During our late September visit to Parc Omega, we had a few questions about the animals. I emailed our questions and received a prompt informative reply.
The Boars
Q. - We hadn't noticed three different sized boars hanging around so closely before. There seemed to be "pre-teens" and "teenagers" with adults. Is this a mixing of families with piglets born at different times, some months apart, of last year's and this year's?
A. - Boars are very social among themselves. To the point that one female will nurse another female’s young. They often hang around in groups of different ages as they are all probably from the same condo. Like humans the young make friends and females babysit these while a mother can have a break!! Usually groups all sleep in the same condo so they end up like a big family with older and younger all together.
The Arctic Foxes
Q. - We were trying to sort out the arctic foxes.... There seems to be three distinct ones. (see pics) There is one that has a thick fur coat that is somewhat brown, there are two whitish ones and then two black ones. Is the brownish one the adult, the two whitish ones "teenagers", and the black ones "pre-teens"?? Presumably from different parents, or maybe last year's pups and this year's?
A. - The fluffy artic fox never lost his last winter season coat for an unknown reason. All the arctic foxes are about the same age which is around 1 and a half year old. The size difference is mostly due to genetics. The fluffy male was also the only one of a litter which gave him quite an advantage to have all the milk to himself. Whereas the small dark grey female is from a litter of 11 kits. The fluffy male started to go blind at about 4 months of age and the vet could not explain why but we got information that on fur farms it is something that happens in arctic foxes. They all originate from a fur farm, so it is probably a genetic cause. He has always been very healthy otherwise.
The Caribou
Q. - We noticed one of the caribou seemed to have a wound on its back. It was with a group of caribou in the woods as there were some staff checking out a young caribou in their area. Then in the field closer to their "stable" we saw a lone caribou with its antlers apparently having been cut off. Was the "anterless" one getting to aggressive towards the other and caused some injuries? Was this part of their "rut"?
A. - The caribou in question got impaled by the lonely male at the beginning of the mating season. We had not seen the small puncture wound right away and when we sedated him a few days later to look at the wound and maggots had time to do lots of unseen damage under the fur. We cleaned up the wound completely and had to shave a good section to make sure it stayed clean and applied an anti-fly and antibiotic cream. Then the one who stays apart got his antlers sawed off after this incident. Then the one with the wound started to get aggressive so we didn’t take any chances, so we sawed off his antlers too!
The Elk
Q. - We noticed a number of the elk had roughed up spots on the sides. Is this caused by scratching themselves with their antlers and there was reason for more scratching than usual, or is it a sign of low-key interaction between the elk?
A. - The roughed-up spots on the cervids are due to winter ticks. At this time of the year ticks start to make their way up on animals. So, they lick and scratch themselves turning their hairs around. We do treat animals for this problem, but it is impossible to eliminate all ticks! I have attached the tick life cycle that can explain in detail. This tick can also attach to pets and humans and is responsible for lyme’s disease, so it is important at this time of year to verify yourself, loved ones and pets after going through tall grass and forest.