Steinbach Online, written by Darci Wilkinson Tuesday, February 11, 2025
https://www.steinbachonline.com/articles/love-is-in-the-air-even-for-wildlife-in-the-tall-grass-prairie-
Join Adventures with Nature Norm to celebrate Valentine’s Day in the Tall Grass Prairie.
Norm Gregoire from Shared Legacy promises a fascinating look into the love lives of animals. The event is family-friendly, educational, and filled with fun facts about courtship, parenting strategies, and survival tactics among wildlife.
“Love might be on the brain for folks, but when we’re starting to think about what love is and what that’s all about in the animal world, the animal Kingdom, it’s a little bit more basic compared to human relationships, but we’re going to be learning about what that all is with our Tall Grass Prairie species.”
The event will delve into the trials of becoming a Tall Grass Prairie parent, with Norm sharing insights about how different species adapt to the Manitoba weather.
“We live in a harsh environment as we know in these winter days, and it’s interesting to know the different strategies that different animals use to raise families and produce young.”
He explains that humans and animals share the same three basic needs, although they are simplified for animals.
“That would be food and water and then shelter or some sort of home and then making your family, making sure that your species are surviving through spreading your own genes.”
Norm explains that a lot of males, including white-tail deer will fight to show their dominance to the female.
“Pretty much in the animal kingdom, the biggest, strongest is the best, so they’ll have the strongest genes. The winner of these fights will pass on their strongest genes towards the female, and it goes on from there and that’s just sort of one side of this idea of creating these family bonds here in the Tall Grass Prairies.”
A topic along the walk will be the difference between a monogamous and polygamous relationship among animals.
“Those terms are used fairly broadly in the sense of comparing a human relationship to an animal relationship. But in the monogamous or this sort of life bond that they’ve formed, species like different bird species will attract females by creating nests for them or showing that they’re good hunters by bringing food into the nest for the young to survive.”
He adds, “Whereas animals that are more polygamous, they’re going to be relying on a lot of that brute strength that I that I had mentioned.”
A lot of bird species will use different vocalizations to attract females.
“At certain times of year, they’ll be focusing on attracting females to mate with so their calls will even change throughout the year,” Norm says.
He shares that mammals will rely on scent.
“When the females of species are in eustress, the males will be able to pick that up through scent. And that can be a key factor for finding a mate out here.”
He says that 90% of bird species in the world are monogamous, while only about 5% of mammal species are monogamous.
“If you think about the basic biology of it all, comparing the two, birds and mammals, bird species, they’re going to be producing an egg outside of the body. So, it’s in the male’s best benefit to help incubate that egg and also when the chick is hatched, they feed that young to ensure that they survive into adulthood.”
He says that mammals are born outside the body and will need milk, which is produced by the female, so the male feels like it can’t help.
Norm adds that there are exceptions including foxes, coyotes, and wolves.
“They’re actually more considered pair bonded or monogamous. They’ll mate for life. The males do have a big role in keeping the young safe and eventually, as they start to eat more meat, they’ll help bring food for the young.”
Hang out with Norm this Saturday to learn more fun facts and details about animals in the Tall Grass Prairie. The walk is from 10 am to 12 pm and it is free!
To register or for more information, contact Norm at 204-408-6166 or info@sharedlegacymb.ca.