Columbia Basin Wildlife
Wildlife Subjects
Small
Mammals
Overview
Porcupine
Small
mammals include rodents, hares and rabbits, the pika (a distant
relative of the rabbit), bats, and the insectivores, shrews and
moles.
Small mammals are not well studied
in the Columbia Basin. For example, Drummond's meadow mouse is thought
to replace the modest meadow mouse at higher elevations, but this
is not certain; also, the range overlap and habitat relationships
between the woodchuck and the yellow-bellied marmot are not known
for this area (Nagorsen, 1990). Nor have the distributions of bats
been mapped, particularly at higher elevations: until quite recently
there were no records for any species of bat anywhere in the northern
Selkirk Mountains except at Rogers Pass where the TransCanada Highway
provides access to collectors (Nagorsen and Brigham, 1993). Two
rodent subspecies - the alpine deer mouse and the Selkirk least
chipmunk -are apparently endemic to this mountain range (Nagorsen,
1990). For the naturalist, small mammals of particular interest
include the hoary marmot, common pika, snowshoe hare, heather vole
and northern bog lemming.
Some small mammals are particularly
of interest because of their vulnerable, threatened, or endangered
conservation status. These include the selkirki and
oreocetes subspecies of least chipmunk (both Red
listed), the ruficaudus and simulans subspecies
of red-tailed chipmunk, the galei subspecies of southern
red-backed vole (Blue list),
the segregatus subspecies of northern pocket gopher
(Red list), the northern long-eared
myotis and Townsend's big-eared bat (all Blue-listed).
These are discussed in detail by Beardmore (1999) in the Endangered
Species Section.
References
- Beardmore, R., 1999. The Columbia Basin:
Endangered Species and Spaces. By Future Legacy Consulting Group
for Royal British Columbia Museum and Columbia Basin.
Nagorsen, D.W., 1990. The mammals of British Columbia:
a taxonomic catalogue. Memoir No. 4, Royal British Columbia
Museum.
- Nagorsen, D.W. and R.M. Brigham, 1993.
Bats of British Columbia. Royal British Columbia Museum Handbook
Vol. 1: The Mammals of British Columbia. UBC Press, Vancouver,
164 p.
Other Wildlife Subjects
