Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum

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Please check back as we continue to build this resources page! If you have suggestions for resources you would like us to share with the community, please e-mail JuricaSuchyMuseum@ben.edu.

Living With Wildlife

On Saturday, January 31, 2015 the Director/Curator of the Jurica-Suchy Nature Museum, Karly Tumminello, co-presented at the Wild Things conference with Susan Ask, Founder of animalia project, and Mike Redmer, a Senior Biologist of USFWS.

Their presentation, "Bears, Cougars, and Wolves, Oh My!... Adapting to Life with Large Carnivores in Chicago's Urban Wilderness" looked at the current trends in these three species returning to the Midwest region, where they were previously extirpated from during the 1800's.

Wild Things 2015

Key take-aways from this talk:

1) Sightings of black bear, cougars and wolves will remain infrequent in the near future. Generally, young males may move through our region looking for suitable habitat and food resources (such as the white-tailed deer).

2) The fact that these animals are looking for suitable habitat in our region speaks to the successes of collective and continued conservation efforts. Restoration projects have successfully increased biodiversity in many ways.

3) These creatures generally avoid all contact with humans. However, there are measures we as humans need to take to ensure we do not inadvertently attract these animals. This includes things like securing trash cans, taking in bird feeders at night, and not leaving our pets outdoors unattended.

4) It may be challenging to identify an animal, especially if seeing it for the first time. There are many key characteristics to look for which may help distinguish between similar species. If at a safe distance, you could try to get a photograph to submit to an expert for confirmation.
Report any unusual wildlife sightings here: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/sightings.cfm

If you have any questions or comments, or are interested in assisting in our on-going efforts to educate the public about large carnivores in the Chicago Wilderness region, please e-mail JuricaSuchyMuseum@ben.edu.

More Resources for Living with Wildlife in Urban Areas:

Willowbrook Wildlife Center: http://willowbrookwildlife.org/~willow34/coyotes-foxes/

Living with Wildlife in Illinois: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/directory.cfm

Fact Sheets: http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/cougars.html

Wildlife Ecology & Fact Sheets: http://wildlifedamage.uwex.edu/

Climate Change

For information on Climate Change please visit these links:

animalia project: http://animaliaproject.org/climate/

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum: http://www.naturemuseum.org/nature-and-science-in-action/citizen-science

Chicago Community Climate Action Toolkit: http://climatechicago.fieldmuseum.org/toolkit-workshops

Chicago Climate Action Plan: http://www.chicagoclimateaction.org/

Do you have suggestions for other Climate Change or Climate Action resources? Please pass them on to us so we can share them: JuricaSuchyMuseum@ben.edu