Author Archives: MadelineBodin

Artery worm prevalent in Wyoming moose

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Forty-two percent of the moose in Wyoming are infected with carotid artery worm, known as “sore head” in sheep, and as Elaeophora schneideri scientifically. When the worm, actually a nematode, was found in the Wyoming moose that also had the state’s first case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a moose, state biologists investigated further.

They tested 287 moose that were either killed by hunters or found dead, and found 42 percent of them were infected with carotid artery worm. In some parts of the state, the rate is as high as 50 percent.

Carotid artery worm was first found in mule deer and in domestic sheep in New Mexico. It does not seem to create any symptoms in the mule deer. The worm is transmitted from animal to animal by horseflies (tabanid flies). The symptoms in moose and elk include the animal’s nose and ears rotting away, and deformed antlers. The nematode can kill the moose before these symptoms occur. Carotid artery worm infections have been mistaken for CWD.

Carotid artery worm has been found in wild animals in 18 states in the South, Midwest, and West. A similar nematodes infect animals in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Wyoming has been experiencing a decline in moose numbers, but it’s not known what role the carotid artery worm infection rate is playing.

Piece together the story through this news article in the Jackson Hole News & Guide,  this species account for moose from the Wyoming Game & Fish Department (PDF), and this sample abstract from an upcoming moose conference in Wyoming.

For background on the nematode, focusing on the infection of mule deer in Nebraska, try this open access article from The Journal of Wildlife Diseases.

Are you missing a mountain lion?

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Chesterfield, MO

Are you missing a mountain lion? Missouri has it. Sort of.

There have been six confirmed mountain lion sightings in Missouri since November. One of the mountain lions, photographed on a trail camera in December, appears to be wearing a radio collar with a VHF antenna. While that suggests the mountain lion’s participation in a tracking study, Missouri Department of Conservation resource scientist Jeff Beringer has not been able to find the researcher who collared it.

“I have made a lot of calls to other states trying to identify that animal, but so far my only lead is a missing, collared, sub-adult male from Utah. That would be one heck of a move – but not impossible,” said Beringer in a recent press release.

Two of the other Missouri mountain lions were shot by hunters. Their DNA has been tested, and shows that they are from either the Black Hills of South Dakota or from northwestern Nebraska, which are the two closest wild populations of mountain lions to Missouri. There was no evidence that the animals had been held in captivity. Those mountain lions were young and male, which is consistent with the department’s theory that these animals are traveling into Missouri from their home areas. Young male mountain lions are known to travel long distances in search of their own territory.

Linn County, MO

Much more information is available from the Missouri Department of Conservation. It includes the press release with information about the DNA results (in the middle of the page, after the DNA results from a Great Lakes wolf found in the state).And background information on mountain lion sightings in the state, including a map.

Photos: Courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation. The Linn County animal is the one with the radio collar. Go to the original photo accompanying the press release for a closer view.

Volunteers guard lake sturgeon

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Let’s face it, most fish and wildlife volunteers pull weeds or help stock fish. That’s why it’s always fun to read about unique volunteer opportunities. In Wisconsin, one of those opportunities is to serve as a Sturgeon Guard for spawning lake sturgeon in the Wolf River and its tributaries, the Embarrass and Little Wolf Rivers. The volunteers serve 12-hour shifts with a partner, and get a front row seat for the sturgeon spawning spectacle, which features females five- to seven-feet long, and their many male suitors cavorting in shallow water.

The program has eliminated sturgeon poaching in the area, and, apparently, some volunteers are disappointed when their 12-hour shift is cancelled because it falls outside of the actual sturgeon spawning window. Shifts run from April 15 to May 5.

Read more on the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website here. A direct link to the Sturgeon Guard program is here. Or read this article on the guard from a 2006 issue of Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine.

Photo: Lake sturgeon, Eric Engbretson, US Fish & Wildlife Service

Bighorn sheep use overpass

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Photo: Arizona Game & Fish

Bighorn sheep have already been photographed using a wildlife highway overpass in Arizona, south of Hoover Dam. The overpasses were completed in January.

Arizona Game and Fish officials were concerned when they heard that Highway 93, in northwest Arizona, was going to be widened. The area is home to the nation’s largest contiguous population of bighorn sheep. Experience had shown that big horn sheep are wary of wildlife underpasses, which are much more popular with the sheep’s predators. Since bighorn sheep like to stay high, and were approaching the highway from the ridgelines anyway, four overpasses were incorporated into the 15-mile-long highway expansion project.

For more information about the project and the results, read this article in the Prescott Daily Courier. You can find information on the project from the Arizona Game and Fish Department here, and includes video.

White nose syndrome in Ohio, New Brunswick

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The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has confirmed the presence of white nose syndrome in bats hibernating in an abandoned mine in the Wayne National Forest in Lawrence County, Ohio. The infected bats were found during surveys in February and March. The Southeastern Wildlife Disease Study in Athens, Georgia evaluated samples taken at the mine and confirmed the presence of the syndrome.

The press release was issued by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and can be found here. So far the local news reports are just reprinting the press release.

In other white nose syndrome news, the syndrome has struck a third Canadian province, New Brunswick. The infected bats were found hibernating in a cave in Albert County, New Brunswick about two weeks ago. The syndrome seems to be hitting the New Brunswick bats harder than it did bats in Quebec or Ontario.

There are stories on the discovery in the Bangor Daily News (Maine), and on CBC News (Canada).

Photo credit: Wayne National Forest and US Fish and Wildlife Service
Photo: A bat during the survey that discovered WNS in Ohio.

Rock snot found in Connecticut

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Photo: Conn. DEP

Didymosphenia geminata, an invasive alga known as “didymo,” or rock snot, was found in the West Branch of the Farmington River in Connecticut on March 18. Several anglers reported the didymo sighting to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. A lab in Vermont confirmed that the alga is didymo, and the department announced the finding on March 29.


Didymo was found in several states in the northeastern U.S. in the summer of 2007, including New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont. This is the first time it has been found in Connecticut.


Didymo is considered an invasive species because it can grow in dense mats that carpet the stream bottom. It’s not clear where didymo originated. It’s been known in streams in northern Europe and northern North America for some time. It was first found in the Southern Hemisphere, in New Zealand, in 2004. Researchers suspect it is being transported from place to place through recreational activities like fishing (on waders), and kayaking.


For more on the Connecticut situation, including prevention strategies and background on the algae, read the article in The Hartford Courant, or the Connecticut DEP press release.

Rock snot found in Connecticut

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Photo: Conn. DEP

Didymosphenia geminata, an invasive alga known as “didymo,” or rock snot, was found in the West Branch of the Farmington River in Connecticut on March 18. Several anglers reported the didymo sighting to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. A lab in Vermont confirmed that the alga is didymo, and the department announced the finding on March 29.


Didymo was found in several states in the northeastern U.S. in the summer of 2007, including New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont. This is the first time it has been found in Connecticut.


Didymo is considered an invasive species because it can grow in dense mats that carpet the stream bottom. It’s not clear where didymo originated. It’s been known in streams in northern Europe and northern North America for some time. It was first found in the Southern Hemisphere, in New Zealand, in 2004. Researchers suspect it is being transported from place to place through recreational activities like fishing (on waders), and kayaking.


For more on the Connecticut situation, including prevention strategies and background on the algae, read the article in The Hartford Courant, or the Connecticut DEP press release.

Isolated populations further endanger NE cottontail

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Photo: US Fish & Wildlife

Genetic analysis of the remaining New England cottontail populations show that five population clusters of rabbits are not mingling, which makes the survival of some of the populations even less likely than was already thought.

The University of New Hampshire based team of researchers found that New England cottontail rabbits in southern Maine, and central and southeastern New Hampshire formed one population cluster; Cape Cod, Massachusetts was home to another cluster; parts of eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island were home to a third cluster; and western Connecticut, southeastern New York and southwestern Massachusetts had a fourth cluster. One isolated population in eastern Connecticut was home to the fifth cluster, which was genetically isolated, even from the two other population clusters nearby.

The researchers say that immediate conservation efforts should focus on shoring up New England cottontail populations in Maine, New Hampshire, and on Cape Cod. Eventually, they say, the connectivity between the populations needs to be restored.

The New England cottontail is not a federally endangered species. It was found “warranted by precluded,” by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Translated into English, that means they found that it probably deserves protection, but they just don’t have the resources to do it.

Read the article in the journal Conservation Genetics, here.

For more on the New England cottontail, and why it looks just like an eastern cottontail, but isn’t one, read more in the Outside Story nature column.

Invasive plants change, but don’t master all conditions

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Invasive plant species do change more in response to environmental conditions than other plant species, a team of Australian researchers has found. This ability to change has long been considered a key factor in what makes invasive species, well, invasive. In their paper in Ecology Letters, the research team analyzed the published literature on 75 pairs of similar plants, where one of the pair was a known invasive, and the other a non-invasive species. They were able to confirm that the invasive plants had greater phenotypic plasticity.

They also found, however, that the ability to change didn’t necessarily help the invasive plants when times got tough. They found that the non-invasive plants fared better when there was a low or average amount of resources, such as light, nutrients, or water. They point out that invasive species are jacks of all trades, or at least all environmental conditions, but masters of only some.

They note in a very brief section that while the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere generated by human activity favors invasive species, the stressful environmental conditions (such as drought) that the accompanying climate change brings can favor non-invasive species.

The paper in Ecology Letters is open access, and is available here.

Prairie dogs, cattle, and grass

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Photo: U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Western folklore says that prairie dogs and cattle compete for grass. However, a cattle-exclusion study found that the prairie dog population increased in plots where there were cattle compared to the prairie dog population in plots where cattle were excluded. The authors say the two species have a synergistic impact on the grassland habitat. Read more in the journal Ecology.
A 2007 paper in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment said that prairie dog populations over a certain level would reduce weight gain in cattle grazing in the area. You can read a Denver Post newspaper article onthe study here.