Jeff, Brains, Wolverines
August 22, 2005
Not much done today…Tim and D went to meet with the producers of the Jeff Corwin Experience and I guess they are pretty encouraged…the new producers are not into the fake stuff like I guess the others have been…so D and Tim are actually thinking it’s not as bad as we all are fearing…we’ll see, though.
We all met at noon in Glacier National Park to see a presentation on bear brain mapping that a doctor has been doing…but I guess he couldn’t make it, so his three top students did the presentation and it’s pretty fascinating what they are finding. First, they have found that the olfactory aspect of the bear’s brain is far more developed than most mammals…D says they said all mammals, but I find that somewhat hard to believe. But far more advanced than even canines. What they have possibly also found is ventricals on the part of the brain that controls the olfactory. Humans have ventricals on the brain that are the result of advanced thought…but the fact that bears have ventricles on the olfactory part of their brain could indicate that they have advanced/evolved smelling!! Crazy! It’s never been seen before!!! So, that has us in the field wondering if we shouldn’t be looking at aversive conditioning methods that are aimed at their sense of smell!
That was pretty cool. After that we went over and visited with the DNA population analysis crew and saw some of their remote camera video that they got at one of the sites we had been trapping at last spring. And they got video of a wolverine! Probably the most elusive mammals in North America…it was amazing video!!!!!!!!!! We kinda wonder if that wolverine wasn’t the cause of some of the snares that got tripped but didn’t catch anything last spring! How cool is that?! A wolverine!!!!!!
After visiting with them for a while, we came on home and Angela and her husband, Brad, showed up…so we visited with them for a bit and Angela showed me some of the literature she’s putting together for real estate agents to provide to new home buyers in the area so new residents can be aware, from the start, of what they can do to keep bears away.
Now we’re just hanging. Tomorrow we will start scouting for trap sites and pre-baiting!! Cool!!!
Not much done today…Tim and D went to meet with the producers of the Jeff Corwin Experience and I guess they are pretty encouraged…the new producers are not into the fake stuff like I guess the others have been…so D and Tim are actually thinking it’s not as bad as we all are fearing…we’ll see, though.
We all met at noon in Glacier National Park to see a presentation on bear brain mapping that a doctor has been doing…but I guess he couldn’t make it, so his three top students did the presentation and it’s pretty fascinating what they are finding. First, they have found that the olfactory aspect of the bear’s brain is far more developed than most mammals…D says they said all mammals, but I find that somewhat hard to believe. But far more advanced than even canines. What they have possibly also found is ventricals on the part of the brain that controls the olfactory. Humans have ventricals on the brain that are the result of advanced thought…but the fact that bears have ventricles on the olfactory part of their brain could indicate that they have advanced/evolved smelling!! Crazy! It’s never been seen before!!! So, that has us in the field wondering if we shouldn’t be looking at aversive conditioning methods that are aimed at their sense of smell!
That was pretty cool. After that we went over and visited with the DNA population analysis crew and saw some of their remote camera video that they got at one of the sites we had been trapping at last spring. And they got video of a wolverine! Probably the most elusive mammals in North America…it was amazing video!!!!!!!!!! We kinda wonder if that wolverine wasn’t the cause of some of the snares that got tripped but didn’t catch anything last spring! How cool is that?! A wolverine!!!!!!
After visiting with them for a while, we came on home and Angela and her husband, Brad, showed up…so we visited with them for a bit and Angela showed me some of the literature she’s putting together for real estate agents to provide to new home buyers in the area so new residents can be aware, from the start, of what they can do to keep bears away.
Now we’re just hanging. Tomorrow we will start scouting for trap sites and pre-baiting!! Cool!!!