INTO THE WILDS
On 10,000 acres of reclaimed strip-mining land in southeastern Ohio, scientists are conducting cutting-edge research on mussels and zebras, giraffes and prairie grasses, bearded pigs and bison.
Guy Googins, who until recently was marketing and communications officer for the Wilds, calls the conservation education facility in Muskingum County a “living laboratory” like none other on earth. “They have some unique, top-notch research going on,” Googins said.
The Wilds was founded in 1984 on land donated by the Central Ohio Coal Co., a subsidiary of American Electric Power. Today, it’s home to several hundred animals, including 25 different species, many of them rare or endangered.
Funded primarily by grants and donations, the Wilds entered into a partnership in 2002 with the Columbus Zoo. That additional administrative and financial support has helped the facility begin work on new projects. Among them: a carnivore area, complete with cheetahs and several varieties of wild dogs, that is set to open this spring.
Though the Wilds has several identities—including education facility and tourist attraction—its research efforts are especially innovative, with a long history of encouraging and supporting creative projects. In addition to its own staff, the Wilds welcomes scientists from Ohio State and other institutions who come to study its flora and fauna. You’ll meet three of those researchers below.
MICHAEL WHITACRE: WILD HORSES COULDN’T KEEP HIM AWAY
“Bringing beasts into being.” That’s a rough description of Michael Whitacre’s specialty: theriogenology.
Whitacre is an Ohio State graduate who teaches at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He took a recent sabbatical at the Wilds, where, true to his specialty, he studied the reproduction of beasts.
Specifically, he worked on two projects. He researched the effectiveness of drugs in inducing ejaculation in wild horses and rhinos—an especially important area of study for those who breed wild animals in captivity. He also studied the effects of calming drugs on the reproductive hormones of female gorals, which are goatlike animals from Asia.
Whitacre usually specializes in domestic horses, so his research at the Wilds was a departure for him. “It’s made me more patient,” he said in an interview conducted last fall during his sabbatical. “When you’re working with domestic animals, you think everything comes easy. It’s given me a different perspective. Endangered species are different.”
Whitacre found working at the Wilds both productive and enjoyable. “A sabbatical needs to be a time you can refresh yourself,” he said. “Here, I have something new every day.”
That included treating broken limbs and doing other basic first aid work—something Whitacre, as an academic researcher, hadn’t faced in a long time. “It’s been nice to look at a radiogram now and then, to go back to what it means to be a veterinarian,” he said.
His research also gave him an opportunity to think creatively about problems and approaches, if only because it’s more difficult to get blood samples from a Przewalski’s wild horse than from a domestic one.
“Not being able to treat something in the ivory-tower way makes you more inventive, more cognizant of the fact that there are different ways of doing things,” he said.
CLIFF MONAHAN: TRACING THE TRAIL OF A WORM
Snails, slugs, deer feces, and parasitical worms might not be everyone’s idea of good company, but for Cliff Monahan, a parasitologist and assistant professor in Ohio State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, they’re just part of the job.
From 1998 to 2001, Monahan made regular visits to the Wilds to study the presence of the meningeal worm in snails and slugs. White-tailed deer, who frequently make their way into the park, eat those snails and slugs and consequently are exposed to the worm.
Though harmless to the white-tailed deer who carry it, the meningeal worm can be fatal to some of the rare and endangered species at the Wilds.
Monahan, through his own research as well as work conducted with veterinary students, tracked the presence of the worm in snails and slugs at various times of the year. That information will help scientists determine when the snails and slugs—and therefore the deer—will be most contagious and dangerous to the captive animals at the Wilds.
Though similar research has been done elsewhere in the country, this was the first time such an extensive study had been conducted in Ohio.
Monahan’s goal was to contribute beneficial knowledge to the staff at the Wilds. “We gave them the information, and then it’s up to them to figure out what to do,” he said. “That’s where the collaboration comes in.”
The scientists at the Wilds now are continuing where Monahan’s work left off, studying the feces of the endangered deer at the facility to see if they carry the worm. And Monahan, who hopes someday to return to doing research at the Wilds, is watching the results with interest. “I would love to see if any of the other deer have this,” he said.
Monahan said perhaps the best outcome of his visits to the Wilds was the opportunity to get students excited about research in the field. What better way to do that than to get them out among exotic animals on a remote hillside? “It’s like the Discovery Channel for vet medicine,” he said.
MARK THORNE: BETTER LIVING THROUGH GRASSES
Mark Thorne loves his grasses. On a typical day at the plot he planted at the Wilds, he collects data from his solar-powered soil and air thermometer, clips plants, bags biomass, takes measurements and notes, and simply observes.
“I’m looking for a way to replace the nonnative ground cover with grasses that are at least native to North America and hopefully to this region,” he said.
A graduate student in environmental sciences, Thorne regularly travels from Columbus to the Wilds to tend his several acres of prairie grasses. He is studying how well the grasses grow in the reclaimed mine soil. “It’s a highly disturbed environment,” he said.
Ultimately, he’d like to find native grasses that could effectively replace the non-native species, such as tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass, that were planted during the reclamation process. Thorne believes having a variety of native species will improve the soil and foster an increasingly varied population of birds and other wildlife.
Though the area originally was forested, it’s unlikely that the soil will support a forest reclamation anytime soon. In the meantime, establishing a native grass prairie is a good first step.
After two seasons of tending his plot, Thorne has found that eastern gama grass, slender wheat grass, and buffalo grass seem to do well.
He now will enter the writing phase of his research, in which he will analyze his findings in the field and begin thinking about the broader implications of his study. In particular, he hopes that what he has discovered will be applicable to urban brownfields and other sites where the soil has been damaged.
Learn more:
(866) 444-WILDS (9453)
www.thewilds.org
Story by VIVIAN WAGNER; photos by MEGAN NADOLSKI
Reprinted from the March/April Ohio State Alumni Magazine. The magazine is a benefit of membership in the Alumni Association. To get your copy, join now.
