Bobcats and GPS collars

So I decided I couldn't wait for a photo or two. Here is the first female from July 2011. She seemed a little chubby to me, but subsequent locations didn't seem to indicate she had kittens.




This is the first male captured and collared in June 2011.



Both bobcats were fitted with Sirtrack GPS collars taking locations every 2 hours.

Four bobcats collared, three collars recovered

So a recent post has reminded me that I have completely forgotten to update this blog. I am a little better at putting updates (as well as other RL blather) on my new Twitter account @jen_saves_cats.

Since beginning bobcat trapping in June, I have captured two adult females and two adult males. Three of those 4 collars have already released at the end of their set time period. I'll post some maps soon of the GPS locations. Each of the collars took between 400-600 locations!! This data will give us insight into how bobcats use the highly managed and manipulated cattle ranches in South Texas. Bobcats are an important predator who can help regulate the ecosystem through both top-down and bottom-up processes by preying on herbivorous animals like rabbits, rodents and quail.

Photos and maps soon, I promise!

Oh my

It's been almost a year since I updated here. I just knew this whole blog thing would be tough. I will be re-opening bobcat traps next Monday to begin a fall trapping session. I will try to begin posting regular with updates from trapping and photos of new bobcats and their happenings!

Also, follow me on Twitter to get more up to date info! @jen_saves_cats

UPDATE

Only two months behind here. But I'm signing on to share more exciting news! Thanks to Title V/PPOHA's commitment to ocelot conservation TEN GPS collars will be arriving at the beginning of December! That's right, you heard it correctly! TEN COLLARS!

This will only be the second time that GPS collars have been used in ocelot research. We will be able to gain insight into how ocelots move across the landscape in ways we never have before.

So three cheers to the people who have made this possible!

And I wouldn't leave you without a photograph. We're rodent trapping again on Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge (gotta learn stuff about what ocelots eat), so here are some photos of us in the field.


Fulvous harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys fulvescens), 3 days old


On cold mornings, some of them need a little warming up, so they get a ride in the pocket


And then there are the other residents of the refuge. Diamond rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox)

More exciting news

Thanks to a new federal STEM grant provided through Title V/PPOHA here on the TAMUK campus, as well as a small grant from the Houston Safari Club, we will be ordering SEVEN GPS collars for use on bobcats and ocelots.

We are still working through some of the kinks for final approval to use the collars on ocelots, but we hope to have that squared away by trapping time this fall and winter. These GPS collars have been used successfully on bobcats for many years.

The quality and quantity of data that we can collect from GPS collars is astounding and this is going to truly provide important data for the conservation of endangered ocelot.

Ocelot Media Day

Last week state, federal and CKWRI biologists met to talk about how grants benefit non-game wildlife, such as the endangered ocelot.

The Corpus Christ Caller-Times reported on the meeting.
Corpus article

And Big Cat News duplicated the story.
Big Cat News article

Article update

Researchers observed South American margays mimicing the calls of their prey:
Margay mimic monkey calls

Ocelots are featured in an article in Texas Wildlife Association magazine (and me, too!)
TWA does ocelots

As soon as I figure out how to share the PDF of the TWA article, I will add it here.