by Don Scallen, Vice-President
Our landscape is networked by roads – ribbons of death where myriad animals from butterflies to deer meet their demise. And though morbid, an objective look at this mortality can provide insight into changing animal populations.
In the 1960’s and 70’s groundhogs, aka woodchucks, were among the most frequent victims of vehicular faunacide. Their bodies littered roadsides as raccoon carcasses do today.
Groundhogs are now rare road-kill victims. No, they haven’t evolved the ability to look both ways before … Continue Reading ››
Ontario is home to five species of rabbits and hares. These include the Arctic Hare (Lepus arcticus
), White-tailed Jack Rabbit (Lepus townsendii
), Snowshoe Hare (Lepus americanus
), Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus
), and the main subject of this report, the European Hare (Lepus europaeus
). The first two species do not extend into our area at all. Arctic Hare barely get into the most northern parts of the province while the White-tailed Jack Rabbit is included on the basis of a few records … Continue Reading ››