Happy Thanksgiving!
This year, we are thankful for the Conservation Canines (CK-9) from the University of Washington. One of the main goals of this project is to investigate the diet of the mammalian carnivores of the Pacific Northwest Forests. By doing so, we hope to create a detailed food web that highlights many of the complex linkages between the species that call this area their home. Food webs are important because they are models that can show how the whole system may be impacted by a single species that is either present or absent or increasing or decreasing in abundance. For example, one of the reasons that the barred owl (Strix varia) invasion into the west is cause for concern is because of the potential impacts this species can have not only on the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina), a similar-sized carnivore, but also on the entire prey base, as predicted by Holm et al. (2016). As such, the current food web allows us to formulate hypotheses and monitor populations that could be at risk. The current food web, however, does not acknowledge the importance and role of small carnivores such as western spotted skunks and weasels. Thus, we focused on finding scats from western spotted skunks and weasels.
But finding scats of these small creatures has been surprisingly difficult. Even with radio-collared skunks and weasels, it has been problematic to find scats outside of our traps. Skunk and weasel scats are small and degrade easily. Skunks often deposit their scats under logs and in cavities, making it hard for us to find. So, we asked for some help from our 4-legged friends who have been trained to sniff out scats created by our target species. Over the summer and fall, we had the pleasure of working with three CK-9s this year, Chester, Scooby, and Jack, and their handlers, Mairi and Collette.
This is Scooby, a vocal black lab who is now graying around his muzzle, but hasn't lost a step or enthusiasm for working in the field.
And this is Jack, a quirky Australian cattle dog with lots of affection for those closest to him.
These pooches were amazing to watch in the field. They would work hours and hours just for the prospective of getting their toy for a job well done. They both had a unique way of searching for the scats: Scooby would have his nose to the ground, weaving back and forth, whereas Jack would tip his nose toward the sky and sniff the air in search of the smell that would yield his ball. When they got a whiff of one of the target species, their tails would wag excitedly until they could locate the source of the smell. Once they located the scat, Scooby and Jack would look up at their handlers with a grin pasted on their faces. Patiently, they would sit by the scat until they received their reward.
Over the 2 seasons, the three canines located 450 scats. Out of these, 141 were identified as skunk scats and 47 as weasel scats. In addition to skunk and weasel scat, the canines also located mountain lion, black bear, bobcat, and gray fox scat. With these scats, we will extract the DNA from them and use metabarcoding to identify the defecator and the prey species. This data will allow us to build a model of linkages between the carnivores and their prey.