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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One of the most moving experiences I’ve had abroad was my chance to visit Bisesero Memorial in Bisesero, Rwanda. Also known as “The Hill of Resistance,” this location is one of the places where victims of the genocide banded together and stood their ground. There is no way I could do this story justice, or even write a comprehensible summary
Read moreBy Lisa Barrett Working for Think Elephants International was a very unique experience, so I wanted to share what an average day was like. Follow the below instructions to gain the perspective about life as an elephant researcher in the Golden Triangle of Thailand (Warning: Do not approach an elephant without its mahout present). Wake up to the sound of
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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
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The summer after I traveled with DANTA I had another flare up of the ever-persistent travel bug. My heart was yearning for somewhere new and the hands-on experience I missed during my time with DANTA. Another student from my DANTA group messaged me one day with a possible internship she had found. She was applying and thought that I would
Read moreJoin us in Costa Rica! Join us this winter in Costa Rica for our 2015 Methods in Primate Behavior and Conservation course. Course dates are January 1- January 15, 2015. The registration deadline is December 1, 2014. This course is designed to provide students with field experience in primate behavior, ecology, and conservation. This course will be held at Osa
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Why Study Elephants? [in captivity] by Lisa Barrett As a research assistant at nonprofit Think Elephants International (TEI) in northern Thailand, I helped design and carryout research on captive Asian elephants as part of a small research team. Our mission was to inform elephant conservation efforts through research and education. Above: The other members of the TEI research
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Okay, well maybe love is too strong of a word. BUT I will say I was fond of this particular monkey. It all started when I began my internship at a sanctuary in Panama. We were rehabilitating juvenile howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) that had been rescued from the pet trade. The goal was for these juveniles to eventually disperse and
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When I tell people I am a primatologist, the number one question I get is “Why?” It’s not an easy question for me to answer. I typically enter into a fifteen minute (at least) conversation discussing the plethora of information out there, and how much still needs to be studied. Mostly because it’s not a simple answer, but also because
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DANTAisms 