Raccoons are versatile mammals that can adapt to both city and wilderness settings. Contrary to their “trash panda” perception, rural raccoons are cunning foragers, seeking out seasonal diets of worms and insects in the spring, and fruits and nuts in the fall. Encounters with them are invariably special.
Category: Field Frame
Field Frame Friday: Foxes and Food
Island Foxes (Urocyon littoralis) inhabit the California Channel Islands. Over the course of the last 150 years or so, the ecology of each island has changed substantially, leading to different outcomes for different fox populations. The fox above is from Santa Cruz Island, where the population is currently healthy, although the foxes there are famous…
Field Frame Friday: Salmon Salutations
To recreate natural conditions for rearing fish, salmon can be kept in cages deployed in streams within their native habitat. When setting out to check on the fish and cages, researchers load their equipment onto a jon boat and get their daily exercise by paddling up and down the river. [Photo by Ken Zillig][Caption by…
Field Frame Friday: More Than the Bear Minimum
Grizzly bears in captivity will engage in contrafreeloading- which is where an animal works to obtain a reward that they already have freely available to them. While there are many theories regarding why animals engage in this behavior, it is agreed that zoos should explore contrafreeloading as a foraging enrichment strategy. [Photo and caption by Isabelle…
Field Frame Friday: Nestling Checkup
Nestling birds are adorable but also shockingly tough! They grow up facing many challenges, including intense temperatures, sneaky predators and constant hunger. Here, two members of the Project Phoebe research team use an extension ladder to check on the Black Phoebe nestlings shown above who grew up in a mud nest built under a road….
Field Frame Friday: Adorned with Horns
Texas longhorns (pictured on the stockyards of Fort Worth, TX) are a rare breed of cattle who were preserved from extinction in 1920 when some of the last remaining individuals were sent to Wichita Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. They have become well known for their unique appearance and gentle behavior. [Photo and caption by Isabelle McDonald-Gilmartin]…
Field Frame Friday: Cray-zy Hitchhikers
Sometimes other, unexpected friends crash the research party. While collecting data on salmon in freshwater streams, crayfish are often found trying to hitch a ride by hanging around fish cages and have to be relocated out of the equipment and back into the river. [Photo and caption by Cassidy Cooper] [Edited by Ian Ramshorn Haliburton]
Field Frame Friday: Comfort Food
Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis), like many captive ungulates, perform abnormal oral behaviors not seen in the wild. Recent work has shown that when captive giraffes engage in guest feeding programs—where zoo guests provide them forage—they show fewer abnormal oral behaviors. This provides some inspiration for future studies, where zoo guests can engage in increasing environmental enrichment…
Field Frame Friday: Water you up to?
Darien Satterfield and Meghan Holst rotate a calibration cube. The cube is used to reconstruct the 3D view that two GoPros in stereo capture. The videos are used to record fish swimming behaviors in the field. [Photo and caption by Darien Satterfield][Edited by Ian Ramshorn Haliburton]
Field Frame Friday: The Way of the Wetland
Lynette Williams surveys with a spotting scope to document variations in waterbird community structure between managed wetlands in Suisun Marsh (pictured) and recently restored passive tidal wetlands. In addition to bird surveys, Lynette dons her waders and assesses macroinvertebrate communities, zooplankton abundances, and water quality. [Photo and caption by Lynette Williams Duman][Edited by Ian Ramshorn…
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