Establishment of an individual identity marking protocol for American pika.

Abstract

The goal of this project was to establish a trapping/individual marking protocol for American pika. As identification is essential in order to accurately identify individual animals in field conditions, we attempted to trap and mark (with ear tags and visual dye marks) twenty pika as well as map and determine each individual’s territory. Unfortunately no pika were trapped, thus in order to facilitate learning North American red squirrels were successfully trapped and marked to learn and establish an identification protocol. Although no pika were trapped and marked, mapping of territories and identity of four individual pika was established, in Kananaskis, Alberta, for future data collection and experimentation.

Faculty Mentor: Shannon Digweed

Department: Biological Science (Honours)