SaddleBrooke Nature Club kicked off its fall program schedule with a presentation about Arizona’s wild cats. Our presenter was Susan Malusa, Director of the University of Arizona Wild Cat Research and Conservation Center. Susan has coordinated the Center’s jaguar and ocelot monitoring and research since 2011.
Southern Arizona is the ONLY place in the US where wild populations of the four US wild cat species—jaguars, ocelots, mountain lions and bobcats—all exist in the same place. The sky islands of southern Arizona provide a home for individual jaguars and ocelots who migrate north from Mexico. Mountain lions live and breed in the Catalina Mountains, and of course bobcats live and breed in SaddleBrooke!
The research center uses remote cameras and DNA testing of scat to provide a wealth of images and data on wild cats as well as other animals that venture into camera range. A team of trained community scientists led by Susan Malusa help place and maintain remote cameras and collect specimens.
To learn more about the Wild Cat Research center, send an email to wildcatresearch@arizona.edu. They have a beautiful gallery of trail cam photos, and you can donate there to support the center’s research.
The raffle prize for the October meeting was a bobcat print on metal won by Diane Sims. This program had a record high attendance for the Nature Club of 128 people.
Upcoming Activities
Our next program is THE BATTLE OF PICACHO PASS which will be at 3:30 p.m. in the DesertView Theater on Monday, November 9. This will be a presentation on the Civil War battle at Picacho Pass presented by Steve Smith, USAF Major and member of the Arizona Civil War Council.
This program will be followed by a member field trip to Picacho Peak State Park to attend the civil war encampment program there on Nov. 21.
Our December program will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the DesertView Theater on Monday, December 14 – CANDID CRITTERS OF THE CATALINA’S – A presentation on wildlife in the Catalina mountains using videos captured by motion-activated cameras set on public US Forest Service land. Presented by David Dean, Naturalist and Camera Trap Videographer and member of the Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists
For updated information about the SaddleBrooke Nature Club, visit our website at saddlebrookenatureclub.org.
