Taking advantage of the wifi while we're still in St Lucia! :) Ok, so the research we're helping with. It's very interesting. So one of the issues happening in SA is that in some ways there are too MANY elephants. There are really no non-fenced animals, they're all in reserves or private land. Because they can't migrate like they used to, they do more destruction to the ecosystem, AND their young and old aren't picked off as much as they used to be. Herd growth in limited areas spells trouble. They're trying a new form in contraception which will hopefully have less of a negative impact on the elephant herds than other kinds.
What we're doing is going out, counting the elephants, IDing them, watching their social interactions and their impact on the surrounding environment. With other forms of elephant contraception the change in hormones have created big issues in the herd (pushing elephants out, causing strife etc). One worry with this kind is how the females will react to their babies...will they coddle them more than they "should", and for longer because there's not another baby on the way, or will they kick the calves out sooner...? Will it change how the females interact? Will the females react differently to the males? All these things are very important, so we go out every day looking for them.
There's this invasive plant that has just taken over, so another of our jobs is to work to remove as much of it as we can. It's truly amazing how far it's spread. It arrived....hmm....back in the '60s?? Not sure exactly when, but it arrived in horse feed and has spread over the whole country. It's called...hmm, I'll have to go find out what it's called.
What we're doing is going out, counting the elephants, IDing them, watching their social interactions and their impact on the surrounding environment. With other forms of elephant contraception the change in hormones have created big issues in the herd (pushing elephants out, causing strife etc). One worry with this kind is how the females will react to their babies...will they coddle them more than they "should", and for longer because there's not another baby on the way, or will they kick the calves out sooner...? Will it change how the females interact? Will the females react differently to the males? All these things are very important, so we go out every day looking for them.
There's this invasive plant that has just taken over, so another of our jobs is to work to remove as much of it as we can. It's truly amazing how far it's spread. It arrived....hmm....back in the '60s?? Not sure exactly when, but it arrived in horse feed and has spread over the whole country. It's called...hmm, I'll have to go find out what it's called.
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