Americanus, National Geographic, https://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/snowshoe-hare.html