The process starts out here, with a tub of vegetable fat, some rope pieces, and an episode of my current favorite TV show playing in the background.
The ropes get a knot tied in one end, then they’re slathered with a thin layer of Kimbo. The final product ends up like this:
Next, the ropes are slotted into a hollow stick, with a bolt over the knot to keep the rope in place. Now we’re ready to go fishing for cubs.
Whenever we’re at a den, we put the saliva sticks out the windows and brace ourselves for the best game of tug-o’-war ever. The Kimbo entices cubs to chew on the rope, drooling all over it in the process. Saliva carries a lot of hormones, so our goal is to collect samples from cubs before and after they do an exciting behavior, like play or an aggression. The ‘before’ sample gives us a baseline, while the ‘after’ sample lets us see how the cub’s hormones have changed in response to that behavior.
Mandrake demonstrating proper chewing technique |
When centrifuged, the tubes allow saliva to be pulled out of the rope down into the lower section of the tube, while the rope stays in the top. Then we can throw away the rope and transfer the saliva to a cryotube to be frozen, awaiting transportation back to the US.
If you’d told me a year ago that tug-o’-war with a passel of hyena cubs would be part of my daily routine, I would have laughed in your face. But now I can’t imagine my life without it!
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