Array of wildlife species found in Sask. cities. Climate change could bring more
Researchers at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum have documented hundreds of animals in the Regina area as part of an urban wildlife project.
Using 28 monitoring stations across the city since the fall of 2021, researchers captured photos and audio recordings of 143 bird species and 15 mammal species.
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Canada geese and white-tailed jackrabbits were among the most common species recorded, while the American mink was the rarest species, according to the research project.
Ryan Fisher, curator of vertebrate zoology at the museum, said the project's goal is to find out how urbanization affects wildlife. So far, he said, it hasn't had much of an impact.
"We have a lot of green space for a city our size," said Fisher. "We've got this lovely corridor that kind of goes from northwest Regina to southeast Regina."
Fisher said many species were found in suburban areas — where there are both natural habitats and human-made infrastructure — including many birds. Moose were also detected on the fringes of the city.
Ryan Fisher, left, and Jordan Rustad used trail cameras and audio recorders to capture wildlife in and around Regina. (Ethan Williams/CBC
The museum's research comes on the heels of a study that indicated moose are becoming more common around Saskatoon.
Katie Harris, a PhD candidate in animal and poultry science at the University of Saskatchewan and co-author of the study, said her monitoring stations recorded 60 moose within the city boundaries between September 2020 and September 2023. The number rose from eight moose in the first year of the study to 29 in the third year.
Harris points to one notable incident in 2021, when a moose crashed through the window of Sylvia Fedoruk School, as an example of increasing interactions between humans and moose in urban settings.
Harris isn't exactly sure why there's an increase, but thinks green spaces play a role.
"We do all sorts of things to our [green] spaces in cities that you wouldn't see, typically, outside of a city in a natural area," some of which may attract wildlife, said Harris.
A moose walks past a trail camera in Saskatoon. Katie Harris, a PhD candidate in animal and poultry science at the University of Saskatchewan, found an increase in moose in the city during the three years of her study. (Submitted by Katie Harris)
"If you can get an area with an all-you-can-eat buffet versus an area that is single-time dining, you're going to go to the all-you-can-eat buffet."
Climate change could increase urban wildlife
Cities across Canada could see hundreds of new species of animals by the year 2100, according to a recent study co-authored by Alex Filazzola, a data scientist who teaches biology at Western University.
While there is no specific data for Saskatchewan cities, Filazzola's study suggested even under a low-emission scenario, climate change could drive over 150 more species into Winnipeg, while only about 30 species would leave that urban area.
"There's a particular niche of variables that … [determine] where [an] animal can live," he said. "So if that niche changes as a result of climate change ... we would expect the animal to move."
Cities on the Prairies are often warmer than surrounding rural areas, Filazzola said, which could lead to longer growing seasons, providing a home for more cold-sensitive animals.
Filazzola said some species are already beginning to show up in cities across the country where they haven't previously been seen, such as ticks. Prairie cities could even see an influx of different types of reptiles, he said.
Alex Filazzola, a data scientist who teaches biology at Western University, says the occurrence of ticks could increase in cities as the climate changes. (Travis Reddaway/CBC)
Jordan Rustad, one of the researchers on the Royal Saskatchewan Museum's project, said another goal of the research is to find out how cities can be better designed to allow wildlife and humans to coexist.
Rustad, who also chairs the Bird Friendly Regina committee, said the research found many free-roaming cats in Wascana Park. Cats are a major threat to birds, causing more bird deaths than other threats, according to Birds Canada.
Rustad said people can help by keeping their cats indoors or supervising them outside.
The U of Saskatchewan's Harris said having green spaces is also essential to allow wildlife to thrive in cities.
That means "not just having a patch of lawn that has nothing else on it," she said, "but having spaces that have trees, shrubs, grasses, different types of plants."
"If we put our priority onto not just preserving the green spaces that we have, but improving ones that aren't very good to start with, that's a huge key factor."
Cities can add wildlife-friendly fencing to keep animals out of certain areas without harming them, as well as light bulbs that don't cause as much light pollution, she said. That could help certain birds and bats who thrive in darker spaces.
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Thumbnail courtesy of Ryan Fisher via CBC.
The story was originally written by Ethan Williams and published for CBC News.