The effectiveness of decommissioning roadside mineral licks on reducing moose (Alces alces) activity near highways: implications for moose-vehicle collisions

Roadside mineral licks form when road salt used to de-ice highways in winter runs off road surfaces and accumulates in roadside ditches. Some ungulates are attracted to these roadside licks as they seek to satisfy their mineral requirements. Within the distribution of moose (Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758)) in North America, motorists often encounter moose visiting roadside licks in mid-summer, with many jurisdictions reporting summer peaks in moose-vehicle collisions (MVCs) at these locations. Our research used camera traps to monitor moose visitation of 22 roadside locations (including roadside licks, roadside ponds, and dry roadsides) in central British Columbia, Canada from December 2009–July 2020, tested the efficacy of treatment (decommissioning) methods used to reduce moose visitation to roadside licks, and roughly estimated decommissioning costs. Moose visitation to roadside licks was greatest from May–July. As we hypothesized, untreated licks were visited more often by moose than decommissioned licks, roadside ponds (absent of road salt), and dry roadsides. Decommissioning roadside licks by replacing or mixing lick waters and soils with materials, such as riprap, cedar mulch, pine logs, or dog (Canis lupus familiaris (Linnaeus, 1758)) fur and human (Homo sapiens (Linnaeus, 1758)) hair, is an effective and inexpensive means of reducing moose visitations to roadside areas and should increase motorist safety where roadside licks are visited by moose.

Cyclicity and individuality in the salt licking by moose, Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758), in the North-West of the Russian Federation

Modern remote sensing methods contribute to the study of previously unexplored features of the vital activity of animals, including mineral nutrition of the largest terrestrial mammals in the North-West of the Russian Federation. In the article, seasonal observations of individual moose [Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758)] on artificial salt licks were analyzed. The attendance of salt licks was monitored using automatic photo-video recorders (cam-era traps) from 2015 to 2020 on the territory of various hunting farms in 3 districts of the Leningrad Province. The annual, seasonal and daily cyclicity in the use of mineral feeding places by moose was revealed. For this research, from the total sample (n = 372) of registered individuals, 118 most reliably identified moose were specially selected, of which 72 (61%) showed cyclicity in salt licking with a certain frequency. In the remaining 46 individuals, the cyclicity was not observed for explainable objective reasons. Females, to a greater extent than males, are more settled in relation to places of mineral feeding, which is indirectly confirmed by the percentage in the selected groups. The time intervals between the periods of salt licking vary individually. Based on similar patterns of attendance inherent in most individuals, the nature of visiting artificial salt licks by moose during the active period of salt licking (April-November) is as follows: each “group of visits” consists of several (1–11 times per day) periods of salt licking for 1–5 days in a row, followed by a break of 10 to 20 days, followed by a repetition of the “group of visits”.

Spring diet of American black bears (Ursus americanus) in a moose (Alces alces) – woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) system in northern Ontario, Canada

American black bears (Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780) are opportunistic foragers, and across most of their range in North America, their diet is predominantly vegetation with limited consumption of vertebrates and invertebrates. However, they are also predators of ungulates, especially neonates, with regional variation in the amount of predation pressure they exert. We used scat analysis to examine the diet of black bears during the calving season in a moose (Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758)) – woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)) system in the Boreal forest of northern Ontario, Canada. Bears consumed herbaceous plants (46.5%), fruits and (or) seeds (20.0%), moose (3.3% adults; 4.3% calves), American beaver (Castor canadensis Kuhl, 1820; 8.5%), and insects (mostly ants; 4.2%). Bears had the highest consumption of moose and beaver in early spring, before switching to a more vegetation-dominated diet. We did not detect evidence of caribou consumption. Based on our results, black bear consumption of moose, particularly neonates, may warrant further investigation.