Jambo from Taylor

 

Jambo!

My name is Taylor, and I am the new Research Assistant (R.A.) at Serena Camp. I recently graduated from the University of Vermont, where I studied Psychological Science and English. I have always been extremely passionate about animal behavior and spent much of my undergraduate career participating in various volunteer opportunities to get outside and interact with wildlife. I also had the opportunity to work in a veterinary clinic in Philadelphia for a year following my graduation, which only increased my love for animals. Outside of school and work, you can find me hiking, swimming, painting, sketching, and reading.

This is a picture of me in Vermont extracting teeth from a White-tailed deer carcass. I volunteered on this project during my undergraduate career at the University of Vermont. The biologist that was working at the deer check station with me taught me how to age deer from the rings on their teeth (similarly to how a tree is aged from the circles in its trunk).

Even though I’ve only just arrived in Kenya recently (July 2), I have already learned so many new things. There have been many opportunities for community outreach, and I particularly enjoyed our visit to the Mara Elephant Project (M.E.P.), where we put our heads together to chat about our mutual interest in and compassion for wildlife in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Memorably, we were taught to fly drones and got to see a bird’s eye view of various creatures in their natural environments.

Here we are learning how to fly drones at the Mara Elephant Project. The neon orange circle in the bottom of the photo is a landing platform for the drone. From left to right: Felix (M.E.P. drone pilot), Jana, me, Brianna, Maya, and Natalie.

Above is an aerial picture of a giraffe from the drone that we were learning how to fly at M.E.P.

This partnership led one of M.E.P.’s employees, Wilson, to visit us at Serena Camp, where we observed him flying a thermal drone to locate one of our clan’s dens. We quickly discovered that the best time frame to locate animals with the drone is early morning, as many of the heated rocks from the day’s sun looked remarkably like various prey animals. One early morning session with Wilson yielded promising results, and we went out in search of what we suspected may be our South Clan’s den. Unfortunately, upon inspecting the area further, it became clear that the hyenas we were witnessing were part of a neighboring clan that isn’t included in our study. Even though we didn’t locate the den with the drone right away, the excitement of a fresh lead kickstarted a new wave of enthusiasm in our search.

Above is a picture from the thermal drone that Wilson was flying over our South territory. The white color denotes heat, and the shapes that I have circled in red are what we suspected to be our study hyenas at their den (which turned out to be incorrect).

The morning after Wilson left, our team noticed several hyenas in our North territory coming from the same direction. With a surplus of people in camp, we have had the opportunity to split into two cars and cover more ground, and the morning observation crew from North territory (Eli, Natalie, and Brianna) informed my group of their encouraging findings. Later that night, Eli, Maya, and I went out to North territory to investigate the potential den lead, spending time listening attentively for any sign of den activity in the area that we suspected North clan hyenas to be coming from. Just as we were thinking about shifting our attention elsewhere, we heard what we believed to be a cub whoop! While unconfirmed, this gave us enough of a lead to shift the car closer to the whooping, where we heard a chorus of multiple hyenas whooping to each other. 

Unfortunately, it was too dark to safely navigate to where we heard the activity, and we decided to touch base with the team and scope out the area at a different time. The following morning, Jana, Maya, and I returned to the location with sufficient light to safely off-road and began to explore. Sure enough, it quickly became apparent that we had located the den! Before driving closer, we took a quick moment and silently celebrated our victory, composed ourselves, and then went in to meet North clan’s newest cubs!

Above is WALL (left) and GLOB (right). Based on their coloring, fur length, and size, our team has estimated that they are roughly around 5 months old. We can already tell that Wall is the dominant cub due to the preferred nursing position that he occupies, meaning that he nurses with his body closest to his mother’s stomach.

Above you can see MTV, a small black cub. Based on his dark coloring and the early emergence of his spot pattern, our team has estimated that he is around 10.5 weeks old. You can tell from the pointy tip of MTV’s phallus that he is a male.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work collaboratively to pinpoint one of our study’s dens. While it would’ve been thrilling to find a den using one of M.E.P.’s drones (which still is a possibility for our other two territories), there was something special about uncovering the first den I’ve seen here solely relying on the expertise, knowledge, and stellar communication skills of our research team. Even though it has only been a few days since our discovery, I have already had the chance to sit in on several different den session transcriptions. These learning opportunities are invaluable to absorbing the complexity of behaviors exhibited and getting to know all the individuals in the clan. I have much admiration and gratitude for the hard work of everyone here to find the home of our North clan.

More generally, I am incredibly thankful to be working here for a year and observing these beautiful animals with such an amazing group of people. From the very beginning, everyone has been so kind, compassionate and welcoming. Philomon, Moses, and Stephen, who work long-term in Serena camp, do an impeccable job upkeeping the study’s beautiful campsite, keeping us all safe in camp, and crafting up delicious meals! Brianna and Maya, who have been in Serena camp as R.A.s for a year now, are unendingly generous with sharing their expertise on anything and everything. Natalie, who is the new R.A. that will be working in Talek camp, is the perfect person to be learning everything with, and has already helped me with catching up to speed on training (as she came a month earlier). Jana, who is our R.A. trainer extraordinaire, is an endless source of information, and always willing to sit down and walk me through tricky concepts. Eli, who just recently arrived, has also been patient and thoughtful in teaching all he knows. Many thanks to all of you that I have mentioned, as well as the many others that I have learned from but haven’t named due to the increasing length of this blog post!

Hoping to update again soon – fingers crossed that we find our other two dens for Serena camp within the next few weeks or so!

Warmly,

Taylor

Brianna (left) and I (right) spelling out M.H.P. for Mara Hyena Project!