Hunting in South Dakota: 4 Animals Designated Nongame, Endangered, Threatened, and Protected Species

Wednesday, 03 Jun 2015 06:58 PM

By Shana Raley-Lusk

South Dakota's pristine backdrops and plentiful game make it a dream destination for hunters and outdoorsmen around the world. While it is known for both large and small game, South Dakota also is home to a number of species which are off limits when it comes to hunting. These animals are protected because they are either endangered or threatened or have been designated as nongame for some other reason, making it illegal to hunt them.

Here is information about four protected species in South Dakota.

1. Gray Wolves

The gray wolf is an important part of South Dakota's natural ecosystem and is currently listed as an endangered species in the state. It is endangered in many parts of the country but has recovered is certain areas where it is no longer considered endangered, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

2. Northern River Otter

Because South Dakota's natural terrain includes many ideal habitats for the playful river otter, it was at one time a plentiful species in the state. It is an adaptable animal, as agile in water as it is on land. Through the years, many factors have led to the virtual disappearance of the river otter, including over-trapping, habitat loss and urban development. It is now considered by the state to be a threatened animal, and measures are being taken to provide suitable habitat for the species. The river otter is off limits for hunting and trapping. The creature bears a strong resemblance to the mink, so the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department is taking measures to help hunters identify the otter and distinguish it from other native species. 

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The case of the missing mudpuppies USD biologist trying to sleuth out salamander species not seen here for decades - via Herp Digest

By Lance Nixon Lance.Nixon@capjournal.com  June 11, 2014 11:42 pm

Call it a cold case for investigators trying to track down one cold-blooded individual.

Biologists know that one of South Dakota’s two known species of salamander was found here decades ago, but they’re not sure it’s here now. So this summer and probably next winter, University of South Dakota students will probe wetlands in northeastern South Dakota to try to sleuth out the missing amphibian.

“We have a crew right now looking for a particular salamander called the mudpuppy that has been seen since the 1920s. Our last museum sample was from 1927,” said USD associate professor Jake Kerby. Kerby is a herpetologist, or a scientist who studies reptiles and amphibians. “We are going to survey Day, Marshall and Roberts counties.”

Kerby is optimistic that the species might still be here after all, in part because in addition to those museum specimens from the 1920s and earlier, one of his USD students sorting through a collection up the road at South Dakota State University at Brookings found a mudpuppy that had been collected as recently as 1981.

“I feel pretty hopeful that they’re still out there, just that they’re in low numbers and nobody’s looking for them,” Kerby said.

Kerby said the only other salamander species in South Dakota, the tiger salamander, is more common. Since South Dakota is at the western edge of the eastern tiger salamander’s range and the western tiger salamander’s range begins somewhere in eastern South Dakota, there may be quite a lot of diversity within that tiger salamander’s population. To make matters more complicated, the tiger salamander and the mudpuppy look alike in the larval stages.

The only way to tell them apart at that stage is to count the toes on the back feet. Kerby said the mudpuppy has four toes on the back foot; the more common tiger salamander has five.

Kerby added that mudpuppies remain aquatic, so the only salamander South Dakotans will ever see on land is the more common tiger salamander.

Kerby and his colleagues have proposed a range for the mudpuppy that would include the northeastern corner of South Dakota, the eastern fringe of North Dakota, and western Minnesota. He added that colleagues in Minnesota who catch mudpuppies have told him it’s actually easier to find mudpuppies in winter, since the cold-blooded amphibians remain active under the ice. His students will probably drill through the ice this winter and use traps to try to capture mudpuppies in that same northeast part of the state; but they are already searching for mudpuppies this summer.

The mystery of the vanished mudpuppies also has an element of whodunit. If the salamanders have indeed vanished from the state, or simply if they’re less abundant, there are plenty of potential villains.

Kerby said introduced fish species sometimes leave native species of salamander unable to adapt to an aggressive new predator. Pollutants could be a factor. So could disease – especially one called chytrid fungus that preys on amphibians in cold climates, and another called ranavirus. And then there’s the biggest villain of all.

“The number one factor is just habitat loss,” Kerby said. “That can include drainage of wetlands or modification of lakes.”

There are an estimated 15 species of amphibians in South Dakota in all, Kerby said, though the count sometimes varies depending on how scientists count certain species.

A grant from the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks supports the project.

Kerby notes that anyone who has found a mudpuppy – remember to look for four toes instead of five on the back feet – should photograph it and contact Kerby directly Jacob.Kerby@usd.edu. Or contact Casey.Heimerl@state.sd.us.

Crazy Cretaceous Find: Intersex Crabs

DENVER — It's a crustacean conundrum: Why did some Cretaceous crabs sport both male and female characteristics?

The answer is unknown, but new fossil discoveries reveal that intersex crabs were a small but persistent part of the population in South Dakota during the Cretaceous Period — and a parasitic barnacle may have been to blame.

The fossils, excavated in South Dakota shale, are of Dakoticancer overanus, a quarter-size crab that lived about 68 million years ago. At the time, North America was split in half by the Western Interior Seaway, a shallow sea that harbored strange creatures like the toothy mosasaur, an apex predator that evolved from land-living lizards.

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Prairie Dogs Disperse When All Close Kin Have Disappeared

Mar. 7, 2013 — Prairie dogs pull up stakes and look for a new place to live when all their close kin have disappeared from their home territory--a striking pattern of dispersal that has not been observed for any other species. This is according to a new study published in Science by behavioral ecologist John Hoogland, Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory. He has been studying the ecology and social behavior of prairie dogs in national parks in Arizona, South Dakota, and Utah for the last 40 years.

Photo: Wikipedia

For most animals, individuals leave a territory, or disperse, to avoid competition with nearby relatives, such as mother or sibling. For three species of prairie dogs, however, individuals are more likely to disperse in the absence of nearby close kin. Females are 12.5 times more likely to disperse when close kin are absent for one species, and 5.5 times more likely for another species.

Prairie dogs are large, burrowing rodents of the squirrel family. They live in colonies in grassland ecosystems of western North America, and forage aboveground on grasses and other plants from dawn until dusk. Within colonies, prairie dogs live in territorial, contiguous family groups called clans, which typically contain one mature male, two to five mature females, and one or two adolescent males. Hoogland has been trying to figure out which individuals disperse from the territory of birth, and why.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130307145444.htm

Mountain lion killed in Conn. traced to S. Dakota

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A mountain lion killed on a Connecticut highway last month had apparently walked halfway across the country from South Dakota, according to Connecticut environmental officials who said Tuesday that the journey of roughly 2,000 miles was one of the longest ever recorded for a land mammal.


The animal originated in the Black Hills region of South Dakota and was tracked by DNA from its hair and droppings as it passed through Minnesota and Wisconsin in 2009 and 2010, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Daniel Esty said at a news conference.
Biologists estimate the size of the mountain lion population at about 100,000 in North America, mostly living in western regions and seldom traveling more than 100 miles. It was the first confirmed wild mountain lion in Connecticut in more than 100 years.


"It is a testament to the adaptability of the species that it can travel so far from its original home in South Dakota to Connecticut," Esty said.

The lean, 140-pound male was killed June 11 when it was hit by a sport utility vehicle at night on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in the New Haven suburb of Milford.

Authorities initially believed it was a captive animal that escaped, but tests showed that it was not neutered or declawed and it had no implanted microchips, which are commonly used in domestic animals.

Tests also determined it was likely the same one that had been seen earlier in Greenwich, Conn., a New York City suburb 30 miles away. The death was followed by a flurry of big cat sightings in the suburbs of Connecticut, but experts dismissed most of them as unreliable. Government experts say no native mountain lions are believed to live in Connecticut.

Although it was an anomaly, Esty said the presence of the wild mountain lion is a good sign of the ability of Connecticut's conserved land to sustain wildlife.


He said the discovery is "a strong symbol of what we had all hoped for who work in the conservation area, that wilderness areas and biological diversity can be preserved and protected."

Genetic testing showed the cat had the same genetic structure of the mountain lion population in South Dakota's Black Hills region. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service Wildlife Genetics Laboratory in Missoula, Mont., matched the DNA with samples collected from a cat that was spotted in eastern Minnesota near Minneapolis and in northern Wisconsin from late 2009 through early 2010.

It was unclear what route the animal took to Connecticut. Biologists said it could have traveled south near urban areas or north through Canada.

STEPHEN DOCKERY

From Associated Press
http://my.earthlink.net/article/us?guid=20110726/92bd9334-ef54-410a-9dd2-58b0a74d8d92