The final session of the 2016 Royal Tyrrell Museum’s Speaker Series is a presentation by Jeff Zimmer, Fish and Wildlife Officer for the Drumheller district with Alberta Justice and Solicitor General on Thursday, April 28.
The recent sighting of a cougar near the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology this spring resulted in a lot of conversation in Drumheller about these misunderstood creatures.
Often lumped in with their misbehaving cousins, bears, cougars have a bad reputation. In this presentation, Zimmer hopes to give people a better understanding of cougar behaviour and hopefully be less fearful of them. The cougar is Canada’s largest cat species.
Merely seeing a cougar does not mean you are in imminent danger. Cougars are generally shy and wary of humans, but are efficient hunters. They most often hunt at dusk, night, and dawn.
Zimmer will present information on basic identification of a cougar’s habits and habitats, and will then discuss how to prevent conflict and respond to an encounter.
The Royal Tyrrell Museum’s Speaker Series talks are free and open to the public. The series will conclude with this presentation on Thursday, April 28, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. in the museum auditorium.
Past presentations are also available on the Museum’s YouTube channel: youtube.com/user/RoyalTyrrellMuseum. For more information, visit tyrrellmuseum.com.
