The Masai Mara of Kenya is full of incredible wildlife. While I was working on the hyena project in the Mara, I took these photographs. Here is a glimpse of some of the species that hang out in this region. Lions Mating behavior Relaxing lions Elephants Cheetahs Giraffes This giraffe died from naturally occurring anthrax. The
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I have received some interesting reactions when I tell new acquaintances that I study baboons. Recently, someone very enthusiastically asked, “Those are the animals with the HUGE pink butts, right?” They are indeed. And I’m actually quite intrigued by those “pink butts.” A more technical term for this is “exaggerated sexual swellings.” Around the time of ovulation, females of
Read moreFor the first 22 years of my life, I spent the holiday season with family in Michigan. Last year, the holidays were a bit out of the ordinary for me. I spent it with the CABS (Comparative Analysis of Baboon Sociality) research crew in Ethiopia. We took a break from work and travelled around the country. The first two legs
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Phantom was sprawled out on a rock, his legs and arms stretched out. Uzat was grooming him; she was focused and working diligently. She also had a really nice estrous swelling. It was a beautiful day and the baboon pair was content. But then, another young female with an estrous swelling named Uganda approached. She went up to Phantom and
Read moreI spent 7 months last year (Jan-Jul 2014) collecting behavioral data on wild olive baboons in Kenya. Here I give an overview of a typical day at the field site. The alarm goes off at 5:10 AM. I growl and scramble for the snooze button. Repeat 1 to 3 times. By 5:25 AM I have my headlamp on, and I
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I participated in the DANTA primate field course during the summer of 2011 following my sophomore year at the University of Michigan. Growing up with Dr. Jane Goodall as my role model and the popularized image of her work, I always dreamt of observing wild primates. After two years of college, I became engrossed in theoretical topics in behavioral ecology
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