Meet the 2025 Caribou and Grizzly Bear Crews!

The office has been full of energy from the arrival of two summer crews. The caribou and grizzly bear field techs were in a 2-week crash course on everything from the scientific protocols they’ll be following as they gather data down to how to winch a truck out of the ditch. We throw a huge amount of information at the new members of our team, so it’s only fair that we ask them to share a few things they know.

As has become tradition, we’re updating our playlist with new-to-us music and adding to our store of wonderful and bizarre facts about nature. Now when we hear the buzz of a bee, we’ll wonder about what fate this hive’s queen will meet; the elk on the side of the road will make us picture their giant, tusked ancestors; and if our allergies start acting up, we’ll blame in part the energetic pollination of Cornus canadensis.

In no particular order: meet the field techs!

Emma Branicki

Grizzly Bear Crew

Nature Fact: A mantis shrimp “punches” so fast it heats water to thousands of degrees.

Listening to: All Over You by Live

Maia Hoban

Caribou Crew

Nature Fact: Freeman’s maple trees are hybrids of red and silver maples.

Listening to: Creatures in Heaven by Glass Animals

Sadie Whitford

Grizzly Bear Crew

Nature Fact: Trees can communicate with each other.

Listening to: More or Less Behind the Stats by BBC Radio 4

Harriet Megson

Caribou Crew

Nature Fact: Hooded seals have the shortest lactation period of any mammal – 4 days.

Listening to: Djadja by Aya Nakamura

Kieran Bradbury

Grizzly Bear Crew

Nature Fact: Thresher sharks can use their extra long tails to stun prey.

Listening to: Lady Stardust by David Bowie

Marianne Sigouin

Caribou Crew

Nature Fact: Catfish can have over 175,000 taste buds on their body.

Listening to: Down at the Bottom by Jeffrey Martin

Tyler Edwards

Grizzly Bear Crew

Nature Fact: Trees can be heard “crying” when it is very VERY cold.

Listening to: The Grand Tour by George Jones

Hailey Gysbers

Caribou Crew

Nature Fact: Some jellyfish are immortal.

Listening to: The Giver by Chappell Roan

Olivia St. Hilaire

Grizzly Bear Crew

Nature Fact: Elk have vestigial ivory teeth.

Listening to: The Wild with Chris Morgan

Skylar Shepherd

Caribou Crew

Nature Fact: Alberta has flying squirrels.

Listening to: Breezeblocks by alt-J

Sierra Makasoff

Grizzly Bear Crew

Nature Fact: Prairie dogs have an exceptionally wide repertoire of vocalizations, able to name shapes, colours, and sizes.

Listening to: Next to You by John Vincent III

Aaron McDonald

Caribou Crew

Nature Fact: Sheep never shed their horns.

Listening to: Legend by The Score

Suzanne MacKinnon

Grizzly Bear Crew

Nature Hot Take: Alberta’s provincial lichen should be the Candy Dot (Icmadophila ericetorum) AKA Fairy Puke.

Listening to: Lonely Road by mgk & Jelly Roll

Shayna Nicol

Caribou Crew

Nature Fact: The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

Listening to: Live Well by Palace

Kirsty McFadyen

Grizzly Bear Crew

Nature Fact: Bunchberry has an explosive pollination mechanism: it shoots into the air when triggered.

Listening to: Speed of the Sound of Loneliness by Alabama 3

Katelyn Grado

Caribou Crew

Nature Fact: Honey bees will swarm and form a ball around their unwanted queen. Their vibrations overheat and kill her.

Listening to: You’re a Superstar by Love Inc.

Charles Daychief

Grizzly Bear Crew

Nature Fact: Red pine needles are an excellent fire starter.

Listening to: Lust by SAINt JHN

fRI Research

We love all our crews equally

Nature Fact: Prehistoric elephants evolved on Mediterranean islands to be just 1m tall.

Listening to: former fRI Research biologist Doug Macnearney.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned – our Water and Fish Program‘s field season is ramping up too!

Bonus video!