This is part of a series by Jerod, about his bison research. All photos are by Jerod, unless noted otherwise.
Read more: Getting to the Edge . The Count . Cohabitants of the forest . What's it all about? Candid Camera . The Great White North.
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| West Side Road, Prince Albert National Park (PANP) Photo courtesy of Georges Kedl |
As I approach, I can barely
find an opening through the trees. I
just dismounted my bike, and I am slowly pushing it towards the meadow, making
as little sound as possible. Before I
can make out the shapes of any animals through the thickness of the quaking
aspen, I hear the strong soothing grunt of a cow bison. I carefully turn my head in the direction of
the sound, hoping to catch a glimpse – kind of silly because I still cannot see
into the meadow.
Hearing this grunt causes
drastic changes in my behavior. First, I
think about the wind – which direction is it coming from, and is my scent
heading straight into the meadow? I
think about what part of the meadow the bison could be in. Is it a big group? My mind races through all of the
possibilities.
I continue to walk
towards the meadow, keeping my eyes focused in the direction of that audible clue. Just as I approach the edge between the thick
forest and the wide open meadows, which characterizes Prince Albert National
Park, I see a dark spot foraging in tall grass.
The bison stands with its rear end towards me, and I can see its small
tail waving away the swarms of insects which spend their lives harassing
the habitants of the northern ecosystems.
I need to be quiet
because my goal is to get close enough to the group, without them noticing,
so I can begin to collect information.
As a part of my Ph.D. research, I am studying the population dynamics of
bison. For example, how big is the
population, and is it increasing or decreasing?
I take notes about the size of the group, and the number of calves,
juveniles, and adult males and females that make up the group.
In addition to the
vital group size and composition information, I also identify individual
animals using photography. Using software
similar to that used for tracking human fingerprints, I take pictures of the
faces of individual bison, and take measurements of unique characteristics of
their horns and faces. With this
information, each animal can be uniquely identified in our database of photos. Using this method we can compile a
photographic capture history for each individual. After taking photos day after day, we can
also begin to understand how many individuals there are in the population.
.JPG) |
| PANP bison foraging in a wet meadow |
I find a spot with
good cover and I peer around the corner for a better look. With my binoculars, I can see that this is a
group, not just one lonely animal. I
decide that my observation angle would be better if I cut back into the forest
and approach the meadow from the opposite direction. I drop off my bike, grab my data forms and
camera, and head back into the bush.
Just before I go back into the trees, I take one more look at the
meadow, and make sure the bison are still there…
Jerod Merkle
15 May 2012
Prince Albert National Park
8 comments:
Your job seems exciting, Jerod! I'd love to take bison mug shots too :))
Great account, Jerod! It's fascinating to me that there's software to help identify individuals: no more names like Lumpy and Grumpy!
I'm looking forward to reading more! I hope the bugs aren't too bad this year. :)
So far, they haven't been too bad. It has still been cool enough that they aren't out in full force...yet.
Well, summer field assistants are required each summer - they have to be willing to work 6 long days a week in the mud, bike 10+ miles a day, and fight flies and mosquitoes all summer long!
On the other hand, it is really cool to watch bison, and see how they interact, and to do it all in the name of science.
Thanks, Ger!
The software is pretty cool, absolutely. Although, well-known, or recognizable animals probably will still receive nicknames.
I've been reading your fruit.leaf, and certainly enjoy it. Starting that sketching class sure sounds like a very cool thing to do.....and what a great way to meet similar minded folks! And, by the way, Uncle Lou thinks Jerod must have one of the coolest jobs in the world....being outdoors and seeing/studying wildlife every day....what could be cooler??!!
Hi Auntie Trudy,
Thanks for the great comments! Glad to hear you are reading and enjoying! I agree - Jerod has the coolest job! Somedays, I think I definitely missed the boat, and should've been a biologist, too. :)
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