Father's Day Lions

On Father's Day, I had made my dad a sharpie-drawn cardboard sign reading "Happy Father's Day!" that I was hoping to hold in a picture with elephants or giraffes or something that is cool and relatively frequently seen and easier to get a picture of as it was already the day-of and I hadn't taken my picture. My thought was to take a picture then send to him via the interwebs (email) to let him know I was thinking of him on the day of Fathers. All day I hadn't had the opportunity to take any sort of animal photo and I thought I would have to settle for just a shot of me somewhere with the sign which is kind of boring compared to the original thought.  But then, late in the afternoon, our field assistant, Zach, came to Travis and I and told us that he had heard over the radio (the guards and wildlife patrol use radios to communicate) that group of lions had been spotted near the big dam.  We quickly all jumped in a vehicle to go see if they would still be there....seemingly unlikely because such wild animals rarely sit still, especially when people are trying to go see them. Amazingly the lions sat still!! They were at the spot where we were told they were spotted! This was my first time seeing lions; they are so cool and beautiful.  They were a fair distance away but there were 6 lions all sitting under trees being lazy but also not caring about all the multiple vehicles that started showing up (as word spread around the center).  

So, this was my chance, my Father's Day photo!  I got one or two!  Even though you can barely see the lions in the background they are still there in my Father's Day picture!  Yay!  After awhile the lions got tired of staring at all of us people staring back at them and moved on.  But as we drove away, we passed the big dam, there they were again!! This time they were sitting on top of the dam (a big, long dirt mound) and we were WAY closer than before!  This was such a great view of them and they just sat there again and stared back at all of us staring at them.  They stayed long enough for us to get even better pictures than the first round, especially using Travis' new camera that is able to zoom quite far.  Lions; beautiful and powerful creatures!  What a memorable Father's Day it ended up being! It was the day I got to see lions!  I haven't seen one since.  We were told it was rare to see such a large pride like that just chillin', 6 of them.  We were told that there may have been 9 in total.  I wish my dad could have been with me to see them!

That was definitely a cool experience.  I am hoping to see more....or any large cats for that matter (cheetahs, lions, or leopards).  I actually did get to see a leopard a few days later.  It walked in front of our vehicle as we were driving to hang out at river camp after dark.  Leopards, like most cats, are mostly out and about at night.  We had a really good view of it but weren't able to take any pictures since it was dark out and it didn't stick around long.  I was excited to see it!  Travis had seen one the week prior but I missed it, but not this time!

Lions, leopards, and cheetahs....Oh my!  I've seen them all now, but I want to see MORE!

Happy Father's Day to my Dad, Mark Kayser - the best dad!  Love you!

This was at the first place we saw lions.  Can you see them in the distance?
One is under the tree.

Zoomed a bit closer!

And a bit closer!

This is a young one.  It still has its baby-spots.

This is at the second location....the big dam.  See the one on top of the dirt pile?

So cool, right?

Beauties.

A Safari and and Orphanage

I had a blog written and almost ready to post when it suddenly and mysteriously was mostly deleted, (all but the opening statements).  I have no idea what happened but it is gone and I lost all my momentum and motivation to write it over again....sad days.  So, instead I will tell you about something else, until I can conjure up all that wit and humor that I was infusing in my last post which probably would be, in any other form, boring, ha ha!

Travis and I had the opportunity to join the field-school students for a little safari last week to a game conservancy about an hour away called Ol Pejeda.  It was pretty cool there!  The land was much more open than the land around Mpala (the ranch where the research center that I am staying at is located) and so you could see the animals really well as we drove around and there weren't many trees and bushes for them to hide behind.  There were tons of animals there and it was really fun to drive around and look at them. Elephants, zebra, impala, wart hogs, grants gazelles, water bucks, bush bucks, eland, lots of birds...and more. The two animals I hadn't seen yet were cape buffalo (they are so huge and mean looking) and rhinos (which are just incredibly enormous, crazy animals). I liked seeing the rhinos the best!  

The cute family of Black Rhino's we saw.

A melting pot of East African wildlife

He seems so uncomfortable:)  Another Black Rhino.

Don't mess with this cape buffalo! These guys are some of the
more dangerous ones out here.

Ol Pejeda game preserve is home to the endangered black rhino and southern white rhino.  But it is also home to 4 of the 7 remaining northern white rhinos on the planet.  The are making efforts to save them if they can.  Unfortunately they haven't been successful at fostering any offspring yet....but they still are hoping that it will happen.  Its crazy that we saw over half of the remaining population of this particular rhino left on the earth.  Rhinos have been in such decline due mostly to poaching and probably displacement.  Their horn is highly prized in certain parts of the world (like China) and it is big money for those who can supply (poach) them.  It is crazy to take down such a huge animal just to sell its horn. Unfortunately, these few species of rhino in particular are at risk to be completely annihilated if efforts are not taken to protect them.  They had one rhino on the preserve that is blind, named Baraka, who they keep in an pen because he would otherwise die in the wild.  We were able to pet him and feed him since they keep in fenced it so that he doesn't die.  It was crazy to be that close to one and to be able to touch it!  What a crazy looking and ginormous animal!  

Meet Baraka the Black Rhino

Part of the game preserve had a rehabilitation house for chimpanzees rescued from the animal trade.  I laughed so hard, here, at these chimps; they are so funny and human like...crossing their legs, using a twig as a tooth pick, standing up and walking, shading their eyes,picking their noses, throwing things...yeah, the throwing things was the funniest part.  The group of students was watching all these chimps and all of the sudden a few of them were rushing the fence and hurling dirt or poop or whatever at all of us. Even though there was a fence separating us, it was still startling to have the chimps rush the fence which produced screams from all the girls and then we would all crack up! It was all very funny and I think the chimps found it fun and amusing themselves.

Aw...so cute:)

Pucker up!

Just Chillin'

On another day I had the opportunity to go with the field school students to an animal orphanage.

The day started out kind of rough.  I got to skip out on a day in the field collecting data in exchange for a day of fun.  I went to the gate to meet the students to go about 9am.  I waited and waited and got to chat with the gate guard (called an "Ascari").  After a long delay I found out what happened.  One of the student vans was being driven to fill up with fuel at the center coming from river camp and the driver lost control or something on the super bumpy rough road and tipped the van on it side.  So, they had to get that tipped back up, moved and taken to the shop before the school leaders could find another vehicle to use to take to the orphanage.  I was surprised they still went for it!  The van had minor mechanical damage and was mostly just banged up on one side with a broken out window.  So, at about 11am we finally loaded up in the remaining van and in "kermit" the green landrover to go.  About half way there, kermit broke down. I guess, it was being driven in 4wd on the highway and it seized up.  We waited on the side of the road for about 30 min for help to come.  When help came we discovered the 4wd problem and it was put in 2wd and was able to continue on. So again, we overcame adversity:)

Kermit, broken down on the side of the road.

Anyway, back to the orphanage part....this place is a home to baby animals that have been found orphaned and are fostered to, hopefully, be released back into the wild.  It is also home to a few species of endangered animal that they are trying to breed and boost numbers.  And to be honest, it is also basically a glorified petting zoo for rich tourists.  It was fun to have up-close and personal contact with some cute, exotic animals. The cutest one, in my opinion, was the 5 week old baby giraffe!  It was so tiny by giraffe standards, about my height:)  We were able to feed it some corn kernels and pet it as it ran around the facility.  There were also some monkeys, a giant tortoise, some pygmy hippos, bongos, cheetahs, some other cat species, wart hogs, ostrich, and a bunch of birds.  They also had a zebroid which was really cool looking.  A zebroid is a hybrid of a horse and a zebra (my niece would love one of these).  I thought it turned out to be a really cool mix! Anyway, it ended up to be a fun day even with such a rough start and I am glad I had the opportunity to join!

Bongo

Pygmy hippo

Smile!  Actually more like, "feed me!"

Got to pet "Speedy"

Aw...the cute little baby giraffe (and Kat)

Iris feeding the sweet, little guy

Hanging out the the skunk monkey....actually called a
black and white colobus 

Feeding the bongo

The cool zebroid with the bongos

How'd I get talked into this?!?!

I found this post still in my draft box from over a year ago.  It appears to be unfinished but I thought I would summarize how it ended up now and let it out there:)

What did I get talked into, you might ask?  I got talked into running a flippin' marathon!  And it was here, in Antarctica!!!  Crazy, crazy, crazy. A marathon, that's fine right?  People do those quite often.  Its kinda normal. Well, yeah, but one,I didn't train a lick for it and two, it's in Antarctica, the harshest continent!  I've barely run since being here in Antarctica, like, seriously, only about 5 times (the 5k turkey trot, the 10k race, and about 3 times on the tred mill for maybe 3-4 miles).  So, how'd I get talked into attempting 26.2 miles? My farthest run prior was 13.1 miles in last year's half marathon and before that I topped out at 6 miles-ish as my longest.  I was talked into it by some others that also had never run a marathon and who also hadn't really trained.  We could all be naive together!  If they could do it, so could I right?  Those people were: Travis (the main convincer), Bev and Abe.  I was really undecided about it even up to the morning of the race.  I was tempted to just do the half again bc I knew I could do that bc I did it last year.  But...then, how cool would it be to say the one marathon I did, to cross it off the life-bucket list, of course, was in Antarctica?  But on the flip side, it is a HARD place to run!  It takes a lot of thought and prep to do it.  Like, what the heck do you wear??  It is COLD here and you have to dress warm but you also do get hot when you are running.  Layers, its all about layers.  But the weather is also unpredictable so it is hard to dial it down to be not too much and not too little. 

Summarized ending:  I did end up running the full marathon after all....probably a somewhat stupid idea in hindsight as I basically injured myself and was hobbling around for a solid 2 weeks after the race and still feel some of the repercussions occasionally (esp in one knee)!  But I am still glad I went for it! Bev and Abe were great marathon buddies....we were all equally unprepared and slow.  I think my time was around 5 something hours, if I remember correctly.  Travis DID NOT run with me...basically because he was too busy KILLING IT, ha ha!  He finished in 4 something hours and then proceeded to practically freeze to death waiting for me to finish:)  Running that race was probably one of the harder things I have done in my life...but only after mile 17 or so because that is when the hips and knees started to complain in the form of pain.  Afterward, I had absolutely no interest in running another marathon, but now, a year of forgetfulness later, I wonder how I would fair in warmer weather with a bit of training under my belt?  ha ha.  Kudos to any marathon finisher!  I still think all you Ironmen are absolutely crazy!

10 cool things about running the McMurdo, Antarctica Marathon:

1. One of the few places that the number of miles run for a summer marathon is more than the temperature in Fahrenheit (12F, -2 Wind-chill)
2. The entire marathon is run on top of the ocean
3. Tipping a cup of gatorade towards your mouth, only to be hit in the teeth by a solid block of ice
4. Energy bars were kept on the grill at aid ...stations to keep them thawed enough to eat
5. Band aids were placed on nipples not so much to avoid chafing, but as an additional layer against frost bite
6. Aid stations were stocked with hand warmers
7. Beardcicles and Snotcicles
8. Aid vehicles were snowmobiles
9. Fresh fruits and vegetables were not available for over a month before the race, nor were they available to help cramps during or after the race
10. The post marathon waddle could easily be mistaken for an emperor penguin

Out (in) Africa

I figured it was due time for another post since I have been silent for quite some time and some may be interested in my where-abouts and goings-on! I hope this can be of some entertainment as well and informative to you.

Jambo (hello)!!You've probably guessed it!...my latest adventure has taken me to the "wilds" of AFRICA; more specifically central Kenya (Laikipia District)!!   I will be spending the next 2.5 months, here, at a place called Mpala Research Center and Wildlife Foundation.  What am I doing here?  Why....thank you for asking!  Well, I was given the opportunity to join in on a scientific research project of a current grad student, majoring in Zoology, from the University of Florida.  Who is this grad student, you ask?  Let me tell you. Travis Guy is his name....and he also happens to be my boyfriend, tee hee!  Travis invited me along to help him out and to have another adventure on my last continental frontier (Africa)!

Travis, with my expert assistance, ha ha..jk;) is conducting an experiment, here, on a nature reserve, studying pollinators (ie. bees, butterflies....all those pollinating insects) and their networks (ie. the number of pollinating species connected to floral species, like a food web).  He is looking at how the pollination networks are strengthened or weakened by the simulated extinction of large and mega herbivores as well as how the pollination networks are affected across a rainfall gradient in an attempt to predict what effect climate change (via precipitation changes) will have on pollinators  Basically, we are spending time on different plots of land (6 to be exact) across the preserve that have been fenced off (simulating extinction) to keep out all large and mega herbivores (elephants, giraffes, impala, zebra, warthog, etc) and we are collecting data on whether the lack of these herbivores actually strengthens or weakens the pollination networks.  We are also collecting data outside these exclusion plots that are open to the large herbivores and we are comparing the two; exclusion vs open (we have to keep an eye out for the wild animals in the open plots!). We are hypothesizing that large herbivore extinction would weaken the networks, or in other words that the lack of biodiversity (the diversity of plant and animal species) is very important to the health of the ecosystem.  We think that the extinction of large herbivores would in the end weaken the pollination networks; that there would be fewer species of pollinators and fewer floral species.  Why is this bad?  Well, it allows for dominance of certain species (which I think is termed a "monoculture"), in flora and fauna, that would drive out (or kill off) other species that play important roles in the balance of this ecosystem.  Without the roles of the large herbivores in the ecosystem (ex. eating down certain dominant flora, fertilization, disturbance, etc) the ecological balance would be thrown off and cause a weak network (ie. few species of pollinators and pollination recipients), which is what Travis' study is concerned with, and cause a long term, negative change in the ecosystem that would be irreversible. Is this confusing?...I'm confused...ha ha!  Let's see...an elephant or giraffe, for example, might eat a certain kind of prickly-spiny bush (like an acacia..the token tree of East Africa), and even though it is "damaging" the bush it might also be allowing for the growth of another plant species that would otherwise be choked out by this dominant prickly plant species. And this "other" plant species that is now allowed a chance to grow, because of the elephant's or giraffe's munching, plays another vital role in the health of the ecosystem. A lack of biodiversity can eventually lead to wasteland conditions unable to support diversified life and so that "monoculture" develops and allows for those few dominate species to take over and kill off everything else. Basically, all these different plant and animal species are mutualistic (ie. connected to each other and mutually beneficial for survival and abundance in some way) and without the other, would not survive in the long run.  Does this make sense?  My brain in spinning too:) Onto to other things...

It has been interesting helping Travis to launch this project and get it going...its already been a lot of work!  Of course, there have been all the kinks to work out.  A project like this is basically trial and error.  Travis came up with an idea this past year while starting his program at UF and now he is here actually trying to put that idea into reality.  That can be a hard thing to do and there is no way to be fully prepared for it because you simply don't know everything ahead of time. Already, if we could go back 3 weeks in time and know what we know now, we could be much better prepared with all the supplies we didn't know we needed and all the plant and insect books we don't have, and the methods better worked out and all those field clothes and equipment that would have been really nice.  But such is life...live and learn, right?  Travis is doing a great job and is somewhat helping to pioneer research in this realm of pollination networks.  But everyday is faced with new challenges which he is working hard to surmount.  Keep it up, Travis!  Everyone says his project is more like a PhD level project... a lot of work and not a lot of time or resources.  They also seem to think that this project has the potential to be really awesome and have a greater impact beyond a mere thesis project.  When your hard work could make a difference in the world....that's cool.

Mpala Research Center, where I am staying, hosts researchers, professors, post doctorals, graduate students, undergrads, and a few "normal" people like me;)  It is set up with living accommodations and meals plans for those staying and working here.  It is a close-knit and friendly community.  There are numerous activities that go on to be involved with like game drives (to see wildlife), sun-downers (to hangout and watch the sunset), movie nights, BBQs, shopping trips (to get supplies or hang out in nearest shopping town), and probably more I have not experienced yet. Mpala also hires local Kenyans from the surrounding communities as employees: research assistants, guards, cooks, administration, and more. Travis has three local guys and one american girl (me;) working for him as field assistants to assist in collecting data and samples.  I feel this is not a bad place to spend a few months!  It is a beautiful area and full of nice people!

Travis and I have gone on quite a few game drives already in my first week of being here.  Luckily, Travis' advisor (who also does research here) has 2 Land Rovers (Travis' dream vehicle) that we have access to and use of!  Pretty sweet.  If we go for a game drive we usually go after our day's work for the hour or so before sunset.  That seems to be the time that lots of animals are roaming around.  I've only been here a short time and already have seen SO much!  It is still so crazy to me to see things like giraffes, elephants, hippos, cheetahs, and zebras in the WILD!  I've only seen such things in zoos and I can't help but think of them as zoo escapees!  But they are natives here and the craziest looking animals with their dramatic size, colors, and patterns.  It is really awesome to get to see!  I've been keeping a list of all the wild life I've seen and it is already getting long!  Here is my list thus far:

• greater kudu
• harda beast
• impala
• thompsons gazel
• grants gazel
• spotted hyena
• jackel
• wart hog
• giraffe
• elephant
• cheetah
• bush buck
• grevy's zebra
• common zebra
• dik dik
• vervet
• baboon
• genet
• lepoard tortoise
• mongoose
• hyrax

So...yes...Elisha has become a scientist, ha ha, not really but this is definitely a new realm for me to wet my fingers in.  Sometimes I feel a little out of place with all these sciency folk doing their sciency stuff, talking their sciency talk, but then I've become one of them for a time and I am learning a lot doing it.  I don't see myself becoming a actual scientist after this but it is interesting to be a part of for a time and I'm getting an awesome opportunity to see into this crazy world of research as well as being in this beautiful, exotic,wild, and interesting place!

Mpala Research Center and Wildlife Foundation : http://www.mpala.org
Mpala Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MpalaResearchCentre

Vervet

Greater Kudu

Travis and Leopard Tortoise

Curious Calvin

Impala

The three amigos (cheetahs)

On a game drive sitting on top of the Land Rover named Kermit

See all the hanging bird nests?  

Common Zebra...though not so common to me

Hippos in the hippo pool

Pinning the daily (insect) catch

Genet

Catching some bugs

Munching Elephant

Grevy's Zebra - Highly Endangered