Researchers jump to aid
of Ord's Kangaroo
Rat

by Greg Harris

A University of Calgary researcher and his students are launching an ambitious two-year project this week that may help save the Ord’s Kangaroo Rat from possible extinction in Alberta.

Ord’s Kangaroo Rat is a small mammal found in the Middle Sand Hills region of southeastern Alberta and one of seven endangered species in the province. Ord’s Kangaroo Rats are not vermin like Norway Rats, nor are they closely related. Changes to its habitat, such as the decline of natural sand dunes and the development of road networks, appear to be adversely affecting its chances for long-term survival.

“ The population multiplies rapidly over the summer months, reaching anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 individual kangaroo rats, then crashes to near extinction over the winter, with only 300 to 500 surviving to the spring,” says Dr. Darren Bender, a U of C biologist and geographer, who is co-leading the project with Dr. David Gummer of the Provincial Museum of Alberta. “That dramatic swing puts the species at serious risk for possible extinction.”

Researchers suspect that kangaroo rats living in human-made habitats such as roadsides are more vulnerable to predators and parasites than those in undisturbed locales; but they need data to support that hypothesis.

On Friday, May 14, Bender, co-investigator Gummer, and three University of Calgary students will travel to Canadian Forces Base Suffield near Medicine Hat to begin a summer-long project capturing and tagging individual kangaroo rats. Then, in spring 2005, the research team will return to the area to see which animals survived the winter.

Ord’s Kangaroo Rat is actually a desert species that is reasonably common in the western United States and Mexico, but the Alberta population has distinct characteristics that are not shared with more southern populations. Kangaroo rats are also found in southwestern Saskatchewan, but that population is believed to be separate from Alberta’s. So-named for their large hind legs and long tail, kangaroo rats are able to leap up to six feet in height. They require the open, sparsely vegetated ground of the sand hills to allow them to use their erratic, hopping style of locomotion to try to evade coyotes and owls. They hide in underground burrows during the day and are active above ground only at night when there is no bright moonlight.

“ I think it’s an important project and an exciting opportunity to discover some critical information about the biology of an endangered species, even if it means adopting a nocturnal lifestyle for a few months,” says Andy Teucher, a master’s student in biological sciences who is participating in the project.

The two-year project will cost about $225,000 and is supported by the Provincial Museum of Alberta, the Department of National Defence (Canadian Forces Base Suffield), Encana Corporation, the Alberta Conservation Association, and Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.