Hunting for Answers
A few years back about 1,200 elk showed up on the Heart Mountain Ranch. Prior to that, Brian Peters, manager of the Nature-Conservancy-owned ranch, had only seen about 100 head. Now, they were eating him out of house and home. ‘It’s been pretty devastating for us,’ Peters says.
Herd Mentality
Wildlife researcher Aly Courtemanch boards the Jackson Hole Tram not to ski but to study two Teton Range species: bighorn sheep and powder hounds….
How stress shapes ecosystems
You are tense and wary, alert to every rustle and snapped twig. A predator is near, you can sense it. Your heart races; you sweat. Quietly, you reach for a doughnut.
Wolf re-introduction fails to stop elk eating aspen
Writing in the journal Ecology, a team of scientists found that wolves in Yellowstone Park were not deterring elk from eating young trees.
It had been assumed that the presence of wolves would create a “landscape of fear” and no-go areas for elk.
Climate change may favor couch-potato elk
A study of elk in Yellowstone National Park suggests that dwindling food resources may be one reason why females that migrate have fewer calves than those that stay put…
Requiem for a ewe
Across Jackson Lake from the Lizard Creek Campground, we stash our canoes in the willows at the mouth of Webb Canyon and slog through a marsh, periodically shouting “hey bear” to avert surprise encounters with any ursine inhabitants.
Study focuses on plight of migratory elk
Though elk and other animals typically move from winter range to summer pastures to find better forage and to avoid predators, those benefits have mostly disappeared over the past decade for a group of migratory elk in Park County.
Elk and Wolf Study
Field work concluded this week on a three and a half year study on elk and wolves in Northwest Wyoming. Biologists are trying to find out why migrating elk there aren’t reproducing very well.
Bighorns on the Brink
Rebecca Huntington and Melinda Binks of Assignment Earth and This American Land produced a short video about our efforts to understand the influence of winter backcountry recreation on bighorn sheep in the Tetons.
Understanding elk pregnancy rates
Elk pregnancy rates are typically high – almost 90% on average in the Rocky Mountains – but we have observed low pregnancy for several years in a portion of the Clarks Fork elk herd that migrates annually into Yellowstone Park.