The Superior Deer: Learning from the longest migration in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

2025 Harlow Summer Seminar Series: July 17th

Talk Title: The Superior Deer: Learning from the longest migration in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Speakers: Gregory Nickerson, Writer and Filmmaker with the Wyoming Migration Initiative at the University of Wyoming

We will host a BBQ at 5:30 followed by the seminar at 6:30, with a $10.00 suggested donation for attending the event. The event is open to the public and reservations are not required.
Attend Virtually: The talk will also be live on Zoom. The zoom link will be made available through our email list. If you haven’t already, join our mailing list!

Abstract

In 2016 biologists at the University of Wyoming placed a GPS collar on a female mule deer in the Red Desert near Superior, Wyoming. Known as Deer #255, for the next eight years the team tracked the migrations across western Wyoming and into Idaho, as she made the longest-distance deer migrations documented in North America so far. These astounding journeys through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem — and those of other members of her herd — helped scientists convey the dynamics of ungulate migration to audiences numbering in the millions. Deer 255’s life further demonstrates how migrations are an essential part of Rocky Mountain ecology and geography that is rooted in deep time and connected to human history. Through Deer 255’s life story,  animations, and maps, migration science can empower the public to understand and conserve migrations for future generations. This presentation and residency at the UW Research Institute at AMK Ranch is supported by the Wyoming Arts Council’s 2025 Pattie Layser Greater Yellowstone Creative Writing & Journalism Fellowship.

Bio