Wildlife Programs in the News

• Mole Salamander Discovery
• Wildlife Crop Damage
• Snakes Exhibit
  

Purdue scientists add new species to list of Indiana's fauna

April 2, 2004

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A species of salamander never before found in Indiana was discovered last week in the extreme southwestern corner of the state by Purdue University wildlife biologists.

The find of a breeding population of mole salamanders raises questions about how well the diversity of Indiana's wildlife - especially small, secretive species - is documented.

"This is an exciting find," said Rod Williams, vertebrate curator with the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources and one of the biologists who discovered the salamander population. "Nobody knew this species lived in Indiana, and it would be interesting to see if it is the only population in the whole state."

Williams and his colleague, Brian MacGowan, Extension wildlife specialist, found the mole salamanders last week in a Posey County swamp.

"This was a purely accidental finding," MacGowan said. "We were actually trapping for a different amphibian, and we caught this little guy in one of our traps. We were pretty happy to find out what we had. With vertebrate species, finding a breeding population of a new species doesn't just happen every day."

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is considering designating the mole salamander as either a species of special concern or a state endangered species.

Mole salamanders are common in swamps and wetlands in the southern United States. They also live in extreme southern Illinois, western Kentucky and Missouri. The population in Posey County is one of the northernmost reportings for this species.

The researchers said it will be difficult to determine whether this population recently migrated to Indiana from Illinois, Kentucky or both, or if it has been living here for many years undetected.

"We know that a breeding population exists in the swamp we sampled, but it leads to many questions that we simply cannot answer," MacGowan said. "Where did they come from? How long have they been there? Where else are they located in Indiana?"

Williams said, "It's going to take some rather laborious surveys to answer these questions."

Despite questions about its origins, finding a breeding population of salamanders is good news, MacGowan said.

"Salamanders are particularly sensitive to pollutants, and for this reason, can be considered a good indicator of environmental quality," he said. "Many species respire through their skin and have a reliance on water, at least during their larval stages."

MacGowan said amphibians - the group of animals to which salamanders, frogs and toads belong - have declined across most of the Midwest for many years, making it important to better document existing populations of salamanders and their relatives.

"From an ecological standpoint, we have to start asking ourselves where we might find even more cryptic species like salamanders," MacGowan said. "We are continually learning about these species, and this finding supports the notion that we need to start looking more closely for other species as well.

"The range and location of populations is one of the basic pieces of information you need to know about a species."

Part of the reason why this species was unreported in Indiana may simply be that salamanders are notoriously difficult to find. They spend most of the year underground, where they feed on beetles, centipedes, slugs and other invertebrates, and emerge only in the spring to breed and lay eggs in temporary ponds.

"You don't see them out a lot," Williams said. "They don't call, so you can't identify them by sound like you can with frogs and toads, or even birds, and that makes it difficult to develop a protocol to even determine presence or absence."

Like MacGowan, Williams said this finding suggests there's a need for more widespread wildlife surveying throughout the state, but points out that there is not much financial support for such studies.

"It's hard to get money to do broad-scale surveys, especially on species that aren't cute and fuzzy and spend most of their time hidden under rocks and logs or in burrows," Williams said.

Nevertheless, he has good reason to suggest biologists continue surveying the state for new species. According to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, biologists discovered a new species of frog in Evansville, Ind., just last year.

Williams is not that surprised to have found the species within the swamp.

"This wetland is just different enough in its habitat that it holds some really unique species," he said. "It definitely has the potential to hold even more."

The population of mole salamanders was found in a bald cypress swamp, a unique habitat in the state of Indiana, the researchers said. Bald cypress swamps, named for the bald cypress tree, a relative of the redwood and sequoia, are typical in low-lying regions of the southeastern United States.

"When you're there among huge bald cypress trees growing in standing water, you almost think you're back in time, or down in the deep south," MacGowan said. "You wouldn't think you were in Indiana when you're standing in that swamp."

Writer: Jennifer Cutraro, (765) 496-2050, jcutraro@purdue.edu

Sources: Rod Williams, (765) 494-3568, rodw@purdue.edu

Brian MacGowan, (765) 647-3538, macgowan@purdue.edu

PHOTO CAPTION:
Purdue University wildlife biologists recently discovered a population of breeding mole salamanders, a species previously undocumented in the state, in southwestern Indiana. This adult male is displaying a defensive posture typical of the species. (Purdue University photo/Rod Williams)

Wild turkeys don't gobble up crops, say Purdue experts

November 1, 2004

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Wild turkeys are often accused of a crime they don't commit, say Purdue University researchers who claim the birds are victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A common perception among farmers throughout much of the United States is that turkeys, which are becoming more common in the agricultural landscape, knock down and eat crops ranging from corn and soybeans in the Midwest to grapes in California's vineyards. Research by Gene Rhodes, professor of wildlife ecology, and Brian MacGowan, Extension wildlife specialist, has found that deer and raccoons, and not turkeys, are the crop-munching culprits.

Their project was designed not only to solve the "whodunit" crop mystery, but also to address public perceptions and misconceptions about wildlife damage in agricultural fields.

Crop damage by wildlife is no small problem. Experts estimate agricultural producers suffer wildlife-related losses that exceed $4.5 billion per year in the United States. In northcentral Indiana, 82 percent of the 529 farmers participating in the Purdue study reported some degree of wildlife damage to crops.

Rhodes and MacGowan outfitted a small army of wild turkey, raccoons and white-tailed deer with various tracking devices to monitor their movements throughout the fields of northcentral Indiana. Members of the research team also walked the fields, identified which species caused the damage based on what they saw, and spent time observing and photographing wildlife in the fields throughout the growing season.

"The time we have spent observing these animals in the field and attempting to get that behavior on tape is a unique aspect separating our study from many past efforts," MacGowan said.

Unlike turkeys, deer and raccoons are largely nocturnal, meaning they are active at night

"Our video data will allow producers to experience the corn field environment at night, when the majority of damage occurs," he said.

Two years of fieldwork gave the researchers a solid set of data vindicating turkeys. Over the past two years, deer and raccoons caused 95 percent of the damage in the fields surveyed, Rhodes said.

"During the two growing seasons we surveyed, not a single incident was caused by turkey," he said.

The problem with turkeys is that they show up at the crime scene during daylight hours, after the damage is done by the night-feeding deer and raccoons, he said.

"Turkeys do enter these fields, there's no doubt about that," Rhodes said. "But turkeys do not go in there and knock over cornstalks; they go in to eat waste grain and bugs."

MacGowan said, "I have sat in cornfields at night and recorded raccoons aggressively knocking down cornstalks all around me."

When people see turkeys walking through fields in the morning, they tend to assume that turkeys are responsible for the damage.

The information from this study will be helpful to organizations such as the National Wild Turkey Federation, which supports scientific studies of wild turkey management.

"Wild turkeys are perceived to be damaging crops because they are so visible, but the evidence doesn't support the perception," said James Earl Kenname, senior vice president for conservation programs at the National Wild Turkey Federation.

Rhodes said state and federal agencies receive numerous complaints each year from farmers claiming crop damage from turkeys and that the Indiana Department of Natural Resources has received more complaints in recent years.

"In the vast majority of these cases, it turns out that the perception of what did the damage is not really what did the damage," he said. "Our goal is to get solid research on where these animals spend their time and what they're doing in this landscape. We want to shed some light on this situation so we can begin to come up with solutions for landowners."

Rhodes and his colleagues also surveyed farmers to assess their perceptions of wildlife, the extent of damage to their crops and what steps they've taken to mitigate that damage. This information will help in developing educational materials to help landowners address numerous wildlife problems, MacGowan said.

Among the materials MacGowan and Rhodes will develop is a video showing deer and raccoons eating corn and soybeans in a field.

"You can tell people what's causing all the damage in their fields, but until they actually see it, they probably won't believe it," MacGowan said.

Future work on the project will include determining where in fields the most damage occurs and which environmental attributes are associated with higher levels of damage.

"Our next goal is to figure out how landscape features influence the likelihood of crop damage," Rhodes said. "Does proximity to roads, forest patches or houses make a difference? What about the shape of the field?"

Ultimately, the study will benefit farmers and wildlife populations alike.

"As we learn more about crop damage by wildlife and how the public perceives that damage, we'll develop better strategies to minimize losses to farmers, while improving public perceptions of wild animals in the fields," Rhodes said.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources Department of Fish and Wildlife, the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Indiana chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation and Purdue University provided funding for this project.

Writer: Jennifer Cutraro, (765) 496-2050, jcutraro@purdue.edu

Sources: Gene Rhodes, (765) 494-3601, rhodeso@purdue.edu

Brian MacGowan, (765) 647-3538, macgowan@purdue.edu

PHOTO CAPTION:
Although wild turkeys often take the blame for damaging crops like soybeans, these fawns have been caught in the act. Contrary to popular belief, deer and raccoons account for the vast majority of damage to Indiana's crops, according to a recent Purdue study. (Purdue Agricultural Communications photo/Mike Kerper)

Snake exhibit among a variety of Purdue state fair displays

July 15, 2004

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - This year Purdue University will feature what is perhaps its largest and most dramatic exhibit ever at the Indiana State Fair.

Snakes of the Midwest, a walk-through replica of a snake's skeleton that measures 36 feet by 18 feet, will take center stage in the Our Land Pavilion from Aug. 11-22 at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis. The pavilion is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

"If the snake was stretched out, it would be 68 feet long and nine feet tall," said Danica Kirkpatrick, events coordinator for Purdue School of Agriculture.

With live snakes, interactive games and more information than you can shake a rattle at, this exhibit is an eye-opening encounter with snakes.

"I would hope that people of all ages gain an appreciation for snakes and an understanding of their place within the environment from this exhibit," said Brian MacGowan, a Purdue Cooperative Extension Service wildlife specialist and creator of the exhibit. "Snakes readily feed on pests like garden slugs, voles, mice and rats. And some snake venoms have demonstrated the potential to treat cancer, strokes and other diseases. This exhibit will teach people that there are good things about snakes."

The Snakes Exhibit has been featured at the Imagination Station in Lafayette, Indiana; the 2005 Michigan State Fair; and is currently on display at the Fort Wayne Children's Museum.