The next step

The last days in Kenya are a whirl of emotions for any RA, and I was no exception. On July 18th, I had to say goodbye to my hyenas, my coworkers, and my newfound home to fly back to the US. I kept myself busy with sundowners, horseback riding in Nairobi, and movie watching as my departure crept closer and closer. 

Despite not climbing on a horse in ten years, I didn't fall off! I suspect Richard, my true and stalwart steed, had a lot to do with that. 

There were tears to be sure, but on the whole I didn't fare too badly. I can thank my taxi driver, who chatted with me all the way to the airport, and a fellow airplane passenger, with whom I talked for most of one of my flights, for keeping me upbeat and distracted while traveling home. They delivered me safely into the arms of my family who were more than happy to whisk me home and listen to my many, many Kenya stories. 

The transition from Kenya back to my childhood home is a bit of an odd one. In some moments, jumping back into my old life is very easy. Obviously the house I lived in for 21 years is familiar and I fall into the same patterns I've always had pretty quickly. It's certainly been nice to have access to a veritable wonderland of food, AC, and internet. In other moments, I am launched back to Kenya. I find myself watching for biting ants while walking around barefoot outside, or jumping when some animal moves in the backyard. Even with frequent updates from folks still in the field (thanks Robyn!) I miss the hyenas around whom my life revolved for so long. As I settle back in, I'll do my best to savor the wonderful memories of the year I had while still enjoying the place I am now. 

In at least one notable way, my life is going to be a little different than the average homecoming RA's. My time in Kenya may be done, but I'm not through with this lab yet! Come August, I'll be taking over as the new lab manager for the MSU Hyena Project. With my prior experience volunteering in the lab last year, and some training from our outgoing manager, hopefully I'll be able to step up to the challenge of this new job. After a year of hyena wrangling, camp managing, and the general chaos that every RA experiences, I bet every other job will feel like a breeze!

It's an Alien Invasion!

Many here in the Mara come to associate the months of June, July, and August with the influx of seas of wildebeest, Thomson's gazelle, zebra, more wildebeest, elands, topi, and yet MORE wildebeest, among others.

Have I mentioned there's lots of wildebeest yet?

But following these great herds, another intruder from a far distant land probes its way into the region. Having left its mothership far behind, this wanderer traverses the vast plains of the savanna, looking for any sign of intelligent life - a new home perhaps, a new family into which it may be abducted.

Back at home for our Talek hyenas, small signs of change begin to appear. Perhaps that crunching of bones around the corner isn't coming from your cousin, but from another life form, someone strange and new. And following the droves of food, more and more begin to arrive, peering in on your family with an eager and inquisitive eye. Beware: the alien males are invading!

AL516 was first sighted on July 4th. Our very own Independence Day invasion!

While the migration is primarily herbivorous in nature, it provides an ideal opportunity for dispersing males to find a new home and new clan by following the rich source of food. As these individuals follow the herd, they may slowly begin to drop off into new territories they find suitable, if and only if the natal hyenas accept them into the clan ranks.

As a result of this, our researchers have been bombarded with sighting after sighting of these wandering aliens (as if ID-ing for this new researcher wasn't hard enough!). And if they do choose to associate themselves with our Talek clan and try to stay in the region, they face a monumental task. A newcomer into the clan automatically falls to the bottom of the rank hierarchy and must battle constant aggressions from higher ranked females trying to ensure the security of their land and food sources for them and their families. Gradually, a lucky male with the right amount of appeasement (and a whole bunch of polite behavior) will come to be accepted into the clan. If we at Fisi Camp see an alien hanging out with the clan at least 3 times, he will be given a name and the attachment will be official in our books!

NYC is the most recent addition to Talek Clan and likes to hang out with the Pond hyenas. Who will be next?

For the size of Talek clan in its entirety, the number of immigrant males is relatively small in proportion, comprising perhaps 10% of the current population. To be accepted into the clan, though fundamental to the prevention of inbreeding while mating, is rare considering the tradeoffs involved with sharing food and resources with a stranger. Over the past month of research, our forays into Talek territory have brought us into contact with at least 6 aliens, and the migration is just beginning. Who, if anyone, will join the ranks of our clan this season? Which of our natal males will adopt a nomadic lifestyle and wander away with the migration to invade far off territories?

Stay tuned to find out!

My last adventures in Kenya

I am sad to say my time in the Mara has come to an end. I have learned so much and have created a big family here. I wish I could stay here forever with my hyena friends, but it is time to continue my journey and to explore this country in its fullest.

I am planning a 4 week journey from the tip top of Kenya all the way to the bottom.
This past year I have only been immersed within the Maasai culture and people, but there are 51 other cultures that make up Kenya as a whole. Kenya is not just one large piece of land with wild animals roaming around. It is most certainly not the "barren African terrain" we think of when we watch documentaries on the native people who live in Africa.

Kenya is a unique and flourishing country with many resources similar to larger countries. It has large cities, comparable to places like Los Angeles and Chicago. Kenya is home to the famous Rift Valley; it has many national wildlife parks, famous lakes and many other tourist attractions. I have found some of these tourist oases throughout the country and hope to find new adventures at ever destination. I will begin my journey in the largest city in Kenya - Nairobi.

I have not planned out any specific destination in any particular order, because I want to make this trip as fluid as possible. I want this trip to be surprising and spontaneous. I do want to visit all of the major cities and branch to surrounding towns. The only way to finding the best local restaurants and local social events is by ear and safely exploring the local towns.

The City of Mombasa
On the coast of Kenya, this is the second largest city in Kenya per capita. I have only been to the coast once with my colleagues. We we took a mini vacation to Diani Beach which is not too far from the big city Mombasa.

I have been told the people on the coast are very happy to meet tourists and are awesome people to talk to. #coastvibes.

Kisumu City
Kisumu is the Land of Dholuo people. They are known for fishing and making amazing fish dishes for affordable prices. This is where Lake Victoria is located, one of the largest lakes in Kenya.

Nakuru
Home to Lake Naivasha, the lake sits at the highest elevation in the rift valley. Lake Naivasha has may different types of wildlife to view, but its most famous to see pink flamingos here.

Samburu
In the center of Kenya, it is extremely hot and home to Samburu National Park where you will find many of the same types of animals you would find in the Maasai Mara.

Laikipia
Located directly on the equator, it also have many tour camps and is still one of the only places you can see Wild-African Dogs and both the White and Black Rhinos. One of my friends visited this place and referred me to go. This is a must see.

I have plenty to keep me busy for my trip. I hope to learn something new about Kenya so that when I do go home I can share it with everyone I know.

The MSU Hyena project has created so many awesome opportunities for many students and I am grateful to have been apart of such a great group. To my cohort of RAs I will miss you all and this would not have been the same without you! I know you all are going off and pursuing other extraordinary things in your lives and I know you all are going to excel in all you do. Keep it up Fisi Team. Nakupenda pia pia. Until we meet again, tuonane baadaye.

Asanta sana Kenya for giving me the trip of a lifetime.

Hello, Goodbye: Fission-fusion Dynamics at work

Like many human beings in our modern, interconnected world, I am a wanderer.  I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A., where much of my family still lives.  I have lived and worked in California (north and south!), Michigan, Idaho, and Montana.  I have visited Mexico, England, France, and Italy.  Now I call Kenya my second (or third? or fourth? I forget...) home.

As a result of traveling to many different places - with my family, for various jobs, and on school and church trips - I have learned a hard lesson: how to say goodbye.

Goodbyes are never easy.  But we experience them frequently.  As humans today, we often end up loving many people who are scattered across our region (city/county/province/state), our country, or even the globe.  We grow up, and then we move and part ways with our childhood friends.  We graduate from high school or college and have to leave the people we knew there behind.  We change jobs, lose our relationships with the people at one workplace, and have to start building such relationships again somewhere else.  We have to learn to conduct ourselves in a wide variety of social situations, adjusting to the fluid circumstances and changing memberships of an astonishing number of different types of social groups, moving between groups as life leads us in new directions, saying hello to new friends and then almost as quickly saying goodbye.

We think of this bittersweet reality as a uniquely human experience.  Yet there are other animals who live in complex societies like ours, meeting and interacting with many different individuals over the course of their lifetimes and having to watch them come and go.  Such societies are known as "fission-fusion" societies.  In fission-fusion societies, the size and composition of a social group can change rapidly, as individuals come together (fuse) or split up (fission) to adapt to varying circumstances.  Examples of species that exhibit this dynamic social structure include chimpanzees, bottlenose dolphins, African elephants, and... spotted hyenas!

Although a clan of spotted hyenas can number, on average, between 20 and 60 individuals, all of those individuals don't get to see each other all of the time.  The clan will typically split into smaller subgroups to hunt, rest, or travel, but come together again to defend a common resource such as the communal den.

Within our "Talek West" clan in the Mara, we have recently been watching fissioning, or splitting, happening, as the entire clan has started to separate into three distinct subgroups: the "Main DOC" group who frequent "Main Den One Creek", the "Pond" group who hail from Pond Lugga, and the "KCM" group, or "Kinda C M" group, so named because we can only "kinda" see them at their den.  Each of these groups has its own separate communal den, and for the most part we have been seeing the hyenas associating only within their particular group.  Furthermore, we have seen the groups aggressing intensely on each other over resources such as food, to the point of one group banding together to chase another off a resource.  All of the data hasn't been analyzed yet, but there is a high possibility that these three subgroups are fissioning into three separate clans - or already have!

However, we have also seen hyenas from the different subgroups walk past each other and ignore each other completely, and we have also seen (rarely) a few exceptional hyenas involving themselves with more than one group.  So it is still unclear whether this is a true, permanent fission into separate clans or not.  In any case, there is clearly some kind of division happening within the clan.

In some cases, this fissioning has split up entire families.  For example, Twister is in the Main Doc group, but Twister's sister, Parcheesi, and mother, Adonis, live with the KCM group, and Twister's niece, Bonnet, lives in the Pond group.  Although these four hyenas are related, we do not see them interacting now that they are in different subgroups.

Adonis, an adult female hyena.  Her family is now scattered across three different subgroups of the Talek West clan.

Why the split?  It is hard to tell at this stage.  Studies have shown that animals can reach both an ecological or environmental "carrying capacity" (the environment can only provide enough resources for a certain number of individuals at a time) and an upper limit to their affiliative, or bonding, abilities (each individual animal can only maintain a certain number of affiliative bonds or "friendships" with other individuals at a time).  A variety of social and ecological factors can work together to make a group of animals change membership, grow or divide.  Some examples of such factors are described in the references I list below this post.

As for me, my current physical "fission" from my family, required by my being in another country, is not a permanent social split by any means!  But as I have split from them temporarily, I have also joined paths ("fused") with many new, wonderful people who have entered my life through the Hyena Project.  And while I do not look forward to the day I have to say goodbye to my "Fisi Family", I do look forward to seeing my family in the United States again.

So it goes in our fission-fusion society.  Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again.

References (for more information):
http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/900/1/grooming_final_No_highlight_2nd_rev_Anim_Behav.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3638441/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347208001814
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227873160_Fission_of_a_Spotted_Hyena_Clan_Consequences_of_Prolonged_Female_Absenteeism_and_Causes_of_Female_Emigration
http://www.princeton.edu/~icouzin/Couzin%20Current%20Biology.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fission%E2%80%93fusion_society

Sending samples home, and taking "Papa" Joseph to Nairobi

Every year Dr. Kay E. Holekamp comes out to the Mara Hyena Project to check on how research is going, work some field magic with Benson, update manuals, obtain new research permits from the Kenyan government, and generally clean up camp. It is great having her here to learn from, and to validate your abilities as a researcher under one of the greatest. However, there is one part that we all, including Kay, dread about Kay’s visit. When Kay heads back to the states, she also has to take back all of the biological samples we have acquired over the past year. This usually means we all spend the last day before Kay drives to Nairobi trying to extract DNA from our samples, while fighting with wind, monkeys, and a non-sterile environment. The next morning Kay, along with Dee White and two RA’s, will have to drive extra carefully up to Nairobi with liquid nitrogen (LN2) tanks full of our samples. Then on the following day we will buy dry ice for shipping, and spend the rest of the day carefully dumping the samples out of the LN2 tanks, while Kay and Dee get frostbitten fingers as they grab and pack samples into the dry ice cooler. Needless to say it’s a lot of work and a lot of stress.

This year was a little different. While we had a lot of difficulties getting the sample transfer permits, we did not have to do DNA day!!! Due to some recently developed technology, we can now obtain and immediately freeze off samples, which allow us to extract both DNA and RNA back in the states after the freezing process. In addition, instead of taking two RAs up to Nairobi this year, Kay took “Papa” Joseph and myself up. This was the second time I have made this sample transfer trip, as I had done it before as an RA in 2013, but this was the first time Joseph had ever been to Nairobi!!!

First the car trip: The drive up to Nairobi this year took 8 ½ hours, consisting of bumpy roads, giant potholes, flat tires, heavy traffic, and one diversion due to a car pile-up. This didn’t faze Joseph at all who spent the majority of the ride up looking like a Hollywood star.

"Papa" Joseph

Day Two: After a night to recover we drove downtown to pick up dry ice to pack the samples. Unfortunately, when we showed up the dry ice machine was broken, and it was the only one publically available in Nairobi!! Thankfully, after about 45 minutes of gut wrenching terror, they got the machine working. After that we sped back to the cottage, and spent the rest of the afternoon transferring the samples from the LN2 tanks to the dry ice coolers. Descriptively, it was basically Joseph and I overturning one LN2 tank into another with a funnel filter in-between. When samples fell into the funnel Kay and Dee would grab them, sort them, and pack them into dry ice.

We ended up only using four boxes.......

Sophisticated tools for obtaining biological samples from -196 Celsius liquid Nitrogen
Yes, that is a broom and a stick 

The tanks are not too heavy, just really awkward to pour while avoiding the freezing liquid

The whole process took approximately 2 to 3 hours, after which we taped up and labeled the coolers for transport. With that done we got cleaned up, and Kay treated us all to a nice dinner, and somehow Joseph still managed to look cool as a cucumber.

He looked great. I looked like I had fallen in a ditch

Day Three: Kay and Dee fly out in the evening, which means finding a way to get all of their field gear, as well as the sample coolers, into big bags that weight less than 50 pounds. This requires a lot of packing, unpacking, and repacking while a few individuals stand on a scale and subtract their own weight from the bag and person weight. Joseph and I both weigh as much as a hyena, that’s all we are saying. You will have to look up your hyena facts in earlier blogs if you want to know how much that is.

The coolers were all close to weight limit to begin with

Somehow we managed to get it down two four duffel bags under weight limit

Once packed, we relaxed until the big taxi came to take Kay and Dee to the airport.

Day Four: “With the cat gone the mice will play!”……….not. 

As with nearly every Nairobi trip there are errands that need to be run, so Joseph got a chance to experience downtown traffic while we turned in samples at Kenyan Wildlife Services, and began the process of getting student research passes with the Kenyan Immigration Department for incoming students. Thankfully, one of our other errands was to drop off collected hyena skulls to the National Museum osteology department, so Joseph and I got a chance to walk around the museum.

It was a great museum

Lot of culture

A bit of science

And some amazing art

Day Five: July 7^th is actually a holiday in Kenya, so Joseph and I took our time sleeping in. Then we checked out Kazuri beads (http://www.kazuribeads.co.uk/), which was started as a way for single mothers to support themselves, and the giraffe center (http://giraffecenter.org/) where the public can get up close and personal with giraffes while learning about local conservation efforts. If you want to see the video of Joseph making out with a giraffe, you are going to have to ask him. Finally, we got our real reward for helping Kay get her samples home safely, by spending the evening at a fancy restaurant known for its fine steaks.

Joseph looking high class with his "virgin" fruit cocktail surprise

Day six: We refilled the LN2 tanks, and shopped for camp supplies, during which I found out that Joseph was a lucky charm for getting through traffic jams.

Day seven: We inventoried the cottage finding relics of decades past research projects, including Kay’s first ever laptop that I could use as a free weight!

Day eight: I returned to the Mara, while Joseph headed home to his family.

All in all it was not the worst sample transfer ever, and it was certainly not a bad Nairobi trip, but I’m very happy to be back in the Mara, and Joseph is happy to relax in his home. I can also report that Kay and Dee made it home well, and that the samples have made it safely into the freezers.

Until next time, "say goodbye Joseph"

"Kwaheri!"

Behold, the Mongoose!

Every morning in Serena camp, a little parade of mongooses comes down the hill to forage for insects (or table scraps) by our lab table. We have become enamored with their pointy noses and tiny paws, their fierce natures and insatiable lust for food, and I want to share these incredible creatures with you.

Mongooses make up the family Herpestidae – closest genetic cousins of our dear hyaenids. There are 26 species of mongoose, but only six of those species live in the Mara, and we have only seen two of them in camp.

The first group of mongooses to appear in camp were the dwarf mongooses (Helogale parvula), East Africa's smallest carnivore.

These tiny red critters are diurnal and highly social, living in groups of up to 25 individuals. We seem to have around ten that visit us in camp, chirping and whistling to each other as they pass by. Though they look harmless enough at a distance, when we see them up close, we can see the impressive length of their claws, and when they yawn, we can see their sharp little canines. They feed on invertebrates and small reptiles (and occasionally our leftovers – they are particularly fond of egg yolks).

The second group of mongooses is comprised of four banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) that we have named Sneezy, Penelope, Rusty, and Barnaby.

These mongooses are the most abundant and frequently-seen mongoose species in the Mara, being diurnal, social (living in clans of up to 40 individuals), and more than twice the size of the dwarf mongooses.

Banded mongoose social groups are led by a dominant female, and they den together in termite mounds or unused burrows. They go out daily to forage for insects by digging them out of the ground; a few members of the clan will forage while others stand on two legs and stay on the lookout for danger. They are extremely vocal, using churring calls, twitters, and grunts to keep track of each other as they forage, and loud alarm calls when there is danger. Their greatest threat comes from the sky – Martial eagles will swoop down and grab a mongoose, but others of the clan might actually mob the eagle and free their captured clan-mate.

 

Most often, we see the two species at separate times of day, but occasionally, they have come to forage and argue over scraps together. This often results in amusing, squeaking alarm whistles from the dwarf mongooses as they flee the approach of the bandeds, but not always! Just the other day we saw one of the dwarf mongooses "bark" twice at a banded mongoose and advance toward it to scare it off the scrap of food it had found! We think the banded mongoose was just so impressed at the ferocity of the dwarf mongoose that it decided to let him have it and move on to some tasty morsel elsewhere.

We are so lucky to get to see the lives of so many wild animals up close here in the Mara, and the mongooses have become one of my favorite parts of living here.

Resources: Animals of the Masai Mara by Adam Scott Kennedy and Vicki Kennedy, The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals by Jonathan Kingdon

Looking for leopards

Leopards are about the rarest of the cat species we see out here and for me at least, they’re the most exciting to spot. Highly elusive, a leopard can disappear into a tiny thicket without a trace. If you see a leopard, it’s because the leopard has chosen to be seen. Because of this, seeing a leopard always feels a little bit magical, as you’ve been specially chosen to witness their majesty.

For ex. a horde of tour cars looking at a cheetah.

However, with the unregulated tourism on this side of the park that magic is often stolen away. My first leopard sighting was of a small leopard head sticking up above the bushes with tour cars surrounding it, one parked no more than 2 meters away. According to rules no tour cars are supposed to go off-track and they’re definitely not supposed to approach any closer than 20 meters to any carnivore. Seeing that leopard just made me feel sad. In addition, finding an animal because you’ve spotted a mass of tour cars take away all the fun of stumbling upon an animal all by yourself. With tourists present, it starts to feel a bit like a zoo and a little less wild.

Leopard late one evening in a tree along Den One Creek.

My second leopard sighting was also one that we were alerted to by a tourist. Just one tourist vehicle this time, parked at the base of a tree. It was past sunset and the mini-bus zoomed off as we approached, apparently thinking we might be rangers (all tour cars are supposed to be back the their lodges by sunset). We drove up to the tree and in the darkness I was just barely able to snap a photo of the leopard, watching us from above the branches. He’d probably been harassed by tourists all day so we didn’t stay long. This tree was near the eastern end of Den One Creek.

Third leopard sighting (4th July AM)

A few days ago I had a third leopard sighting (I know, I said they were rare!). This one was a really nice sighting, even though there were two tour cars present. Both tour cars were keeping their distance, staying on the track about 50m away from the leopard. He or she was relaxing on a mound just at the edge of a thicket near a place where our hyenas used to den. This sighting was also along Den One Creek.

We had two guests in camp that week, but unfortunately we only had one of their phone numbers and their phone was working at the moment! We stayed for about fifteen minutes then started driving back to camp where we managed to intercept our guests, also driving back to camp. I hopped into their car and we drove back to the leopard, but unsurprisingly she was gone. However, we now had a hint about this leopard. Two sightings along Den One Creek made us think that this leopard was living here for the time being.

It was the fourth of July so we decided to game drive and do a sundowner that evening. Just in case the leopard was still hanging about we decided to drive the length of Den One Creek nice and slowly. Now, this is something about leopard sightings: you never find a leopard when you’re looking for one. You only see them just when you’re not expecting one. Two and half years ago when I was an RA here in Kenya I’d stumbled upon a leopard and phone called some guests we had in camp to come take a look. We’d watched the leopard go into a very small clump of bushes and not leave. Alas, when the guests showed up we couldn’t for the life of us, find the leopard. We determined that he must have snuck off. The guests left and we started driving back to the road when the leopard again leaps from the bushes and starts trotting off through the grass just when we were least expecting it!

Leopard 4th July PM in a tree with the skin and legs of a wildebeest. 

However, that night, on the fourth of july, we did indeed find the leopard! We had almost reached the end of Den One Creek and were starting to stare at the bushes with less intensity and started to talk of looking for elephants when boom! Leopard in a tree above Den One Creek! She had the remains of a wildebeest calf with her dangling from a branch. She climbed into a higher part of the tree where she was obscured just a few seconds after we spotted her. If any of us had glanced the other way we wouldn’t have seen her at all. Another minute later she jumped down to the thicket below the tree and was completely gone.

Now that, was how a leopard sighting should be! Not a single tourist in sight and a fleeting glimpse where she posed just long enough to get a few nice photos. We were elated! We continued driving around for another half an hour, enjoying the evening sunlight and then decided to head back to camp. We took the direct route through Coucal Crossing which crosses the farthest western edge of Den One Creek. And…

Leopard 4th July PM walking through Coucal Crossing. 

Leopard! The same leopard was walking through the crossing directly in front of our car. She crouched low as she walked across the open dirt, as if stalking prey, before walking into the bushes. We waited for a few minutes then spotted her again, walking down through the bushes to the left of our car and back into the lugga (creek) behind us.

Leopard 4th July PM disappearing into the thicket. 

This was three leopard sightings in one day, two for our guests! All three of the same leopard. This sighting ranks up with the very best leopard sightings I’ve ever had. You can’t ask for better: no tourists and out in the open giving us an unobstructed view. This also ranked as my best fourth of july ever. What better way to enjoy the holiday than out on safari in the beautiful Maasai Mara with the best wildlife viewing in the world.

Afterwards, we drove up to the hill behind our camp to enjoy a few drinks as the sun went down and the sky got dark. No fireworks for us! Just a stunning leopard gracing us with her presence!