Wildlife oddities

 

Sometimes one will encounter something so unusual or so different than expected that it really sticks in your mind. As time goes by, more cases of the same thing either occur or are mentioned by others. It may still be unusual, but perhaps not as rare as suspected.

DEER, MOOSE, and CATTLE: While in college back in the 1960’s, I often spent my spare time in a wildlife research library reading old issues of scientific journals. I came across many reports and studies of great interest to me, but the following is the most interesting of them. Journal of Mammalogy 13:80- 81; 1932. Sigurd Olson of Ely, MN was canoeing in Quetico Provincial Park. He heard some splashing in a nearby bay and went to take a look. He saw a doe standing in a stream stamping at something. Soon she bent down, picked up a fish, positioned it head first and ate it. She began stomping again and soon had another fish. She picked it up by the head and began chewing. Then she saw Mr. Olson and ran off holding the fish in her mouth.

Beaver Jaws: Normal incisors on left, abnormally long Incisors on the right. Photo courtesy of Bill Peterson

Another report in the same journal (but from the 1924 issue) was of two deer in Maine eating trout caught by fishermen and left unattended. In one of the cases the man beached his canoe and entered his tent. He heard a commotion outside, looked out, and saw a deer run off carrying his stringer of fish.

In 1997, Dr. Vince Crichton (a very well-known moose biologist in Manitoba) got a letter from a woman in Texas saying that while hiking in the Grand Tetons (Wyoming), she and her son saw a moose walk into a lake and started to “paw” at the water. It then dipped its head into the water and emerged with a fish in its mouth. It went to shore, dropped the fish, stomped on it, and then ate the fish. Her husband did not believe her, so she was asking if moose ate fish.

Dr. Crichton’s response was that he believed her as he had once encountered a cow chewing on a frozen sucker. Upon talking to the owner of the cow, he was told that many farmers net suckers during winter to feed their cattle. He was also told that it was good for the cattle and that one could always tell these cattle from others because their coat had a glossy appearance.

PINE MARTEN and SQUIRRELS: Perhaps it is not that unusual for animals to eat foods other than those we consider to be “normal” for them. Pine marten are voracious predators on mice and voles (and red squirrels when they can catch them). A few decades ago, I heard of several that were eating bird seed (mostly sunflower seeds) at people’s feeders. Squirrels, usually considered to be vegetarians, are known to eat bird eggs and very young hatchlings.

RUFFED GROUSE: In 1983 there was a ruffed grouse at Palmer Berglund’s farm that was unusually friendly. It followed Palmer around whether he was on foot or on the tractor. I, my wife Dale, and Rick Fields went up to see it; the bird had never seen us but showed no fear of us either. Rick sat on the ground, pulled an arm up his shirt sleeve a bit and flapped the end of it near the grouse. The bird attacked the sleeve for 1 or 2 seconds, then jumped back, took a few steps, then attacked the sleeve again. This went on for some time, but then we left as we did not want to exhaust the bird.

A few years ago, I heard of another very friendly ruffed grouse somewhere over in north-central Minnesota. It also followed the person very closely. Ruffed grouse in northern Minnesota are not very wary, but these 2 were extremely friendly. Feeding animals can cause them to be less wary, but neither of these birds had been fed by people.

BEAVER: It is well-known that beaver incisors (as well as those of all other rodents) continue to grow throughout the life of the animal. This is to make up for the tooth wear from gnawing on trees and shrubs. About 30 (or so) years ago, Clarence Thompson showed me a beaver he had recently trapped. The lower incisors of this beaver were so long it could not open its mouth wide enough to eat. There was no fat left on the animal so it would have died of starvation soon. Clarence let me keep the skull so that I could show others what can happen.

Normally rodent incisors are beveled such that the hard enamel outer surface forms a cutting edge in front of the softer tooth material that makes up the back of the tooth. On this beaver, the outer surface was worn down and the softer tooth material behind it was longer. See photo of normal beaver incisors and exceptionally long incisors.

In talking with other beaver trappers, I learned they also sometimes encountered beaver with exceptionally long incisors.

On the other hand, some things may be very unusual. During my necropsies of deer, moose, and bear, I found 2 bull moose (both 1 ½ years old) with kidney stones and grossly deformed antlers. One (October 1973) had 208 stones (1.0 mm to 6.6mm diameter), the other (October 1974) had 861 stones (0.1 mm to 2.4 mm diameter). In both cases only one kidney was involved. No kidney stones were found in 56 additional moose or in 898 white-tailed deer. I contacted a few wildlife biologists and a medical doctor all of whom were very knowledgeable and experienced in physiology. One (very knowledgeable of scientific literature in both North America and Europe) knew of kidney stone reports in bovids and other cervids. No one had heard of any reports or published papers of kidney stones in moose. Another one of them asked that I collect a number of biological samples for him if I ever encountered another with kidney stones. No others were found.

I am quite sure there are many other unusual situations that have occurred. Just because something is not common knowledge does not mean it does not happen.

Correction to my last column: The figure pertained only to liver fluke prevalence in moose livers. The moose data was recorded by township as stated. The caption that stated it included flukes in deer livers was added without my knowledge. Liver fluke prevalence in deer livers (as stated in the text of the column) was summarized as being in the 3 areas mentioned (east and west Cook Co. and Lake Co.). This is because the vast majority of deer examined were killed along Highway 61. Most inland deer migrate to the shore for the winter, but there is no way of telling where they lived while inland. Many years ago, I summarized C.C.C. deer tagging and recovery data from the 1930’s. Only one deer was recovered in a different area than where tagged (tagged about 11 miles west of Grand Marais and recovered a few miles east of Grand Marais). All other recoveries were nearly directly inland from the tagging site.