UNR Researchers go undercover for moose study

Thursday, Oct. 16, 1997 | 2:49 a.m.

Berger, a University of Nevada, Reno biologist, needs to keep his hand free for the dirty work. When a real moose comes within range, Berger tosses some pretty nasty stuff - wolf dung is a favorite, along with snowballs soaked in bear urine - from this bogus moose.

Berger, 43, and Cunningham, 45, a research scientists, have spent almost two decades risking their necks to study the habits of large wild animals in Africa and America. But it's the work with moose, especially the costume, that's attracting national attention.

Cunningham and Berger were featured in a September issue of People magazine and late night talk show star David Letterman may have them on his show as guests.

The UNR pair are willing to do Letterman but suspect they'll be the target of moose jokes as millions of television viewers laugh. But Berger and Cunningham also want their science discussed. They take their work seriously and they'd like to tell people about it.

"We're destroying (animal) habitat," says Berger, who started moose research in 1995. "The first animals that die are the large ones. We can sit and moan about it, or we can do something."

For science sake, Cunningham has been chased up a tree by a charging black rhino in southwest Africa's Namib Desert. The rhino weighed about 3,000 pounds and was mad.

"Some animals charge immediately, It was difficult work," Cunningham says of the rhino research, which was done at night with a costume.

"You wanted to get close enough to photograph them, but you didn't want to get killed and you didn't want to scare the animal."

For Berger and Cunningham, there are two rules to remember about moose research:

-Don't do it during hunting season. You don't want to be mistaken for a target.

-Don't do it during mating season. You don't want to be mistaken by a real moose looking for a husband or wife.

Moose, in Wyoming and Alaska, are just the latest research targets for the Berger-Cunningham team. Other targets have been African rhinos, buffalo in South Dakota and wild horses in northern Nevada.

When Berger and Cunningham are walking cautiously around the wilds in the fake-fur moose outfit, they're doing research. They're trying to find out if real moose have good enough memories to react to signs of natural predators, such as wolves and bears, who are returning to moose territory after being absent for 50 years.

They discovered that Alaskan moose remember and Wyoming moose don't.

"Alaskan moose go crazy. They get agitated," Cunningham says. "Moose in Wyoming, they don't respond."