ramonmercado
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Feral donkeys culled by cougars.
A cougar caught killing a juvenile donkey in the early hours of the morning in Death Valley National ParkERICK LUNDGREN
For humans and wildlife alike, feral donkeys can be a pain in the ass. Large and full of attitude, the scruffy vegetation-destroying equids steal resources from native sheep and tortoises, poop in precious spring water, and cost many a park manager a good night’s sleep.
They aren’t unstoppable, however. In Death Valley National Park, researchers have captured the first photographic evidence of donkeys falling prey to the claws of a native predator: the cougar. The relationship is shaping the area’s wetlands, the team argues, and has raised questions about the management of wild equids going forward.
“This is cool stuff,” says wildlife biologist Kate Schoenecker of the Fort Collins Science Center who studies cougar predation on wild horses but was not involved with the research. “It’s helping us understand the effect these interactions with [wild equids] have on the North American landscape.”
Donkeys, often called burros in the Americas, first arrived with Spanish colonizers in the 1500s. They became invaluable as pack animals and mine workers for Western pioneers in the 1800s. At the end of the mining boom, however, most burros escaped or were turned loose.
Able to tolerate tough desert conditions, the abandoned animals quickly established feral populations in Arizona and Southern California. Although the exact numbers are disputed, the Bureau of Land Management estimates the wild burro population at about 17,000 individuals—much smaller and more localized than the wild horse population of more than 60,000. As a result, the animals attract less mainstream attention, says ecologist Erick Lundgren of Aarhus University, who led the new study. “Donkeys are the forgotten little desert guy,” he says. “They’re easily overlooked.”
The animals don’t get much respect from the U.S. National Park Service either. Because burros are considered a nuisance for eating and trampling delicate vegetation, polluting water, and preventing other creatures from using springs, the agency strictly manages the population in Death Valley, where many of them live, by capturing them and sending them to animal rescue organizations for adoption. It eventually plans to remove all donkeys from the park. Part of the reason for this management was a general consensus that, like other invasive species, the donkeys have no natural predators to keep them in check. ...
https://www.science.org/content/art...ys-death-valley-suggest-big-impacts-ecosystem
First photos of cougars killing donkeys in Death Valley suggest big impacts for ecosystem
Predators may be indirectly protecting region’s wetlands
- 2 AUG 2022 12:40 PM BY KATHERINE IRVING
For humans and wildlife alike, feral donkeys can be a pain in the ass. Large and full of attitude, the scruffy vegetation-destroying equids steal resources from native sheep and tortoises, poop in precious spring water, and cost many a park manager a good night’s sleep.
They aren’t unstoppable, however. In Death Valley National Park, researchers have captured the first photographic evidence of donkeys falling prey to the claws of a native predator: the cougar. The relationship is shaping the area’s wetlands, the team argues, and has raised questions about the management of wild equids going forward.
“This is cool stuff,” says wildlife biologist Kate Schoenecker of the Fort Collins Science Center who studies cougar predation on wild horses but was not involved with the research. “It’s helping us understand the effect these interactions with [wild equids] have on the North American landscape.”
Donkeys, often called burros in the Americas, first arrived with Spanish colonizers in the 1500s. They became invaluable as pack animals and mine workers for Western pioneers in the 1800s. At the end of the mining boom, however, most burros escaped or were turned loose.
Able to tolerate tough desert conditions, the abandoned animals quickly established feral populations in Arizona and Southern California. Although the exact numbers are disputed, the Bureau of Land Management estimates the wild burro population at about 17,000 individuals—much smaller and more localized than the wild horse population of more than 60,000. As a result, the animals attract less mainstream attention, says ecologist Erick Lundgren of Aarhus University, who led the new study. “Donkeys are the forgotten little desert guy,” he says. “They’re easily overlooked.”
The animals don’t get much respect from the U.S. National Park Service either. Because burros are considered a nuisance for eating and trampling delicate vegetation, polluting water, and preventing other creatures from using springs, the agency strictly manages the population in Death Valley, where many of them live, by capturing them and sending them to animal rescue organizations for adoption. It eventually plans to remove all donkeys from the park. Part of the reason for this management was a general consensus that, like other invasive species, the donkeys have no natural predators to keep them in check. ...
https://www.science.org/content/art...ys-death-valley-suggest-big-impacts-ecosystem