{"id":74305,"date":"2018-10-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-student-documents-elusive-bobcats-other-predators-in-rhode-island\/"},"modified":"2018-10-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-04T00:00:00","slug":"uri-student-documents-elusive-bobcats-other-predators-in-rhode-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2018\/10\/uri-student-documents-elusive-bobcats-other-predators-in-rhode-island\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 student documents elusive bobcats, other predators in Rhode Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 October 4, 2018 \u2013 When 溏心vlog免费B站 senior Ian O\u2019Hara got his first look at a wild bobcat during a summer research project, the animal was much more attractive than he imagined.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was going to be all matted and gnarly, but it was beautiful, well-groomed and with an amazing pattern on its fur,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s likeness to a domestic cat was unbelievable, but larger.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bobcat had been captured as part of what O\u2019Hara called \u201can occupancy study\u201d to learn about the distribution of bobcats in Rhode Island, how widely they travel, how they use their territory, and how many reside in the state.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hara\u2019s role was to conduct a trail camera survey to capture photos of bobcats throughout the region. He placed 50 motion-activated cameras at random locations on public land, applied a scent lure \u2013 which he described as smelling like \u201chaving a dead skunk in the passenger seat of your car\u201d \u2013 to a nearby tree, and recorded information in a database about every animal that passed by the cameras.<\/p>\n

\"bobcat\"<\/a>
A bobcat photographed by a trail camera last summer. (Photo courtesy of Amy Mayer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most of the hundreds of images were of deer and coyotes, but the cameras also captured pictures of fishers, foxes, raccoons and other animals. His favorite was of an adult coyote with five young pups. Bobcats were few and far between.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe detected bobcats on seven of the cameras,\u201d said O\u2019Hara, who lives in Cranston<\/strong>. \u201cThey\u2019re very elusive and very smart, which makes them hard to track. It seems like they have large territories, so they\u2019re pretty spread out, though it\u2019s hard to tell. Maybe they\u2019re just camera shy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great that they\u2019re here, though,\u201d he added. \u201cBobcats are a native Rhode Island species that were hunted and trapped and pushed out by development, so they weren\u2019t very prominent in the area. But now that we have conservation laws in place, they\u2019re starting to come back. And that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research project was O\u2019Hara\u2019s first experience conducting field research, and he said it was the perfect project for him. He grew up hiking and camping, so he loves the outdoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hiked about five kilometers each day three or four times per week, and it was great to be in the woods and be active,\u201d he said. \u201cSome of the sites were in pretty rough places to get to. I had to bushwhack through bushes, climb over rocks and go through poison ivy. But I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hara\u2019s research was part of a multi-year study of bobcats led by 溏心vlog免费B站 researcher Amy Mayer. His work was supported by the 溏心vlog免费B站 Coastal Fellows program, a unique initiative designed to involve undergraduate students in addressing current environmental problems. Now in its 22nd year, it is based at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of the Environment and Life Sciences. Students are paired with a mentor and research staff to help them gain skills relevant to their academic major and future occupations.<\/p>\n

With just one year left in his undergraduate education, O\u2019Hara is already looking toward graduate school to continue his studies in environmental science.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrad school is a means to an end,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope to eventually find myself working in the field, maybe doing habitat management, making sure the whole ecosystem is doing what it\u2019s supposed to be doing. Whether it\u2019s for a government agency or an environmental group or as a consultant, I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m open to all the possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 October 4, 2018 \u2013 When 溏心vlog免费B站 senior Ian O\u2019Hara got his first look at a wild bobcat during a summer research project, the animal was much more attractive than he imagined. \u201cI thought it was going to be all matted and gnarly, but it was beautiful, well-groomed and with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-74305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-the-environment-and-life-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}