Refuge Notebook
Peninsula Clarion Article
Dated
30 June 2000
Up Close and Personal with Moose and Caribou
by Stephanie
Rickabaugh
When the subject of moose or caribou
comes up in a conversation, it usually revolves around the bulls. But have you
ever considered the energy requirements of the cows? Their nutritional requirements
and the additional needs for calving and raising calves is one of the projects
that I spent the last four winters researching at the Moose Research Center (MRC).
Working with 25 moose and 17 caribou at the MRC certainly had its moments - both
scary and hilarious.
The MRC is run by the Alaska Department of Fish and
Game (ADF&G) but it is located within the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
It consists of four fenced pens, each one square-mile in area, research buildings
and living quarters, and is located at the end of Swan Lake Road south of Coyote
Lake.
The MRC was constructed in the mid-1960's to study the relationship
between moose and vegetation. Research has focused on moose browse, and more recently
on nutritional effects and carrying capacity. Under the sometimes distant (30+air
miles from Soldotna) supervision of ADF&G's Tom Stephenson and Kris Hundertmark
we repaired miles and miles of fencing, built pens, repaired roofs and trucks,
and converted to solar- and wind-generated electricity.
One of our projects
monitored body parameters and feed intake of cow moose. Before feeding trials
began, I observed the cows throughout the rutting season. Moving animals around
and setting up a breeding plan for each cow, in addition to confirming when they
became pregnant proved to be a tricky and often scary task. When a bull moose
in rut sees you as a threat to his status, you know you have a problem!
Most
cows will breed during the first or second estrus (heat) cycle, which usually
begins near the end of September. I would go into the pens to locate the cows
and observe their behavior. From such behavior as body posturing, vocalizations,
rubbing, and proximity to one another, I could tell when cows were coming into
heat and could estimate their best breeding times.
As soon as the rutting
season was finished, we started preparing for feeding trials. Using two different
pelleted feed rations, we simulated high and moderate quality winter diets. There
were many aspects to these trials but one I will always cherish was getting ten
moose and six caribou trained to use an individual-specific feeding-gate system.
I had to train the animals to recognize which gate was theirs and how to open
their private gate using a censored magnetic "key" on a collar around
their necks. Since these research animals are still instinctively wild animals,
even just getting the cows habituated to my presence was a very challenging task,
let alone teaching them to use magnetic keys to open individualized feeding-gates.
Once the animals were trained to the gate system, we began weighing the
amount of feed offered and refused for each animal in the feeding trial. This
enabled us to determine the consumption levels for each individual. We also collected
bi-weekly body weights on the animals… another daunting task that required
maneuvering these animals onto a stock scale! Consider, if you will, getting a
moose into a horse trailer - now you're getting the picture! Nonetheless, by the
end of my third winter, with many tricks behind me, I think that I had educated
these cows to their "assignments."
During the trials we also
collected blood samples and used an ultrasound to measure body fat and determine
pregnancy and twinning. Measurements of body fat provide an index of the animal's
body condition. The thicker the body fat, the more overall stored energy the cow
has for calf development and survival through harsh winter conditions. This provides
important information in assessing habitat quality and thus overall productivity
and survivability of a given population of moose. Over the last several years,
Fish and Game biologists, in conjunction with federal and other state agencies,
have been collecting similar data from moose populations around Alaska for comparison.
Since pregnant cows were used in these trials, it was important to continue
monitoring them throughout the spring and summer. The number of calves born and
their birth weights are key indications of the condition of the cow. Thus, a cow
living in poorer habitat (or given a poorer pellet ration) may have less body
fat, more difficulty in winter, and produce a weaker calf or calves.
Here
on the Kenai Peninsula, we have seen outstanding moose habitat as a direct result
of the 1947 and 1969 wildfires. But as the forests in these massive areas mature,
the quality of the habitat for moose populations decreases, leaving few areas
with good quality moose browse (i.e., willow, birch and aspen). The research being
done at the Moose Research Center is directly applicable to "real life"
moose populations and continues to help biologists assess the moose/habitat relationship
on the Peninsula and around the state.
I'd like to thank the folks connected
to the MRC for giving me the chance to work with and learn from them. I am definitely
worn, but wiser for having spent four challenging and COLD winters at MRC.
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Stephanie
Rickabaugh works as a wildlife technician at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
For the past four winters she has worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and
Game at the Moose Research Center.
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