Ruffed Grouse: Controlled Environment

For my internship at WVU in 2006 I worked with ruffed grouse. Though my degree is in wildlife biology, this internship was not conducted in the great outdoors but at the university science farm. Among all the studies being conducted on farm animals, there was a seasoned scientist who raised ruffed grouse. It may seem a little unorthodox to study birds in a controlled environment rather than in their natural habitat but it allowed me to see and hear behaviors that I may have never seen in the wild.

There are not many people who raise ruffed grouse at a very successful rate. Part of the problem is reproduction. When left alone together a male will stress the female to death in most cases. The key to successful reproduction is artificial insemination. Now even as a pseudo-professional I was not thrilled at the thought of extracting semen from a male and injecting it into the female; but, it is a rare skill that not many possess. And may I say, I got quite good at it.
The process of knowing the right time to conduct this intimate act lies within the behavior of the birds. Having these grouse close at hand allows one to hear different sounds and calls that alert you to their biological clock. By being in tune with these creatures' chirps and actions let you know when the female is ready to except a mate and when the male is ready to produce sperm; you can also tell when she is ready to lay, or if she has already. Having seen grouse in the wild, I have perhaps heard some of these sounds and just had no idea what they meant. But viewing them daily allows you to interrupt each noise they make.

One of the rarest behaviors I witnessed is what is called the "locomotive" behavior among the males. They will shake their heads back and forth slowly accompanied by a hiss, hiss, hiss. Then the act gets faster and faster and louder, just like a locomotive getting up to speed. Then they give one final hiss and lunge forward in a territorial display. I don't think I will ever witness this behavior in the wild.

My advisor was reluctant to approve an internship that seemed blatantly more animal science than wildlife biology. I am grateful that he allowed it and I believe that much is to be learned of animals in a controlled environment as well as their natural habitat.