Royal Saskatchewan Museum To Lead Urban Wildlife Research Project Coming To Regina This Fall

Released on September 27, 2021

The Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM) and the University of Regina will be partnering in a new research project taking place in and around Regina over the coming months. This exciting new project will look at which wildlife species call the area home.

"Urban environments are the fastest-growing ecosystem in the world and these areas are home to many wildlife species," Royal Saskatchewan Museum Curator of Vertebrate Zoology Dr. Ryan Fisher said. "Regina has a lot of green space and wildlife habitat. Unfortunately, we don't know a lot about how these animals are using these areas. We hope that this project will provide a benchmark of wildlife activity in the city and contribute to a longer-term wildlife monitoring program that can help us understand how wildlife changes as the city changes."

"The RSM is truly a centre for excellence when it comes to research," Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Laura Ross said. "This is just some of the world-class research taking place behind the scenes at the RSM, along with the incredible exhibits and educational programming, there is always something new to discover!"

This new joint study mirrors several others taking place in Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary and the United States.

Dr. Fisher said they are hoping to capture photos of a number of species, including: moose, deer, raccoons, robins, chickadees, warblers, hawks, big brown and little brown bats and hoary bats.

"Most people don't realize that a lot of these species call this area home!" Dr. Fisher said.

The incorporation of natural habitats into urban planning has become more common and these natural areas are an important component to wildlife conservation.

"We have selected 15 monitoring sites in and around the city where trail cameras and audio recorders will be installed," Dr. Fisher said. "The areas were selected because they see relatively lower volumes of human traffic, but provide suitable habitat for wildlife."

The sites will be active for several months (October, January, April, June and July) to capture seasonal changes in wildlife activity.

"The equipment will be marked with our name and contact information, but we are asking the public to please refrain from disturbing these sites if they do come across our equipment," Dr. Fisher said.  "We want our monitoring to represent what is "normal" activity in an area and not to cause people, or animal, behaviour to change in any way. But we do want people to be aware of the project and not to be concerned if they happen upon our equipment."

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