Findings on bobcat research in Coshocton County to be presented
COSHOCTON – When you live in southeast Ohio, you don’t have to go far to see a wild animal. But what else is out there “lurking” in the woods and even in our backyards? It’s no longer a guessing game thanks to Ohio State University Senior Lecturer, Shauna Weyrauch, who is conducting research on the bobcat population in Coshocton County. Dr. Weyrauch will be presenting her findings at the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum on July 25 at 7 p.m. She will be showing some of the more than 71,000 photographs that have been taken at 15 sites in the past year. Coshocton County is the perfect place to conduct this research because state data shows that there has been an increase recently in bobcat sightings throughout the southeast part of the state. Furthermore, it’s not just bobcats that are out there setting off camera motion detectors. The population of coyotes, a non-native of Ohio, has also been increasing, and they compete with bobcats for similar prey.
In 2015, Dr. Weyrauch began a project called “Wild Coshocton,” which employs camera traps to monitor the wildlife of Coshocton County. The main focus of the study is the bobcat, an elusive and charismatic species that is believed to be increasing in population size in eastern Ohio. In collaboration with her colleague Dr. Andy Roberts and her undergraduate student research assistants, Dr. Weyrauch hopes to gather data about the distribution of bobcats across the county and, over time, to determine if their population is locally increasing or decreasing. Project Wild Coshocton has gathered thousands of images of the diverse wildlife of the county. In this presentation, Dr. Weyrauch will discuss some preliminary findings of the study and share some of the most interesting images gathered so far.
Admission is $4 and $2 for students and Friends of the Museum. The Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum is located at 300 N. Whitewoman Street in Roscoe Village. For more information, contact the museum at 740-622-8710 or by e-mail: jhmuseum@jhmuseum.org. Museum hours are noon to 5 p.m. daily. The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.
Category: Arts & Entertainment
