December 17, 2021 • 19 mins
In this episode, Amazing Wildlife looks at one of the smallest mammals in North America, the Pacific pocket mouse. Rick tells us how this animal got its name, their importance for our environment, and the threats they face in the wild. Ebone is joined by Dr. Debra Shier, who leads the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Pacific pocket mouse conservation program. Dr. Shier details the process of researching the animal that has made a comeback from a 20 year extinction!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, I'm Rick Swartz and I'm Ebony Mone. Welcome to
Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from
around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts. This podcast
is a production of I Heart Radio and San Diego
Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in international nonprofit conservation organization that oversees
the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, and we have
(00:26):
a great show for you. Today. We're talking about one
of the smallest mammals in North America, the Pacific pocket mouse.
You'll learn interesting facts and coming up we'll talk about
the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliances efforts to save it.
Pacific pocket mice are the smallest mouse species in North America.
But Rick I was surprised to learn they get their
(00:49):
name from something else. Yes, it's true. Some people even
think they're so small you can fit in your pocket.
That's how they got their name. But in all honesty,
the Pacific pocket mouse got its name from external fur
line to cheek power coaches, in which it carries seeds
their primary food source. These pouches are different than what
you see in squirrels or hamsters, since the pouches for
those animals are inside the mouth. So where do these
(01:11):
tiny mice live well, have any The Pacific pocket mice
are very specific on where they can thrive. There are
species that lives in our own backyard right here in
southern California. The population we specifically work with lives in
Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and at the Marine Corps Base
Camp Pendleton. They live in a very specific coastal ecosystem
(01:32):
that is no further than two and a half miles
from the beach, usually in sandy areas known as coastal strands,
coastal dunes, and coastal sage scrub, made up of low
growing plants that do well in coastal lowlands so close
to the Pacific Ocean. Yes, so these tiny mammals are small,
but I understand they're important. Rick, what's the importance of
(01:54):
the Pacific pocket mouse for the environment? That's a question
we actually hear about a lot of small rodents because
I think we as humans center liquor rodents is sometimes
being a pest, But in all honesty, small rodents like
the Pacific pocket mouse play a very important role in
the ecosystem. They are a great food source for many
(02:14):
other species, but also specifically to the pocket mouse because
their main diet is seeds. They will spend all night
collecting nose seats. They'll eat some of them, but they'll
stash the rest in underground chambers for future use. Now,
of course, they don't eat all of them for future use.
Some of those seeds will eventually sprout, and so they
are actually sort of a maybe a little agricultural specialist
(02:35):
for their environment. So very important for the plants also
than which of course, all animals rely on in that ecosystem.
So what threats do Pacific pocket mice face in the wild. Unfortunately,
one of the biggest challenges the Pacific pocket mouse faces
right now is the loss of habitat. We mentioned they
love that beachfront property. That swath of of land that
runs along the coast is prime real estate for humans
(02:57):
as well. We like to develop it and live there.
So we have a challenge for these little mice finding
areas where they can live safely. So Rick, just how
small are Pacific pocket mice? I believe it or not,
they are one of the smallest living mammals in North America.
They weigh in at a whopping Are you ready for this?
Six Grahams or if you are more of an ounces person,
(03:18):
that's point zero four ounces. So they're pretty tiny. And
speaking of tiny, two when doing some research on this,
I've found that scientists also know for a fact their
little footprints are only three millimeters wide. That's smaller than
half a centimeter. I can just imagine a scientist trying
(03:38):
to measure a Pacific pocket mouse is foot. How exactly
do we know for a fact that the Pacific pocket
mouse is foot is just that small. Yeah, they don't
actually pick them up and try to fit them for
shoes or anything like that. They're part of the research
in which they do to find out more information about
the species. They set up some tubes out in the
(03:58):
wild with a little bit of food for them, and
in that tube then it's well, therefore it was a
passive method of measuring. In that tube, there is a
little bit of ink and a little bit of paper,
and so as they go through to retrieve the little
treat that's in that tube for them, they walk right
across that walk back out and they leave a little
footprint they could be measured. Wow, so we know they
(04:19):
have a unique way of storing their food and they're tiny.
Is there anything else that makes the Pacific pocket mouse unique? Well,
I think I think this is a fun fact, especially
for an animal that's known for living in the coastal
areas of Southing California, which we all can agree, or
usually where people go for winter break. You know, it's
kind of nice and mild. But if in the winter,
environmental factors are unfavorable, which for the Pacific pocket mouse,
(04:42):
that usually means it's been a very dry season, so
perhaps not as much food is available. The pocket mouse
will hibernate underground until spring brings better conditions for them
more or basically more food from the rains. But if
adequate food supplies are available all year round, the mouse
will remain active during the winter. Amazing break. The Pacific
pocket mouse has a sort of a comeback story. At
(05:04):
one point they were considered extinct. Yes, Ebony, they do
have an amazing comeback story. They were believed to be
extinct for twenty years and rediscovered in so coming up,
we will talk about the ongoing efforts of the San
Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and our partners to protect and
save them all. Right now, it's time for the San
(05:27):
Diego Zoo Safari Park minute an opportunity for you to
learn what's new at the zoo. After more than four
decades of successfully re introducing California condors and other vultures
back into their native habitats, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
is ushering in a new era of vulture conservation. Wildlife
care specialists at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park have
(05:49):
begun raising the Western Egyptian vulture in endangered species native
to Southern Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa. Did you know
the program first successful hatching came in specialist named the
hatchling Jamila. It's the first of its kind hatching in
North America. Wildlife Care specialists to use life like hand
(06:11):
puppets resembling an adult vulture to pass food to Jamila,
to help her inexperienced parents and to make sure she
didn't develop an attachment to humans or spotlighting. The smallest
(06:31):
mammal in North America, the Pacific pocket mouse, San Diego
Zoo Wildlife Alliance scientists have worked to increase populations once
found from Los Angeles to the Mexican border. Let's chat
now with Dr Deborah Shire, who leads the San Diego
Wildlife Alliances Pocket Mouse Conservation Program dr SHIRE high. For
(06:52):
twenty years, scientists thought Pacific pocket mouse were extinct. How
did that happen and what's their current status? So the
species was documented through survey efforts from nine different locations
along postal southern California from way back in eighteen ninety
(07:12):
four to nineteen seventy two. That survey efforts did not
find them for twenty years from nineteen seventy three to
nine three, and because of that it was presumed extinct.
It was rediscovered during a survey effort in nine at
the Dana Point Headlands, and then two additional populations were
rediscovered on Marine Corps based Camp Pendleton in the mid
(07:35):
nine nineties. So as far as population size, we really
don't have a good estimate for this species. It's really
in large part because the species populations go through boom
and bust cycles, likely in response to precipitation and the
resulting vegetation growth. So, for example, in the Dana Point population,
(07:56):
there were only two individuals documented in two thousand and five,
but by two thousand and twelve there were over seventy
five individuals. To make an educated guess, I would say
across the species range, there are likely just a few
hundred individuals remaining right now in three extant populations. And
(08:17):
because we've been experiencing drought years for years here in
southern California, reproduction has been extremely limited. So what other
threats do they face? Well, they're a primary prey species
for a variety of predators in the area. Um and
while they are adapted to dealing with native predators, there
(08:41):
are a variety of other threats, including non native predators
like the house cat. Most threats that are associated with
the Pacific pocket mouse are really driven by the presence
of humans, non native grasses that were brought in from
Europe for agriculture and grazing, night lighting that we put
(09:04):
out of our homes roads, and like I said, the
presence of pets associated with our homes like house cats
and dogs can be a problem. Now, it doesn't mean
that they can't coexist with humans, just that humans really
need to change our behavior to be able to coexist
with wildlife like the Pacific pocket mouse. So, for example,
(09:25):
if we you know, manage non native grasses and try
to keep the habitat more native, keeping our lights off
at night, and our cats inside could also help. Why
is the Pacific pocket mouse important? Pacific pocket mice play
a really important role in ecosystem function. So they are
(09:45):
granivores which means their seed eaters and their semi fossorial
meaning that they dig burrows and they live part of
their life underground because they collect and cash native seeds
and they store them away for later date when food
might not be so plentiful. They are thought to be
primary seed dispersers of the native plants, which continues plant
(10:11):
growth and expands those plants in the native coastal sage
scrub ecosystems in which they live. In addition to dispersing
native seeds, they're digging activities, increased soil hydrology and nutrient
cycling which helps those plants thrive. And as I mentioned,
they are prey for a variety of species. Almost everything
(10:33):
eats them out there, including native owls, terrestrial mammals like
bobcats and coyotes, probably skunks, snakes, and even trantula eat them.
So without them, these species wouldn't have as much food
to eat, so they're really important for ecosystem function. Can
(10:54):
you talk a bit about the reintroduction process and what
all goes into that. Absolutely, there were hundreds of surveys
done to try to find Pacific pocket mice throughout the
historic range of the species, and as I mentioned earlier,
there are only three extamp populations that remain, and to
(11:16):
ensure that a large scale catastrophic event doesn't wipe out
the species, the goal in the recovery plan for the
species was to establish ten viable populations to sort of
spread the risk of extinction. But those hundreds of surveys
found only three extamp populations, so we needed to do
(11:38):
population creation in order to reduce the probability of extinction,
and we've we've started out trying to determine whether there
were enough animals in the extamp populations to do a
wild to wild translocation, but there weren't. There were just
not enough animals and the source populations to be able
(12:00):
to collect from them and not imperil those populations. So
back in two thousand and twelve, we established a conservation
breeding facility for the species at the San Diego Zoo
Safari Park. We collected thirty individuals and we grew those
numbers in the conservation program from thirty to over a
(12:21):
hundred within a few years. It was a little tricky
because the animal is a solitary species, so sort of
like a little panda, where they are territorial and sent
is used to for females to determine which individuals males
they would like to mate with, so it's it's sort
of tricky. You have to wait for a female to
(12:43):
come into esters and then she has to pick a
particular male to breed with, but if she doesn't like him,
she might try to kill him. So there's a lot
of effort that goes into breeding them. But we grew
the execute population up to over a hundred and allowed
us to start rein reducing them into the wild. In
ten we started those efforts and our first relocation was
(13:08):
into Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, so we released fifty that
year and it's not been without its challenges. They are
a praise species, as I mentioned, so not only do
they have a lot of predators that would like to
eat them once we've put them out there, but we
also have potential competitors. There are several other rodent species
(13:29):
in the community that can outcompete them since they're the
sort of tiniest gye on the block. But we've been successful.
We've learned a lot over the last five six years,
and we're in a place now where we've learned that
if we get them out early in the season, the
females actually can reproduce in the months right after we
(13:50):
release them. So we have wild born pups at the
reintroduction site in the year that we've released them, which
is very, very, very exciting. It's one of the first
metrics that we use to evaluate reintroduction success survival. But
then population growth is really important, and in the last
(14:11):
year we managed to get the population to overwinter successfully
and we had reproduction for a second year this last year,
so we're feeling pretty optimistic about how well we're doing
with establishing a new population, so a fourth population on
on the landscape. Dr shire Um, can you back up
(14:31):
a little bit and tell us what exactly is meant
by wild to wild translocation. Wild to wild translocation is
just when you collect founders for creating a new population.
They can either come from an extent population in the wild,
meaning that they're present in the wild, they're already born
in the wild, and then you can relocate them to
(14:54):
a new site. There are benefits to doing that because
those animals are already for familiar with all of the
important environmental cues that there are in the wild, and
they're probably pretty savvy behaviorally, right, they have good survival
skills because they were born out there. Animals that are
sourced for a relocation from an exit population or human
(15:19):
managed population can also be successful in relocation efforts, but
they require extra care and extra preparations. So when we
read them in human care, those animals don't have all
of the important environmental cues that the animals that are
(15:39):
born in the wild. Hat We do our best to
replicate key environmental cues like seasonality through skylights and day length,
and also availability of you know, scent of con specifics
or hetero specifics, or even exposure to some predators in
a controlled context. But we might need to and we
(16:03):
have needed to train them to develop those effective survival
skills before they go back out into the wild. So
there's a few more steps for at least for pocket
mice that we need to take in order to make
sure that they have effective survival skills before they go
into a new site when they're sourced from a human
(16:24):
managed population. So what all goes into teaching a Pacific
pocket mouse, how to better survive in the wild, how
to detect and avoid predators. So for detecting and avoiding owls,
they are an aerial predator, and so often animals have
(16:45):
a natural overhead fright response. So we just give them
a single exposure to an owl on a pulley system
that flies over the top of their head and they
will jump and avoid and hide in in shelter without
any training. But for the snake, it's sort of a
different story. What we do in our facility is give
(17:07):
them exposure to the snake, and we we pair that
exposure with the spray of water. So and they really
hate getting sprayed with water. So when when they approach
a snake, a king snake, we give them a little
sport of water and they go running away. And then
we we test them again with the snake over time
(17:30):
to see that they don't continue to approach the snake,
that they stay farther away, which is our goal. Ebony.
I have one more thing that I'd like to share,
if you don't mind. Often people ask me why are
we saving rodents? And you you sort of alluded to
that question a little bit earlier, and I talked about
(17:51):
their importance in the ecosystem, and I would just say
that while they're not a charismatic mega fauna like a
lion or a rhino that we have at the Zoo,
they are a part of our history in California and
they I like to think of them as parismatic mini
fauna and they're really play an important role in the
(18:11):
ecosystem and if we lose them, we stand to lose
a part of California's natural history and all the beauty
and diversity that comes with beautiful answer. Congratulations to you
and your team. We've been talking to Dr Shire with
the San Diego Zoo Wilife Alliance. Thanks for telling us more.
Thank you, and that's our show for today. Thanks for listening,
(18:34):
and be sure to subscribe and tune into next week's episode,
in which we bring you the story of the gardening
King of the Jungle, the gorilla, the largest of all
the primates. I'm Empenny Money and I'm Rick Schwartz. Thanks
for listening. For more information about the San Diego Zoo
and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to sdz w
(18:55):
a dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of I
Heart Radio Our producer is Nikias Winton, and our executive
producer is Marceda Pina. Our audio engineer and editor is
Amita Gnatra. For more shows from my Heart Radio, check
out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
Hi, I'm Rick Swartz and I'm Ebony Mone. Welcome to
Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from
around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts. This podcast
is a production of I Heart Radio and San Diego
Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in international nonprofit conservation organization that oversees
the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, and we have
(00:26):
a great show for you. Today. We're talking about one
of the smallest mammals in North America, the Pacific pocket mouse.
You'll learn interesting facts and coming up we'll talk about
the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliances efforts to save it.
Pacific pocket mice are the smallest mouse species in North America.
But Rick I was surprised to learn they get their
(00:49):
name from something else. Yes, it's true. Some people even
think they're so small you can fit in your pocket.
That's how they got their name. But in all honesty,
the Pacific pocket mouse got its name from external fur
line to cheek power coaches, in which it carries seeds
their primary food source. These pouches are different than what
you see in squirrels or hamsters, since the pouches for
those animals are inside the mouth. So where do these
(01:11):
tiny mice live well, have any The Pacific pocket mice
are very specific on where they can thrive. There are
species that lives in our own backyard right here in
southern California. The population we specifically work with lives in
Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and at the Marine Corps Base
Camp Pendleton. They live in a very specific coastal ecosystem
(01:32):
that is no further than two and a half miles
from the beach, usually in sandy areas known as coastal strands,
coastal dunes, and coastal sage scrub, made up of low
growing plants that do well in coastal lowlands so close
to the Pacific Ocean. Yes, so these tiny mammals are small,
but I understand they're important. Rick, what's the importance of
(01:54):
the Pacific pocket mouse for the environment? That's a question
we actually hear about a lot of small rodents because
I think we as humans center liquor rodents is sometimes
being a pest, But in all honesty, small rodents like
the Pacific pocket mouse play a very important role in
the ecosystem. They are a great food source for many
(02:14):
other species, but also specifically to the pocket mouse because
their main diet is seeds. They will spend all night
collecting nose seats. They'll eat some of them, but they'll
stash the rest in underground chambers for future use. Now,
of course, they don't eat all of them for future use.
Some of those seeds will eventually sprout, and so they
are actually sort of a maybe a little agricultural specialist
(02:35):
for their environment. So very important for the plants also
than which of course, all animals rely on in that ecosystem.
So what threats do Pacific pocket mice face in the wild. Unfortunately,
one of the biggest challenges the Pacific pocket mouse faces
right now is the loss of habitat. We mentioned they
love that beachfront property. That swath of of land that
runs along the coast is prime real estate for humans
(02:57):
as well. We like to develop it and live there.
So we have a challenge for these little mice finding
areas where they can live safely. So Rick, just how
small are Pacific pocket mice? I believe it or not,
they are one of the smallest living mammals in North America.
They weigh in at a whopping Are you ready for this?
Six Grahams or if you are more of an ounces person,
(03:18):
that's point zero four ounces. So they're pretty tiny. And
speaking of tiny, two when doing some research on this,
I've found that scientists also know for a fact their
little footprints are only three millimeters wide. That's smaller than
half a centimeter. I can just imagine a scientist trying
(03:38):
to measure a Pacific pocket mouse is foot. How exactly
do we know for a fact that the Pacific pocket
mouse is foot is just that small. Yeah, they don't
actually pick them up and try to fit them for
shoes or anything like that. They're part of the research
in which they do to find out more information about
the species. They set up some tubes out in the
(03:58):
wild with a little bit of food for them, and
in that tube then it's well, therefore it was a
passive method of measuring. In that tube, there is a
little bit of ink and a little bit of paper,
and so as they go through to retrieve the little
treat that's in that tube for them, they walk right
across that walk back out and they leave a little
footprint they could be measured. Wow, so we know they
(04:19):
have a unique way of storing their food and they're tiny.
Is there anything else that makes the Pacific pocket mouse unique? Well,
I think I think this is a fun fact, especially
for an animal that's known for living in the coastal
areas of Southing California, which we all can agree, or
usually where people go for winter break. You know, it's
kind of nice and mild. But if in the winter,
environmental factors are unfavorable, which for the Pacific pocket mouse,
(04:42):
that usually means it's been a very dry season, so
perhaps not as much food is available. The pocket mouse
will hibernate underground until spring brings better conditions for them
more or basically more food from the rains. But if
adequate food supplies are available all year round, the mouse
will remain active during the winter. Amazing break. The Pacific
pocket mouse has a sort of a comeback story. At
(05:04):
one point they were considered extinct. Yes, Ebony, they do
have an amazing comeback story. They were believed to be
extinct for twenty years and rediscovered in so coming up,
we will talk about the ongoing efforts of the San
Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and our partners to protect and
save them all. Right now, it's time for the San
(05:27):
Diego Zoo Safari Park minute an opportunity for you to
learn what's new at the zoo. After more than four
decades of successfully re introducing California condors and other vultures
back into their native habitats, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
is ushering in a new era of vulture conservation. Wildlife
care specialists at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park have
(05:49):
begun raising the Western Egyptian vulture in endangered species native
to Southern Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa. Did you know
the program first successful hatching came in specialist named the
hatchling Jamila. It's the first of its kind hatching in
North America. Wildlife Care specialists to use life like hand
(06:11):
puppets resembling an adult vulture to pass food to Jamila,
to help her inexperienced parents and to make sure she
didn't develop an attachment to humans or spotlighting. The smallest
(06:31):
mammal in North America, the Pacific pocket mouse, San Diego
Zoo Wildlife Alliance scientists have worked to increase populations once
found from Los Angeles to the Mexican border. Let's chat
now with Dr Deborah Shire, who leads the San Diego
Wildlife Alliances Pocket Mouse Conservation Program dr SHIRE high. For
(06:52):
twenty years, scientists thought Pacific pocket mouse were extinct. How
did that happen and what's their current status? So the
species was documented through survey efforts from nine different locations
along postal southern California from way back in eighteen ninety
(07:12):
four to nineteen seventy two. That survey efforts did not
find them for twenty years from nineteen seventy three to
nine three, and because of that it was presumed extinct.
It was rediscovered during a survey effort in nine at
the Dana Point Headlands, and then two additional populations were
rediscovered on Marine Corps based Camp Pendleton in the mid
(07:35):
nine nineties. So as far as population size, we really
don't have a good estimate for this species. It's really
in large part because the species populations go through boom
and bust cycles, likely in response to precipitation and the
resulting vegetation growth. So, for example, in the Dana Point population,
(07:56):
there were only two individuals documented in two thousand and five,
but by two thousand and twelve there were over seventy
five individuals. To make an educated guess, I would say
across the species range, there are likely just a few
hundred individuals remaining right now in three extant populations. And
(08:17):
because we've been experiencing drought years for years here in
southern California, reproduction has been extremely limited. So what other
threats do they face? Well, they're a primary prey species
for a variety of predators in the area. Um and
while they are adapted to dealing with native predators, there
(08:41):
are a variety of other threats, including non native predators
like the house cat. Most threats that are associated with
the Pacific pocket mouse are really driven by the presence
of humans, non native grasses that were brought in from
Europe for agriculture and grazing, night lighting that we put
(09:04):
out of our homes roads, and like I said, the
presence of pets associated with our homes like house cats
and dogs can be a problem. Now, it doesn't mean
that they can't coexist with humans, just that humans really
need to change our behavior to be able to coexist
with wildlife like the Pacific pocket mouse. So, for example,
(09:25):
if we you know, manage non native grasses and try
to keep the habitat more native, keeping our lights off
at night, and our cats inside could also help. Why
is the Pacific pocket mouse important? Pacific pocket mice play
a really important role in ecosystem function. So they are
(09:45):
granivores which means their seed eaters and their semi fossorial
meaning that they dig burrows and they live part of
their life underground because they collect and cash native seeds
and they store them away for later date when food
might not be so plentiful. They are thought to be
primary seed dispersers of the native plants, which continues plant
(10:11):
growth and expands those plants in the native coastal sage
scrub ecosystems in which they live. In addition to dispersing
native seeds, they're digging activities, increased soil hydrology and nutrient
cycling which helps those plants thrive. And as I mentioned,
they are prey for a variety of species. Almost everything
(10:33):
eats them out there, including native owls, terrestrial mammals like
bobcats and coyotes, probably skunks, snakes, and even trantula eat them.
So without them, these species wouldn't have as much food
to eat, so they're really important for ecosystem function. Can
(10:54):
you talk a bit about the reintroduction process and what
all goes into that. Absolutely, there were hundreds of surveys
done to try to find Pacific pocket mice throughout the
historic range of the species, and as I mentioned earlier,
there are only three extamp populations that remain, and to
(11:16):
ensure that a large scale catastrophic event doesn't wipe out
the species, the goal in the recovery plan for the
species was to establish ten viable populations to sort of
spread the risk of extinction. But those hundreds of surveys
found only three extamp populations, so we needed to do
(11:38):
population creation in order to reduce the probability of extinction,
and we've we've started out trying to determine whether there
were enough animals in the extamp populations to do a
wild to wild translocation, but there weren't. There were just
not enough animals and the source populations to be able
(12:00):
to collect from them and not imperil those populations. So
back in two thousand and twelve, we established a conservation
breeding facility for the species at the San Diego Zoo
Safari Park. We collected thirty individuals and we grew those
numbers in the conservation program from thirty to over a
(12:21):
hundred within a few years. It was a little tricky
because the animal is a solitary species, so sort of
like a little panda, where they are territorial and sent
is used to for females to determine which individuals males
they would like to mate with, so it's it's sort
of tricky. You have to wait for a female to
(12:43):
come into esters and then she has to pick a
particular male to breed with, but if she doesn't like him,
she might try to kill him. So there's a lot
of effort that goes into breeding them. But we grew
the execute population up to over a hundred and allowed
us to start rein reducing them into the wild. In
ten we started those efforts and our first relocation was
(13:08):
into Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, so we released fifty that
year and it's not been without its challenges. They are
a praise species, as I mentioned, so not only do
they have a lot of predators that would like to
eat them once we've put them out there, but we
also have potential competitors. There are several other rodent species
(13:29):
in the community that can outcompete them since they're the
sort of tiniest gye on the block. But we've been successful.
We've learned a lot over the last five six years,
and we're in a place now where we've learned that
if we get them out early in the season, the
females actually can reproduce in the months right after we
(13:50):
release them. So we have wild born pups at the
reintroduction site in the year that we've released them, which
is very, very, very exciting. It's one of the first
metrics that we use to evaluate reintroduction success survival. But
then population growth is really important, and in the last
(14:11):
year we managed to get the population to overwinter successfully
and we had reproduction for a second year this last year,
so we're feeling pretty optimistic about how well we're doing
with establishing a new population, so a fourth population on
on the landscape. Dr shire Um, can you back up
(14:31):
a little bit and tell us what exactly is meant
by wild to wild translocation. Wild to wild translocation is
just when you collect founders for creating a new population.
They can either come from an extent population in the wild,
meaning that they're present in the wild, they're already born
in the wild, and then you can relocate them to
(14:54):
a new site. There are benefits to doing that because
those animals are already for familiar with all of the
important environmental cues that there are in the wild, and
they're probably pretty savvy behaviorally, right, they have good survival
skills because they were born out there. Animals that are
sourced for a relocation from an exit population or human
(15:19):
managed population can also be successful in relocation efforts, but
they require extra care and extra preparations. So when we
read them in human care, those animals don't have all
of the important environmental cues that the animals that are
(15:39):
born in the wild. Hat We do our best to
replicate key environmental cues like seasonality through skylights and day length,
and also availability of you know, scent of con specifics
or hetero specifics, or even exposure to some predators in
a controlled context. But we might need to and we
(16:03):
have needed to train them to develop those effective survival
skills before they go back out into the wild. So
there's a few more steps for at least for pocket
mice that we need to take in order to make
sure that they have effective survival skills before they go
into a new site when they're sourced from a human
(16:24):
managed population. So what all goes into teaching a Pacific
pocket mouse, how to better survive in the wild, how
to detect and avoid predators. So for detecting and avoiding owls,
they are an aerial predator, and so often animals have
(16:45):
a natural overhead fright response. So we just give them
a single exposure to an owl on a pulley system
that flies over the top of their head and they
will jump and avoid and hide in in shelter without
any training. But for the snake, it's sort of a
different story. What we do in our facility is give
(17:07):
them exposure to the snake, and we we pair that
exposure with the spray of water. So and they really
hate getting sprayed with water. So when when they approach
a snake, a king snake, we give them a little
sport of water and they go running away. And then
we we test them again with the snake over time
(17:30):
to see that they don't continue to approach the snake,
that they stay farther away, which is our goal. Ebony.
I have one more thing that I'd like to share,
if you don't mind. Often people ask me why are
we saving rodents? And you you sort of alluded to
that question a little bit earlier, and I talked about
(17:51):
their importance in the ecosystem, and I would just say
that while they're not a charismatic mega fauna like a
lion or a rhino that we have at the Zoo,
they are a part of our history in California and
they I like to think of them as parismatic mini
fauna and they're really play an important role in the
(18:11):
ecosystem and if we lose them, we stand to lose
a part of California's natural history and all the beauty
and diversity that comes with beautiful answer. Congratulations to you
and your team. We've been talking to Dr Shire with
the San Diego Zoo Wilife Alliance. Thanks for telling us more.
Thank you, and that's our show for today. Thanks for listening,
(18:34):
and be sure to subscribe and tune into next week's episode,
in which we bring you the story of the gardening
King of the Jungle, the gorilla, the largest of all
the primates. I'm Empenny Money and I'm Rick Schwartz. Thanks
for listening. For more information about the San Diego Zoo
and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to sdz w
(18:55):
a dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of I
Heart Radio Our producer is Nikias Winton, and our executive
producer is Marceda Pina. Our audio engineer and editor is
Amita Gnatra. For more shows from my Heart Radio, check
out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Rick Schwartz
Marco Wendt
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