Evaluation of a capture technique for neonatal Dall sheep
Scotton BD and Pletscher DH. 1998. Evaluation of a capture technique for neonatal Dall sheep. Wildlife Society Bulletin. 26(3):578-583
Three different techniques for capturing Dall sheep (Ovis dalli) lambs were developed using 2 different types of helicopters. Three lambs were captured using a skid-mounted netgun on a Hughes 500 (turbine-engine) helicopter. Six lambs were captured by hand from the Hughes 500. Fifty-one lambs were captured by hand after jumping from a Robinson R-22 (piston-engine) helicopter. Maternal behavior during the capture event varied between techniques. Use of a small (Robinson R-22) helicopter during this study was less disturbing to ewe-lamb pairs than the larger turbine helicopter. Duration of the capture event was shorter when using the R-22, and ewes fled further from the Hughes 500 turbine helicopter during capture events. Disturbance caused by researchers is often not quantified or critically considered and should be minimized, especially for studies designed to measure survival or reproductive rates.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Scotton, Bradley; Pletscher, Daniel
- Units
- ARCN , BELA , CAKR , GAAR , KOVA , NOAT
- Keywords
- Arctic, Capture, Caribou, Dall Sheep, Demography, Density, Disturbance, Helicopter, lamb, Mortality, Mountain Sheep, Neonatal, net-gun, ovis-canadensis, Population, Survival, technique