14 March 2011

My name is Zach Laubach and through a fortunate sequence of events I have I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday the 12^th of March, to work as a Research Assistant studying spotted hyenas.  By fortunate I mean for a number of reasons: the applicability of this experience in terms career aspirations (I am interested in the behavioral ecology of large mammalian carnivores), the timing of this opportunity fell neatly into place in both my academic and personal life, and I found my way onto a plane that actually landed in the appropriate destination (though I’d just as soon not hash out these particulars unaided by a cold drink!)  Aside from a few airline hassles, the flight went through without hitch and I was picked up by another Research Assistant (RA) working on the Hyena project.  Sunday we went around and began an errand list which was completed today.  These chores included buying groceries and supplies, acquiring research clearance from Kenya Wildlife Service, and car maintenance.  

About the garage where the car got fixed… turns out the owner is a 50 something year old British guy named Ian.  This is a guy I like and will enjoy any opportunity to spend time with.  The proud owner of three female English Black Labs, Ian is an avid bird hunter, dog trainer, and sit back and drink beer kind of story teller.  Apparently there are two hunting seasons for birds in Kenya, spring and fall.  Ian has even duck hunted in Africa… though significant bodies of water limit the opportunities, if located these hot spots have tons of ducks and a few often irritated hippos.  This came about after I saw some paintings of dogs retrieving ducks in Ian’s house, and I ventured to mention Gun (my Chesapeke Bay Retriever).  Needless to say this guy’s stories were tireless, and I think his reluctance to let us go only began to wane after we had set up a tentative time to continue the discussion over beer and photos from First Flight (our duck hunting club back in Michigan).

Greetings!

Hey all! I am super excited to be one of your windows into the world of the spotted hyena for the next 10 months, but before I do that, I guess I’d better tell you a little about myself.

My name is Tracy Montgomery, and while I hail from the sunny lands of Northern California, I have passed the last four years attending Amherst College in Massachusetts. I graduated in May, and spent my last year there researching the effects of estrogens on male fish reproduction (birth control pills, while a breakthrough for us girls, get into our waterways and have much less exciting effects on fish sperm). At Amherst, I worked at our Museum of Natural History, telling people all the cool things we learn from prehistoric bones and tracks while simultaneously being educated on dinosaur species by 6-year-old boys. I also played ultimate frisbee, learned how to deal with winter and to cross-country ski (skills that will obviously come in handy out here), and explored the stunning beauty of the northeast by foot, bike, and car.

I arrived in Nairobi two months ago on the same flight as the magnificent Meg, and a few days later drove to Talek camp, my home for the next year. And are we spoiled out here - fresh homemade food, a hot shower, and solar electricity are only a few of our camp amenities. I went out on obs that first night, promptly fell in love with the hyenas (and Chicopee, my hyena 'boyfriend'), and have been going back twice a day for obs ever since. There is nothing more amusing than observing a terrified male hyena courting and bowing to a female, and little more awesome (or disgusting) than watching hyenas make a kill. I’ve seen so many amazing things out here in just two months – the said hyena kill, a Masai Ceremony of the Women, and an extremely rare black rhino, just to name a few – that I can’t even imagine what the next 10 months hold in store for me.

Or for you, as I plan to share all these amazing experiences with all of you, starting with my next blog. Tutaonana, later!

Yet Another Andy

I’d like to take a minute to introduce myself. My name is Andy Booms and, yes, I’m actually the third Andy to post on this blog. I just finished my first year as a Ph.D. student in the lab and I’m out for my first field season. While I’m mainly here to get a feel for the conditions and limitations with regard to conducting research out here and to familiarize myself with the hyenas and basic hyena biology, I’m also hoping to test out some methods for my eventual dissertation work on gene flow among hyena populations throughout Kenya.

I know others have posted before on their initial impressions and experiences, but I can’t help but do the same, especially since Kay’s latest post provided the perfect segue. The drive down from Nairobi was incident-free (thankfully) and full of wildlife. I saw elephants, giraffes, wildebeest, zebras, ostriches, gazelles, and many other species before I even set foot in Talek camp. That night I heard my first real hyena whoop in person. It was so cool to have large carnivores off in the distance that it didn’t seem real. I spent the next few days going on obs and adding to my species list. Everything was better than I had imagined, especially the food (and hyenas too, of course).

Then, just yesterday, I moved to Serena camp to spend some time setting up trail cameras. News of recent activity in Serena had already reached Talek before I left: there was a dead hippo in the woods just outside of camp and it was attracting lions and hyenas each night. When I arrived at Serena I was happy to find that my tent was one of the closest to all of the activity; it was probably less than 100m away from the hippo itself. It certainly smelled like it was that close. We went about our evening obs as usual and returned at night to find hyenas already in camp, some only 30-40m from my tent. Then, during dinner, the lions arrived. We couldn’t see them but we could certainly hear them. The roars were so close and so powerful that I could feel them in my chest. Things seemed a little more real then. After dinner I walked to my tent, constantly scanning with my flashlight, and managed to get there in one piece and settle down for bed. The lions continued to roar, closer still, and hyenas could be heard running through camp throughout the night. They all wanted a shot at an easy meal. At some point elephants wandered by and stumbled upon the lions, and I awoke to a loud, angry trumpeting. I could also hear hippos grunting. At that point I just hoped I wouldn’t be trampled.

Morning came and I was still alive. The lions are reportedly still nearby, resting after a long night of eating, but so far this morning I’ve only seen a jackal moving around camp. Today we’ll go about our normal business and I’m sure when we get back tonight we’ll have an encore of last night. It’s important to point out, though, that the lions, hyenas, elephants, hippos, and everything else are generally unconcerned with us. They have better things to do than lurk around each corner or stalk us as we walk to our tents. We’re just bystanders who happen to have a front row seat for now. And it’s a seat I don’t mind having. It’s just another day in Serena camp, and my fifth day in Africa.

Hello from a new hyena blogger

Hey there hyena-fans! This is Camille Yabut, the current research assistant at Serena Camp in the west side of the Mara. I was told that, before we start our lengthy and hopefully enjoyable relationship, I should start off by introducing myself to all you lovely people. So, here we go, my obligatory intro post, which I'll try to trim down to the basics so that we can get into the stuff that's actually interesting.

I graduated from University of California, Davis in 2007 with a B.S. in Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, emphasis on Wildlife Biology. Much to my dismay, I ended up working at a corporate law firm for the two and a half years following graduation, rather than actually using the degree I'd worked so hard on. Finally (and hopefully before I'd completely sold my soul), last year I decided that I'd had enough and it was time to go back to doing what I loved, so I started looking into a) grad school, or b) a fieldwork job. In the midst of all of this, I got the job posting for the RA position with the MSU Hyena Project through the UCD WFCB alumni listserve. I was so excited to hear about an opportunity like this that I leapt to apply (ok, fine, so I more or less attacked the posting, sunk my teeth in and refused to let go... I occasionally wonder if I got the job just through sheer persistence).

So, lucky for me, Kay decided to give me a chance and here I am. I arrived in Kenya in early February, spent a few days tearing around Nairobi, and then as luck would have it, arrived for the first time in the Mara on my birthday (is that an awesome birthday gift or what?). I've been here for about 3 months now and I'm still loving it just as much as I did when I first got here.

Anyway, I've been lagging a little on the blogging (yeesh, a 3-month backlog of stories to share) but I'll try to actually start getting a post in here and there. Can't let Kenna and Andy have all the fun!

That should cover it, right? I promise the next time you hear from me, hyenas will actually feature. Take care 'til then!

An Introduction

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I have a real treat for you for the next eight months. At five feet, seven inches and 150 pounds, our newest blogger comes to us from Sacramento, California. This blonde haired, blue-eyed Amazonian queen has had a sundry past with research. Her insatiable appetite for adventure and field work has led to her partcipation in no less than five fact-finding missions. These include (1) an investigation of the broad-winged hawk's ability to recognize the coloration of the venomous coral snake, (2) a delving into the growth rates of invasive plant species, (3) an examination of the sexual communication of the greater sage-grouse, (4) an exploration of the long-necked and pig-nosed turtles of northern Australia, and (5) an analysis of the information encoded within the killer whale's call repertoire.

Her work with sage-grouse has been recognized by the Journal of Experimental Biology. And the Acoustical Society of America was honored to receive her in Paris, where she presented the preliminary results of her groundbreaking work with the orca. In 2008, she afforded the University of California, Davis the privilege of counting her among their alumni.

In the year following her graduation, she had a dark flirtation with environmental consulting and let's just all thank our lucky stars she has returned to the world of research to grace us with her presence.

She enjoys reading, ceramics, photography, and contemplating consciousness and the meaning of life. Her heroes include Marie Curie, Amelia Earhart, and Leslie Curren.

It is now my esteemed pleasure to present to you this night, the talented, the amazing, the ever modest, Kenna Lehmann!

Meet the new guys

Although we will all miss Kate's wonderful blog entries, we can now look forward to blog entries by our two new students, David Green and Jeff Smith (shown here watching Joey Verge check a camera trap at a striped hyena den in Shompole). Both Jeff & Dave joined the project in April, and Kate trained them before she left. They will be monitoring the spotted hyena clans on the western side of the Masai Mara.

In addition, Joey Verge (shown here atop our Landcruiser, listening for a lost striped hyena), who you may recall has been working on striped hyenas in Shompole, Kenya for the past several months, will be moving to the Mara later in June to work on spotted hyenas. Thus you can expect to see posts on this blog from all three of these guys in the coming months.