Hey Folks-

Just a quick note to update you on the status of plague in Conata
Basin as well as some answers to questions about the new BFF kit at
Smithsonian's National Zoo.

We continue to battle against plague in South Dakota with crews working
day (dusting prairie dog burrows) and night (capturing BFFs for
vaccination). From what we can tell the affected area is still growing
as we race to dust and vaccinate. I'm heading up the vaccination crew
with the National Wildlife Health Center and US Fish & Wildlife Service
and thus far we've vaccinated 29 adult BFFs. We will continue to work
through the summer on vaccination and dusting.

On to the new BFF kit born at Smithsonian's National Zoo...first, this
kit is actually at Smithsonian's Conservation Research Center in Front
Royal, VA. Unfortunately this facility is not open to the public so
folks won't get a chance to say "hi" in person. This kit is a result
of artificial insemination using sperm from the 1990's (a genetically
valuable male) thus this new kit will be very valuable for the captive
breeding program for genetic diversity.

To answer a few questions...the bedding is called Alpha-Dri, made of
compressed paper and the program has gone through tests of many
material types and found this to be the best. The lighting...is likely
an infrared bulb but I cannot say for sure, I cannot imagine them
keeping a female BFF under a constant incandescent bulb. BFFs breed
once a year and have an average litter size of 3. The kits are born at
about the same time so by now we shouldn't expect any more kits from
Georgia for this litter. With artificial insemination the litter sizes
tend to be smaller than average but can produce kits that are highly
valuable to the captive breeding program. The webcam is operated by
Smithsonian's National Zoo/CRC and if folks like it they should keep
visiting the website and send in comments that they want to see more
BFF cam and support the Zoo.

Thanks for your time!

Cheers,
Travis Livieri
Prairie Wildlife Research
www.prairiewildlife.org

[Posted in FML 6010]