Posts
“Question: What kind of bear is best?” Jim and Dwight from The Office have their opinions, but you can make up your own mind with the rundown on Alberta’s black bears in the Spring issue of Nature Alberta Magazine!
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What ten years’ worth of close encounters with urban coyotes tell us about coexisting with these wily canines.
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BY RICHARD SCHNEIDER
Black colouration, referred to as melanism, occurs in almost all mammals. This is no surprise when it comes to black bears and skunks. But there are also reports of black Richardson’s ground squirrels, red foxes, white-tailed deer, bobcats, and even snowshoe hares. And of course, wolves. The processes underlying these variations in colouration are quite interesting.
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BY DR. JESSICA HAINES
I spent several years working on red squirrels with the Kluane Red Squirrel Project based in the Yukon. Living and working in such a beautiful, remote place was thrilling, but what surprised me was how much I fell in love with red squirrels. They taught me a lot, and I would like to share with you some of the things I’ve learned.
BY CORY OLSON
While bats have a remarkable ability to manage energy reserves, only a few can withstand the devastating impacts of white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease caused by a fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, that grows on bats during hibernation, which will lead to more frequent arousals during the winter, depletion of energy stores, and eventual starvation.
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Recorded Presentation
Speaker: Dr. Richard Schneider
Host: Nature Alberta
BY ERIN MCCLOSKEY
Wood Buffalo National Park was established in 1922 to protect what remained of Canada’s wood bison. Today, exactly 100 years later, the park supports a population of approximately 3,000 bison, which coexist alongside their natural predator, the wolf. The core range of the park is quite possibly the only place where bison are wolves’ primary prey.
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BY RICHARD SCHNEIDER
Why do Alberta’s Caribou Keep Declining, and What Can We Do About It?
Despite the woodland caribou’s high profile and the millions of dollars we’ve poured into research, the caribou’s story is one of progressive decline. Here, Richard explores the key challenges that make caribou conservation so difficult and provides an unvarnished perspective on what needs to change.
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BY GILLIAN CHOW-FRASER AND RICHARD SCHNEIDER
In Alberta, the status of Franklin’s ground squirrel has still not been determined. The provincial government maintains that there is not enough information to say whether the population is stable or imperiled. In the spring of 2022, Nature Alberta initiated a citizen science project to help fill some of the data gaps. The results are presented here.
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Recorded Presentation
Speaker: SARAH ELMELIGI
Host: Weaselhead/Glenmore Park Preservation Society