 |  |
This summer was my first experience with field biology, and it definitely won't be my last. For 2 months, 6 days a week, I woke up before sunrise and spent the next 10 hours following a troop of olive baboons. It was exhausting, invigorating, and immensely educational.
The baboon troop I was studying live in Kibale National Park in Western Uganda, a protected area of previously logged and now regrown tropical forest. The park is home to a multitude of other species, including chimpanzees, red colobuses, red-tail monkeys, L'Hoest monkeys, black and white colobuses, gray-cheeked mangabeys, elephants, bushbucks, forest hogs, a couple of venomous snakes, and more.
I was studying group movement and leadership behavior, with a focus on decision-making while foraging. I wanted to see how social relationships influence the ability to lead and how leaders determine the end destination. This troop of baboons very frequently raids the farms surrounding the park, so I thought it was important to know which individuals make foraging decisions for the group. Baboons are really fascinating to study because they have long-term friendships and dominance structures that influence many realms of their behavior. Studying baboons is like watching a soap opera-- lots of drama.
I lived at the Makerere Biological Field Research Station along with a dozen other primatologists. I was also able to travel to another national park in Uganda, Murchison Falls, and saw a ton of amazing wildlife. I was lucky to see a ton of the most endangered subspecies of giraffe, the Rothschild giraffe, as well as hippos, elephants, warthogs, lions, and more! I also went to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, which hopes to inevitably repopulate Uganda’s national parks with white rhinos.
Field research is incredible, and this summer helped me realize how I want to spend the next chapter of my life. It is really special to watch wild animals in their natural habitat, and I’m looking forward to studying other species in the future. Although the field experience part of my research is over, I’ll be analyzing the data throughout this year for my senior thesis in Integrative Biology. I’m really excited to see how my first research project turns out!
The baboon troop I was studying live in Kibale National Park in Western Uganda, a protected area of previously logged and now regrown tropical forest. The park is home to a multitude of other species, including chimpanzees, red colobuses, red-tail monkeys, L'Hoest monkeys, black and white colobuses, gray-cheeked mangabeys, elephants, bushbucks, forest hogs, a couple of venomous snakes, and more.
I was studying group movement and leadership behavior, with a focus on decision-making while foraging. I wanted to see how social relationships influence the ability to lead and how leaders determine the end destination. This troop of baboons very frequently raids the farms surrounding the park, so I thought it was important to know which individuals make foraging decisions for the group. Baboons are really fascinating to study because they have long-term friendships and dominance structures that influence many realms of their behavior. Studying baboons is like watching a soap opera-- lots of drama.
I lived at the Makerere Biological Field Research Station along with a dozen other primatologists. I was also able to travel to another national park in Uganda, Murchison Falls, and saw a ton of amazing wildlife. I was lucky to see a ton of the most endangered subspecies of giraffe, the Rothschild giraffe, as well as hippos, elephants, warthogs, lions, and more! I also went to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, which hopes to inevitably repopulate Uganda’s national parks with white rhinos.
Field research is incredible, and this summer helped me realize how I want to spend the next chapter of my life. It is really special to watch wild animals in their natural habitat, and I’m looking forward to studying other species in the future. Although the field experience part of my research is over, I’ll be analyzing the data throughout this year for my senior thesis in Integrative Biology. I’m really excited to see how my first research project turns out!
RSS Feed