And The Winner Is... Kate!

The voting has closed and congratulations to Kate! After more than two years of blog posts, her timeless classic "Animals Have Brains Too (Part II)" dominated the non-scientific poll of hyena blog followers. With a whopping 49% of the votes, she crushed the competition like a hyena with a bone. Thanks to everyone who voted and helped celebrate the two year anniversary of the blog. Also, a huge "thank you" to Professor Kay Holekamp and all the students in her entourage who have helped share these great stories from Africa.

As proud winner of the poll, Kate has won bragging rights along with a hearty congratulations from all. Live it up Kate and feel free to post a lengthy acceptance speech in the comment field below!

Two Years of Great Hyena Blog Stories

Two years ago, Professor Holekamp launched this blog as a way to share some of the great stories involving MSU students and their hyena research in Kenya. To mark the two year anniversary and highlight some of the interesting stories shared on the blog, we've put together a poll based on audience recommendations of their favorite stories. Cast your vote and we'll reward the winning author with all the glory and bragging rights we see fit: http://twtpoll.com/7hsmqf




In case you are not familiar with all the posts, use the search box or Blog Archive on the lower left to find these gems. Enjoy!

What Are Your Favorite Hyena Blog Stories?

The Notes From Kenya blog is about to hit several milestones: two years of blogging and 200 posts. This is a perfect time to reflect on the success and gather some feedback (and have a friendly little competition among bloggers past and present).

There have been some remarkable stories shared here and we'd like your input as to which ones indeed are the best. Yes, we can look at the Google Analytics data and see that we've had 44,000 visits from people in 154 countries. That same data shows Kay's Birth Through A Soda Straw post was the most popular. This was followed closely by Kate's Mythbusters and Thrill of the Hunt and then Kay's very first post Lion-Hyena Fight.

Yet, as with many things, the numbers don't always give the entire story. Other media coverage, press releases, search engine optimization and external forces sometimes skew these numbers. For example, Kate's Crazy Things Guys Do For Girls was a big hit on Facebook; Kenna's Necropsies grossed many people out; Andy's Jingle Bells offered a twist on the holiday travel stories; and Leslie's Running in Kenya brought some visitors to the blog who were expecting personal fitness related stories.  

So to mark the two year anniversary of the blog, we'd like to determine the "Fan Favorite" hyena blog post. To phrase this another way, we are going to conduct a poll.

This is where we need your help. Nominate your favorite blog post(s) using the comment space below. We'll collect the nominations and do a poll among the most popular stories. What stories are the most memorable? What stories have you enjoyed the most or passed along to friends? The comment thread is open, so please nominate as many as you like. (And yes, we do expect hyena blogging alumni to enlist their family and friends to vote for their own pieces).

Then we'll compile the nominations and put a poll up in a couple weeks. The blog post with the most votes will win. The writer of the Fan Favorite post will receive bragging rights and a pat on the back from Kay (unless the post is by Kay in which case she'll need some acknowledgement from the folks at Fisi Camp).

If you need help finding a post, use the search box or keywords listed on the left. There are plenty of great stories from the bloggers, so have at it friends and let us know what you like the best. We'd love to hear from all of our readers, so please post your comments. Thank you!