Predator Overload

About a month ago, Ranger Tyler from the National Park Service outpost in Kotzebue visited our school. Going from class to class, he spent the week teaching environmental education. On Tuesday my 4^th and 5^th grade students had a lesson on Ecosystems. They were exposed to all sorts of fancy scientific vocabulary but were more impressed with the Lemmings Game. It was an adaptation of the old classroom standby “Thumbs Up 7Up” but with a lesson about the availability of food, water and shelter determining the fate of the chosen lemmings.

Of course, when Ranger Tyler returned on Thursday for a lesson on Caribou the class wanted nothing but to play the Lemming Game from Tuesday. By Thursday the kids were comfortable enough seeing the Park Ranger around the building that they treated him like they treat the other teachers. They paid very little attention to the lesson at hand. They made off the wall comments that deflected the instructor away from his goals. The kids blurted out answers constantly but were rarely correct. As long as their quip brought out smirks and laughter from their peers, they considered it a success. Oh sure, they ohhhh’ed and awww’ed over the photos and tangible visual aids he passed around but overall, the learning objectives were not met because of their misbehavior and inattentive ways.

But I learned a thing or two!

*Did you know that the Western Arctic Caribou Herd numbers hover right around two hundred thousand?

*I learned that the hoof of a caribou undulates in every possible direction, taking a sprained ankle out of the question. This adaptation makes walking over the tundra tussocks a piece of cake for the 400-pound beasts.

*I also learned that at their birthing grounds, the entire population of pregnant cows has their calves in the same 7-day period. Mother Nature has created this phenomenon to aid in survival through a term scientists have dubbed “Predator Overload.”

Predator Overload takes in to account that the Arctic Wolf and a handful of his buddies will no doubt be hanging around when mothers start dropping babies. Although the newborn caribou are able to walk, run and swim within their first 24 hours of earthly existence, some will undoubtedly become dinner. Ma Nature knows this and accepts this but what she’s done to combat the wolf predation issue is create this baby factory bomb that puts the wolves on sensory overload. It’s like going to Old Country Buffet with eleven dollars in your checking account. You want it all but can only handle so much.

Now that I’ve spent the week hunting Ptarmigan in the Selawik River Valley, I know how that wolf at Old Country Buffet feels. Your mouth is watering at the prospect of a full stomach but you can’t really get your mind focused on which way to turn. The prey is everywhere. The predator becomes less effective than the killing machine he once reckoned himself. Sure, a few may fall but many more live on carrying out the precious Circle of Life in the Arctic.

In 5 days of constant below zero temps, we took over 35 Rock Ptarmigan. Ben’s idea of freezing and transporting ptarmigan breasts back to Minnesota for a game feed became the driving force of our harvest. At one point, I felt more Eskimo than I have all year. We were no longer seeking the artistic swing of the 12 gauge through a sporting shot. The wolves were looking for the most effective way to harvest more prey. No matter how hard we tried though, there was always another covey of birds around the next bend. There always seemed to be more that got away.

                                                                           

Such is the life of an overloaded predator.

But it’s a good life.

This Cross Fox was the Clean-Up crew on the point @ Inland Lake.