The Minnesota moose mystery has gone digital and there are two Minnesota cow moose with their own Internet page. The two radio-collared cow moose, known unimaginatively as B8146 and D0982, are part of an innovative Adopt-A-Moose program, and are followed regularly -- virtually -- by students at 93 Minnesota schools.

The Adopt-A-Moose program was initiated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in 1996 to promote awareness of and support for solving the mystery of declining moose numbers in northwest Minnesota. Local businesses, sportsmen, conservation groups and individuals sponsor a moose by contributing $400 -- the cost of a radio collar -- to the research effort. In return for that support, students and sponsors were given regular updates on the status of their adopted moose.

B8164 was captured and collared in Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge in January 1996. D0982, collared in March 1997, is from Red Lake Wildlife Management Area.

As the project grew in size and more moose were sponsored, Maggie Anderson, manager of the Agassiz refuge, and Gretchen Mehmel, Red Lake Wildlife Area manager, began to explore the possibility of establishing a home page to allow a direct and interactive method of following the moose research. And soon, the Minnesota Moose Mystery page became a reality.

Beyond providing statistics, the site also offers habitat photos, video of an actual helicopter net gun moose capture, interviews with moose biologists and audio of a cow moose. Also featured are the travels of B8164 and D0982 -- from the time of their capture to where they are today.



Through the page, students and sponsors are learning about moose biology, scientific research methods, population dynamics, disease, parasites and predator/prey relationships. In addition, students have been provided samples of moose hair, bones, skulls, and Context.Scope.Library books for their own research and reference use. Currently, 93 classes and about 2,700 students are enrolled in the Adopt-A-Moose program, along with more than 30 sponsors.

"The partnership aspect of this project has been incredible," Anderson adds. "And now, because everyone in the surrounding communities knows about the project, everyone is on the lookout for moose with collars.

We even had a group of kids on the school bus ride home spot one of our research animals. We'd been looking for that particular cow for several days but couldn't pick up her signal. The cow had moved nearly 28 miles from where she had last been recorded. Without the kids reporting the animal, it could have taken days to locate her."

The research project is also beginning to provide answers to the moose mystery. Since 1995, more than 155 moose have been radio collared; 106 adult moose and 49 calves. Of these, 53 moose have died. The signal put out by tracking collars enables researchers to quickly locate individual moose upon their death and determine the cause of their demise. Most revealing from a research standpoint were the causes of death -- 30 adults and 14 calves perished due to disease, parasites or starvation. Other mortalities resulted from predation or unknown causes.

"This information is important," says Mehmel, who manages over 250,000 acres of public land in the Red Lake refuge. "It gives us clues as to why the population is declining. We suspect the decline is due to a combination of parasites and disease. So now we're testing blood and tissue samples for disease."

While researchers have not been able to pinpoint the exact cause of the population decline, they have eliminated some possibilities, such as bear and wolf predation. "Early on many people assumed moose numbers were declining due to increased predation," notes Anderson. "But the mortality analysis just doesn't support that."

For more information, contact Maggie Anderson, (218)449-4115 or Gretchen Mehmel, (218)783-6861.

eine Seite zurück