I'd almost forgotten this story until a reader's passing comment sparked the memory.
Back in college (I majored in zoology at U.C. Davis), I spent the summer of 1982 working for a graduate student named Hannah Carey who was doing her Ph.D. field research on yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris).
We were stationed at the White Mountain Research Center. The home office is in Bishop, California, but we were at the Barcroft Station, located at elevation 12,500 feet. I adapted very well to high-altitude work, and spent an extraordinary summer exploring this amazing region.
Except for lab work at the station (fecal analysis of their diet), most of the marmot work was conducted from an elevated blind in a valley meadow, maybe half a mile from the station down a steep slope. The isolation at this spot was total and complete. We spent our days with binoculars in hand, observing the behavior of the marmot colony. We also did a lot of live-trapping of the animals (using Havahart traps), when we painted numbers on their sides for easy identification at a distance.
When the marmots gave their alarm calls, we learned instantly to scan the landscape for predators. Most of the predators at that elevation consisted of golden eagles and coyotes. But one day we heard alarm calls, scanned the land and sky, and spotted a different kind of culprit on the ground. And here's the thing: We couldn't figure out what it was.
It was a large-ish mammal, maybe three feet long, but low to the ground. It sort of galloped, and when it did so I distinctly remember it had a kind of cape-like flare to its fur. Since it was so far away, up the scree slope across the valley, we couldn't get a clear view of it despite our binoculars. We were baffled.
The animal gradually got closer, and finally we were able to identify it. It was a badger.
A badger! Neither Hannah nor I had ever seen one in real life before, and we couldn't believe we saw it at 12,000-foot elevation up in the White Mountains of California. We watched it as it skirted the meadow, with the marmots eyeing it warily and giving their alarm calls. Eventually it disappeared from sight.
As we climbed back up the valley toward the station later that afternoon, Hannah was keen to try to trap the badger in one of the Havahart traps, but I talked her out of it. First of all, the traps she had on hand were perfectly suited to marmots, but too small for a badger. And second – more importantly – badgers are vicious fighters, and there's no possible way she would be able to safely remove it from the trap, much less mark it.
But we both had a lovely glow about the sighting because we knew we had seen something unique. Hannah later reported the observation to wildlife officials, and to the best of my knowledge it became the first (and possibly only) confirmed sighting of a badger at that elevation in recorded science. (From this Wikipedia description of badger habitat: "They are sometimes found at elevations up to 12,000 feet...")
Unfortunately neither of us was credited for the sighting, so my minuscule contribution to science seems to have been lost. Oh well. I know what I saw, and Hannah can confirm it.
This is so interesting you post this- my husband and I had what we think was a high- elevation badger encounter in September, also. We were camping at around 10,000 feet and went for a drive and an animal with
ReplyDelete(Continued- I hit publish too soon) - an animal ran across the road in front of our car- and it looked like a badger but here’s the thing. We’ve never seen one before and this one had very long fur parted in the middle of its back. I would call it blond- so long, it was blowing in the wind as it waddled by. So strange! Like it had just come from the badger beauty shop. They are found up in the alpine ski areas in Arizona apparently but rarely sighted.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very cool story. I am so often lead to look things up after I read a post from you. Thank you for your interesting life and experiences. All of my adult children and my husband know who I am speaking of when I say...Patrice said this or Patrice said that.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the story. Brought memories back if my days at ucd. My wife was half way through her dvm in 1983 and I had graduated…. We now live in north Idaho not too far from your current abode. We have a mutual acquaintance. Keep sharing! D
ReplyDeleteCouple years ago we had a couple of badgers digging into the side of our irrigation ditch looking for mice. One night, with night vision, we saw them in the hay field hunting with COYOTES! We did research and learned that those two mammals do hunt with each other. They finally left with us to fill their holes.
ReplyDeleteI saw a badge in Montana at the Buffalo Jump Site near Great Falls. It was a unique experienced; I can understand your excitement.
ReplyDeleteWe live not far from your previous abode so I know you’re familiar with the area. Over on the Washington side I was driving to Cheney on the back road and I saw a badger at the corner of the Cheney and Fairfield road just walking down the side of the road. Had the typical snarley expression of a badger.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I were on a trip earlier this year and saw a mama badger with two young ones cross the two lane blacktop in front of us...in Kansas! Never saw them in the wild before and then to see mama and babies in a place they absolutely didn't seem to belong. Weirdest and coolest thing we've seen in a long time.
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