British Columbia Magazine

Loyal readers of this blog: please forgive my recent fixation with aquatic critters. I can’t resist posting one more entry about octopuses — slimy, slinky, eight-armed wonders that they are.

Photographer Susan Rybar of Victoria was waiting on shore for some friends to complete a dive off the city’s Ogden Point when one of them surfaced with an old medicine bottle and placed it at her feet. Out of the bottle squirmed a tiny octopus! It stuck around long enough for Susan to snap this photograph before it wriggled back into the water.

James Cosgrove, British Columbia’s resident cephalopod expert, says Susan’s photo shows either a juvenile giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini), or a ruby octopus (Octopus rubescens), also known as the Pacific red octopus. It is common to find the young of either species taking shelter in cans and bottles in shallow water.

Watch for Cosgrove’s new book Super Suckers: The Giant Pacific Octopus and Other Cephalopods of the Pacific Northwest (Harbour Publishing) this March. The text will include fascinating factoids, new research on octopus behaviour, anecdotes and legends, as well as underwater photographs taken by regular British Columbia Magazine contributor Neil McDaniel.

The University of British Columbia has seven new skeletons in its closet. The bones of three Pacific white-sided dolphins, two Steller sea lions, a minke whale, and a killer whale make up the Marine Mammal Skeleton Project, recently unveiled in the Vancouver campus’s Aquatic Ecosystem Research Laboratory. The free permanent exhibit is open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m, Monday to Friday.

These animals once resided in B.C. waters and were recovered and cleaned by students and volunteers after their deaths. Their remains and life histories are intended to “promote public understanding on the impact of human activities on marine mammals and their environment” and to inspire environmental stewardship.

The story of “Kelpka,” or A57, is particularly revealing. The young female killer whale died from a bacterial infection that originated in her teeth. The animal was born with a misshapen lower jaw, which caused her teeth to rub together and wear down prematurely. The likely cause of the defect was PCBs and other environmental contaminants passed from its mother’s milk.

For more information on the exhibit visit www.cfis.ubc.ca/marinemammalskeletons.html. To see some excellent photographs of the skeletons taken by the Vancouver Sun, click here.

Sea lions and seals: what’s the difference?

While researching the Steller sea lion for my “Beauties and beasts” feature in the Winter 2008 issue—a profile of some of the prettiest and ugliest critters in the sea—it occurred to me that readers might be interested to learn how to tell these two local pinnipeds apart. Here are four clues:

ONE: Steller sea lions, the “king” of sea lions, are larger. Males may weigh up to 800 kilograms; females up to 300 kilograms. Pacific harbour seals generally weigh between 60 and 120 kilograms.

TWO: Steller sea lions have longer flippers, and use them to support their body weight when they walk on land. Seals bounce around on their bellies when they’re out of the water.

THREE: Steller sea lions have outer ear flaps. Seals have no external ear structures, just holes.

FOUR: Steller sea lions roar and bark. Seals generally are quiet.

Click here for a photo and more information on the Pacific harbour seal, and here for more on the Steller sea lion.

Your favourite hiking trail is a great place to look for wildlife tracks in winter. Ecological meeting places and wetlands are also rich territory, writes Larry Pynn in our Winter 2008 cover story, “especially the transition area between meadow and forest, which provides animals with both food and cover into which they may escape.” 

Here are a few other tracker tips to bear in mind when trying to decode animal tracks:

* River otters are agile in water but rather clumsy on land. Look for long slide marks between prints, and note that the otter’s webbed back toes may only be visible in mud tracks. 

* Marks left in the snow by a cougar’s tail can help you distinguish between this cat and the equally elusive lynx. 

* The hind toes of the snowshoe hare spread to form a broad “snowshoe” four to 12 centimetres wide. Watch for intercepting tracks of the hare’s many avian and mammal predators.

Warm weather didn’t stop Janina McLaren from making chili last Friday—195 cups of the rich, steaming comfort food.

Our community-minded administrative assistant/photo researcher and her friend, Marlene Thomas, each took time off work to slave over a hot stove. The next day, they served their vegetarian chili to participants in the 2008 Paws for a Cause “Walk & Run for Wildlife,”  a fundraiser supporting the BCSPCA’s Wild ARC (Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre).

Janina and Marlene dished up chili for everyone who completed the three-kilometre Fun Walk and five-kilometre Rover’s Run, some with dogs, some without. Most of the leftovers were sent to the Sooke Crisis Centre, and, fortunately for our editorial team, Janina brought a sampling into our Victoria office.  Yum!

Janina and Marlene’s efforts for Wild ARC were on behalf of the Sooke Lions Club. The service club has supported Wild ARC for the past five years; Janina has been involved for the past three. Wild ARC, the only wildlife centre of its kind on southern Vancouver Island, treats more than 1,700 wild animals annually, including deer, songbirds, waterfowl, raptors, raccoons, otters, mink, seals, and bats.

“Helping these defenceless animals is a very worthwhile cause,” says Janina, who plans to sponsor an animal this year as a Christmas gift for her young grandsons. Donors to Wild Arc receive a photograph of their critter, along with a special certificate.  Janina’s choices include a duckling for $25,  a heron for $50, or a seal for $75.

Visit the Wild ARC and BCSPCA websites to learn more about their programs and how you can help.

In our Spring 2008 issue, we reported that five blue whales were sighted last August off the southern tip of Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands), suggesting these rare creatures may be making a comeback in our waters.

One of these giant animals will take up permanent residence at the University of British Columbia’s new Beaty Biodiversity Museum next year—its skeleton, anyway. UBC researchers are in Prince Edward Island this week exhuming a 26-metre-long blue whale that beached and died there 20 years ago. The skeleton will become the centrepiece of the Biodiversity Museum’s educational outreach program and its collection of more than two million specimens. 

“Visitors will be awed by the blue whale’s size,” says Wayne Maddison, Museum Director and UBC Professor of Botany and Zoology. “More importantly, the whale will help us tell the story of biodiversity—how the Earth’s species are interconnected ecologically and genetically.” 

The exhibit, which opens in late 2009, will be the first of its kind in Canada, and one of only five in North America. 

About the blue whale:

- It’s the largest animal to have lived on Earth, ever! It’s bigger than any dinosaur, and longer than two 12-metre school buses parked end-to-end.

- It’s listed as an endangered species under Canada’s Species at Risk program. There are an estimated 4,500 blue whales swimming in the world’s oceans. 

- The blue whale is the loudest animal. Its call measures 190 decibels, 50 decibels more powerful than the sound of a jet airliner. To hear a sample of a blue whale call, adjust your computer’s volume control!, and click here.

To see pictures of the exhumation of the blue whale, or for more information about the whale’s new home, visit the website for the Beaty Biodiversity Museum.   

“Share the Road.” It’s a phrase we normally associate with cyclists, but as the Victoria Day holiday approaches, it’s important to remember that wildlife use our roadways, too. According to the the Wildlife Collison Prevention Program (WCPP), more than 19,500 animals are killed each year on B.C. roads.  About 76% of these incidents involve deer; moose, elk, coyotes, bears and other wildlife make up the remaining 24% of annual animal fatalities. Before you set off this long weekend, consider the following drive-safe tips:

Watch for the signs - The yellow, diamond-shaped Wildlife Warning Sign warns of a hazard ahead.

Reduce speed -  Reduce speed, regardless of road or weather conditions, whenever your travels take you through a high density wildlife area.

Drive defensively - Actively watch for movement or shining eyes, on and beside the road, especially between dusk and dawn. Moose are especially difficult to see because of their dark coats; their height also places them above most headlights.

Use your vehicle - Wear your seatbeat at all times, and use your horn or flash your lights to frighten animals off the road. Keep your headlights on high beam at night for greater long-range visibility.  

For more tips and information about how to avoid a wildlife vehicle collision, visit the Wildlife Collision Prevention Program website.  

I met my first tarantula a few years back, when I was living in Tucson, Arizona. The hairy creatures often tiptoed across our back patio on warm summer evenings. On one occasion, I even helped a tarantula escape from my cat inside the house.

I like tarantulas. But I had no idea, until I read Briony Penn’s article, “Surprising spiders,” in our Spring 2008 issue, that a few of their close relatives make their homes in British Columbia. Turns out, six of the seven “tarantuloids” found in Canada live right here in our province. Penn, an award-winning natural history columnist, author, and environmentalist who lives on Saltspring Island, gives us a fascinating glimpse of 10 of the more than 700 species of B.C. spiders, along with insights from the researchers who study them.

Surprising spiders? That’s for sure!

Disappointing eagle counts from Brackendale have me wondering why so few birds gathered in the Squamish community this winter. Volunteers recorded only 893 bald eagles in the annual January event—the lowest count since 1991 and well below Brackendale’s annual average of 1,750 birds. The community earned a world record in 1994 with 3,769 birds spotted in one day.

Associate editor Jenny Manzer profiled Brackendale and its eagles for our Winter 2007 issue. In “Eaglemania in Brackendale,” she explains that bald eagles need to eat “. . . the equivalent of 10 percent of their own body weight in fish every day to stay alive.”

Fewer spawning chum salmon in the Cheakamus River—a key food source for Brackendale eagles—may have caused some eagles to bypass the Squamish Valley this year. Brian Riddell of the Pacific Biological Station tells me that 2007 runs in the Cheakamus were perhaps 20 percent of average annual returns.

There is no single cause for the decreasing numbers of fish here. Scientists say sea lice, disease, and global warming may all be contributing factors. 

Myke Chutter of British Columbia’s environment ministry has some good news for me, though. He says that B.C.’s bald eagle population is growing overall—from about 28,500 in 1980 to 60,000 in 2004.

Thor Froslev, organizer of the Brackendale eagle count, is optimistic that the eagles will return to his hometown. One low count won’t get him down.

“Remember,” Froslev says. “Nine hundred is a lot of eagles.”

For more information, visit www.brackendaleeagles.com

You will almost certainly never see a northern spotted owl in the wilds of southwestern British Columbia. Fewer than 20 of the birds remain, down from a historic high of 300 to 500 pairs. But that doesn’t mean you should stop caring about the species, which continues to sound the alarm for all manner of animals at risk.

Enter Jared Hobbs, Ministry of Environment biologist and professional photographer with his important and compelling new book, Spotted Owls: Shadows in an Old-Growth Forest, with text by noted Okanagan ecologist Richard Cannings (Greystone, $36.95, cloth, 136 pages).

In the summer of 2005, I accompanied Hobbs by helicopter and foot into the Stein Valley near Lillooet to see the owls for myself. The experience left me with mixed emotions:  saddened to witness the downward spiral of these precious birds, but feeling fortunate to have at least seen them before they vanish altogether, the victim mainly of logging of their old-growth habitat and, to a lesser extent, of competition from the more resilient barred owl.

Hobbs’ remarkable collection of photos takes me back to the forest, deep into the owls’ shadowy world, and shows why we are all richer for maintaining ecological diversity–and what we stand to lose if we do not take care of our natural world.

For more about Jared Hobbs and his new book, please visit his website (www.hobbsphotos.com).