I have been following the thread about cougars, bears, trashing the
planet and evolution with interest and I have a few thoughts (even though
this has nothing to do with birds!).
The recent shooting near Usk of a grizzly bear was reported on
several times by the news media in Spokane and they frequently showed the
home videos that were taken of the bear just after it was shot. It was a
grizzly, no doubt about it! This was newsworthy because grizzlies are
seldom seen on the west side of the Pend Oreille River (the are found on the
east side). Kelly, wasn't the radio-collard female grizzly shot on the east
side of the Pend Oreille River? In several years of working in Pend Oreille
County with large numbers of field workers, we have only two grizzly
sightings (one on each side of the river) in a large number of bear
sightings. In both cases, the workers looking at the bear were familiar
with the bears here at WSU so they knew the differences between the two.
I think much of the bear problems in Pend Oreille, Stevens and
Spokane counties as well as northern Idaho may be related to short-term
shortage in food. The huckleberry crop this year was rather pathetic and
the younger bears may just be wandering farther afield this year in search
of food.
I'm not really sure about the connection between increases in cougar
problems this year and the hunting restrictions. As with most ecological
problems, there are many potential factors. Human encroachment is one but
doesn't seem to explain the recent rash of cougar problems in Pend Oreille
County and within the city of Spokane. Another possible explanation is
population increase in the cougars that is unrelated to lower hunting
pressures. The last few winters have been relatively mild and that has lead
to an increase in the deer population. This could lead to an increase in
the cougar population resulting in more young offspring, which may result in
more young wandering around looking for territories and being unable to find
unoccupied ones because of higher winter survival.
Finally, I think the changes in some of the species we have talked
about may be evolution, even in its strictest definition. The most common
definition of evolution is "a change in gene frequency". While this is
difficult to see with the naked eye, it does make the point that evolution
doesn't have to be some giant change in the morphology of an organism so
that the Larch Mountain Salamander becomes the Trash Mountain Salamander;
this seems more like speciation than evolution. Evolution can cause subtle
changes such as avoiding poisons and traps or immunity to pesticides. In
the case of rats, many people have noticed a new "super rat" that is almost
impossible to exterminate because they avoid traps and poisons; I would
consider this evolution. Yes, evolution is happening all around us. In
some cases, it is very slow and imperceptible to us (like the speciation of
subspecies of birds). Other times it is rapid and very noticeable (such as
drug-resistant strains of malaria and tuberculosis). Where humans are
concerned, we seem to speed up the process. Yes, evolution is going on all
around you.

Cheers
Deb
Deborah K. Beutler
Department of Zoology
Washington State University
Pullman, WA

dbeutler at wsunix.wsu.edu