More marmots! New Calgary conservation facility finds breeding success | 24CA News
A workforce of wildlife conservationists close to Calgary are celebrating a win for Canada’s most endangered mammal.
The new Archibald Biodiversity Centre on the Wilder Institute discovered 14 new Vancouver Island Marmot pups of their model new breeding facility southeast of Strathmore, Alta.
“This was the first breeding season, and we were all cautiously optimistic that the upgrades and changes that we’ve made to their enclosures would best support conservation breeding,” Caitlin Slade, animal care supervisor on the Calgary Zoo’s offset breeding facility, advised Global News.
“And to have eight (breeding) pairs produce five litters speaks to the successes that we’ve made for this species under human care.”
Slade mentioned in 1998 there have been an estimated 70 Vancouver Island Marmots left within the wild.
“Between the Wilder Institute, the Toronto Zoo and the Tony Barrett Mt. Washington Marmot Recovery Center, we have housed marmots under human care for reproduction for release back to the wild. And so the goal for all three of these institutions is to produce pups that will make their way to Vancouver Island and then be introduced into their wild habitats,” she mentioned.
In the previous 25 years, wild marmots on Vancouver Island have rebounded to quantity round 200, “but not to a place where this species would be considered to be self-sustaining yet.”
Dark brown floor squirrels in regards to the dimension of a giant cat, marmots are maybe finest recognized for his or her “scream.”
“They have this alarm call that alerts their neighbours to a threat,” Slade mentioned. “So you have this high pitch or a whistle that is sort of ear-shattering, but certainly lets you know that they know that you’re around.”
As far as Slade can inform, the brand new pups are in good well being, however the conservation workforce usually take a hands-off method to stop dulling any pure instincts.
“I suspected that there were litters underground that we just couldn’t access or couldn’t see. And that has proven to be correct,” she mentioned, noting a number of the litters emerged from their underground burrows over the weekend. “So they’re now old enough to come out of those underground burrows on their own to start exploring their habitats.”
Slade mentioned the aim is to ship all 14 pups again to Vancouver Island for launch into the wild, however some could also be retained to create the subsequent era of the endangered marmots.
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