The Traps Are Set!

Today is the third day of our project and involved a scenic drive to Cook’s Lake. The morning was spent walking through the forests identifying trees and, as ever, looking out for poo. We had a detailed discussion on the various smells of different species’ poo which ranged from a musty, unwashed armpit smell to a fresh scent of jasmine. A few other interesting facts about poo are that the mustelid (weasel) family and the canid family tend to have tightly curled poo where as porcupines and raccoons tend to have a distinct pellet formation, especially when they have been eating roughage like bark.

We identified some plants and flowers along the way too which was interesting. Among these were the blueberry plant which is a ground covering bush which black bears eat during Autumn. To continue this theme black bears eat blackberries during Summer and grubs in Spring. They hunt ground squirrels and mice and also eat carrion so ‘never play dead with a black bear’ says Chris!

Cooks Lake contains fish, turtles, beavers, loons and coyotes but we didn’t see any bears today – oh well perhaps tomorrow!!

Another note to add along the theme of poo is about blocked anal glands. This is quite gross but I was interested as our dog at home always seems to suffer from this particular complaint – I must remember to tell mum when I get back! Apparently domestic dogs sometimes don’t get enough roughage in their diet and so their poo is too soft to squeeze out the anal secretions which are used to mark the animals’ territory. To remedy this dry biscuits and bones must be fed regularly to provide adequate roughage.

The afternoon was spent setting small mammal traps. This included filling the nesting box half full with hay to provide the animals with adequate warmth and comfort. Then grain was put in for food, apple for moisture and a small piece of burger for the meat-eating mammals. The trap was then set in a banana shape to aid drainage. This prevents the animals from being flooded and getting wet and cold. An interesting aspect of the design of the trap includes a shrew escape hole. This is a small hole at the back of the nesting box through which shrews can escape but the larger mice and voles can’t. The reason behind this is that shrews are very small and have a fast metabolism which means they would probably starve before the biologists could get back to check the trap.

Hay had to be carefully packed in order to prevent younger mice from spying the hole at the back and trying to force their way out. This is very bad as they tend to get stuck halfway in and halfway out leaving them in a nasty situation if a predator comes along. When the traps are checked by the biologists they must occasionally get out the margarine tub which is to be avoided at all costs!

All in all a very enjoyable day and I look forward to checking the traps tomorrow and, hopefully, finding some small mammals!