The Curious Lives of Carnivores (and Mountain Schoolers)

by Colby Mitchell. 

Throughout the seemingly limitless wilderness of the North Cascades, life sustains itself in unimaginably diverse ways.  This notion conjures a sense of wonder in all who pause and consider the life of a bear, a coyote, a wolf, or a cougar. 

On March 28th, sixth grade students from Villa Academy in Seattle arrived at the North Cascades Institute’s Environmental Learning Center and began to contemplate the mysterious carnivores that call these damp forests and jagged peaks home.  The students’ minds came alive with curiosity as soon as they set foot into the woods.  “What does a cougar eat and can it be found here?”  “Would a bear be able to find a place to overwinter in this forest?” “What could have left these claw marks on this tree? 

As part of North Cascades Institute’s Carnivore Curriculum students are tasked with gaining a better understanding of the lives of carnivores in the northwest and, in turn, assessing if the area around the learning center would make good habitat for their study animals.  This task is made slightly more difficult given that the subjects of these studies live secretive existences and are rarely seen face to face by even professional wildlife biologists.  But that’s what makes this experience authentic. 

 Students review scientific literature for their carnivore study.

After investigating the habitat requirements of Cougars by reviewing some scientific literature, the ‘Villa Academy Cougar Research Team’ set out to perform their own field study.  That afternoon, seven young scientists searched for deer scat and measured the availability of stalking cover.  Just like their professional counterparts, these students creatively devised a way to see this land through the eyes of a large predator.  Their vision was keen. 

Using binoculars to make observations on the trail with graduate student Jacob Belsher. 

While walking from one transect location to the next our team paused, hushed by a student leading the group along the Sourdough Creek trail.  His vision had zeroed in on motion downslope of the team.  In a clearing two deer browsed cautiously.  With little prompting the team took to the task of documenting the occurrence and even focused on determining what exactly these deer were choosing to eat.  These observations served as great fodder for discussion as the group poured over their data that afternoon. 

Maybe watching deer graze on the new growth of shrubs or counting scat along transects is a few steps removed from the romantic idea of researchers stalking large predators and observing their every move.  This certainly isn’t the vision of carnivores we get from watching nature documentaries.  But there is no doubt in my mind, nor a doubt in the minds of these students, that this is science.  

In leading photo, students discover douglas squirrel middens. All photos courtesy of the author.