New exhibit on cougars prowls into the Manitoba Museum

The exhibit on SK-10 on display at the Manitoba Museum. (Source: Joseph Bernacki/CTV News)

The Manitoba Museum has a new, permanent exhibit that Winnipeggers will want to pounce on.

On Tuesday, the museum announced, ‘The Cougar – Manitoba’s Big Cat,’ has prowled into its galleries.

The new exhibit tells the story of a cougar, known as SK-10, who was born in 2010 in Saskatchewan’s Cypress Hills. When he was just over a year old, SK-10 was given an ear tag and satellite collar as part of a study for the University of Alberta, which would reveal his 10-year journey through the Prairies.

The museum notes that SK-10 travelled farther than any other cougar in the study – in just 100 days he covered 750 kilometres, wandering through Montana and ending up in Moose Mountain, Sask.

Though SK-10's collar eventually malfunctioned, he was caught on trail cameras in Riding Mountain National Park from 2016 to 2018.

SK-10 eventually reached his final stop near Duck Mountain, where he was accidentally caught in a legal coyote snare in February 2020.

“We heard about the story and knew it was something we wanted to present to the people of Winnipeg and Manitoba,” said Randall Mooi, curator of zoology at the Manitoba museum.

“People don’t generally recognize that cougars are a part of our landscape here, and this was such an incredible story.

The museum exhibit includes interpretive panels, interactive and touchable elements, and SK-10’s fully mounted skeleton, which was constructed by Dinosaur Valley Studios.

Frank Hadfield, president of Dinosaur Valley Studios, said the work was a challenge, adding that it took about four months to reconstruct.

“For this mount, we couldn’t use any screws or glue or things like that on about 90 per cent of the skeleton, we couldn’t use that. It’s all held in place by gravity on a steel mount,” he said.

“Therefore, it was quite a challenge to have something stay in place on a steel structure when you’re dealing with these very small, little bones for the most part.”

According to the Manitoba Museum, cougars have likely lived in the province for thousands of years; however, confirmed records are only available for the last 50 years. Cougars can be found in the southern part of Manitoba, with most records of the animal in Duck Mountain, Riding Mountain, and Turtle Mountain.

- With files from CTV’s Joseph Bernacki.