Are you asking if the variation in beechnut production is a scientific fact ?

Once the trigger is pulled, which is one little slice of time, the rate is what matters in primness. Does each and every animal of the same species start the process at the same exact reduced amount of UV light?

NO

No, I'm asking if the conclusions are facts.

Sometimes. Evidently in that study, they concluded that sows produce a higher incidence of cubs following years with higher beechnut production. That may be a valid conclusion for that particular area. It may not be true in other areas. Lets remember that they only had a sample size of 15 bears. That is pretty small to base any conclusion on. But it's what they had to work with. Their conclusion seems reasonable but there could be other reasons that were not considered.

Certainly the data they present on marten is 'thin' and ignores a lot of variables

Hey White17, thanks for the comments. I'm just trying to learn why marten are scares in Maine & bears grow thicker longer fur every other year. As the aforementioned study shows this has been occurring for the past 30 years.

As far as marten scarcity goes, I would look at some other critter out-competing them for available food...maybe fisher or fox. Also, marten are very susceptible to being preyed on by avian predators. I immediately thought of owls, hawks, and eagles when the study's authors mentioned increases in small mammals eating beechnuts in good years. I have seen an increase in raptors when voles and hares increase and also catch more marten that have punctures in their sides from talons.

So very much enjoy these subjects .... thank you !

How do we know temperature does not influence the rate of growth?

We do have more fishers here and fewer marten. In fact I made a post about it. My fisher catch remains constant but marten are up one year and down the next. Some people in Maine no longer trap during the down years. Fifteen years ago it was common to see several marten & a few fishers at bear baits (hunters & cameras). Now we see fishers and few marten. This is the way it is, 15 years ago everyone setting on a bear bait would see marten, sometime as many as 4 or 5 at the same time. In the past several years no hunters have reported seeing marten at the baits.

I do know this, last year and this year we had very warm temperatures during the first week of bear season. Last year very poor quality fur this year excellent quality fur. Last year lots of natural food this year natural food was scares.

Well I think a guy could make a credible case that the fisher are more successful at hunting than the marten are. I don't have fisher here but Boco might and he could have a better opinion on that than I do

Boco did comment here!

You asking me to prove a negative ??

Here's a true story from back in the 1980's if I recall correctly.

A couple of researchers took a ranch mink and held it in captivity under 'normal' environmental conditions for a year. That mink primed and shed as was expected and in the 'normal' time frame for that latitude.

They then put that same critter in a controlled environment. Same food, a constant temperature day and night, but they reversed the time of the lighting available to the mink.

For the next 2.5 years that mink was fully prime on June 22 and fully shed on December 21. After that, they let the critter revert to it's 'normal' cycle .

Note that the only thing changed was the lighting. Not temperature or diet.

Thanks !

Well it seems reasonable to me that animals that have evolved to survive would want their fur coat to grow in a little faster when it is 10 below than 30 above. Both possibilities here in November. Just wondering if anybody ever ran an experiment to test the rate of fur growth ( once it is triggered) as related to environmental temperature? Sure, complete primness could take the same amount of time, but the growth curve could be radically different. Charts always show fur growth as linear. I'm not sure it is.

I understand where you're coming from but I believe that the shortening daylight accounts for those possibilities. Animal populations that have evolved in a certain region have adapted to the conditions that USUALLY occur in that area. I think if that were not the case we would occasionally see a massive winter kill of furbearers due to freezing or starvation. Personally I have never seen anything like that.

Maybe some of the mink growers on here have some insight about your question. One commented further up the thread about his mink all priming within one day's range from year to year. Maybe he will comment again.

But just to add one more comment along these lines...I will say we can't take an Alabama coyote and ship him to Minnesota and expect him to grow Minnesota hair. That isn't going to happen. I know you understand that.

No.

Young of the year prime later than adults.

There are physiological effects of being cold. Shell core is one. This results in less blood going to the skin, resulting in a lower skin temperature. Not being an organic chemist, I assume growing hair is a chemical reaction, the rate may be dependent on variables such as pressure, and Temperature.

I would be interested in knowing how the beaver prime up in Tierra del fuego.Also,how long it took for them to "flip" the priming cycle.I assume it happened quickly or they likely would have perished the first winter.Or maybe not,I'm not sure how severe winters get there.