Research day two at camp. Last night's scorpion hunt was not very successful. We tried looking in a field with rocks without much success. Tonight we will move to a spot with more rocks. Our intention was to compare density and size distributions in multiple habitats. Scorpions glow bright under UV lights so we can easily see and record data without having the handle them.
Second group went spotlighting and were able to see quite a few animals including a genet (small cat ).
Small mammal trapping is slow so far. The drought last winter apparently greatly impacted the populations. We saved one mouse from near camp and plan to release it tonight and track it with UV powers. Part of the group collected data with a research time from South Africa who are tracking distributions of a non-native crayfish species to see if it can be controlled.
Ant lion project is going very well. We are planning to spend the afternoon collecting data from 500 burrows. This will be the starting point for this project. Ant lions are one of Africa's small five, each of which has the name of a big five animal.
Everyone is doing great. All healthy and enjoying ourselves while we learn about this unique part of the world.
Second group went spotlighting and were able to see quite a few animals including a genet (small cat ).
Small mammal trapping is slow so far. The drought last winter apparently greatly impacted the populations. We saved one mouse from near camp and plan to release it tonight and track it with UV powers. Part of the group collected data with a research time from South Africa who are tracking distributions of a non-native crayfish species to see if it can be controlled.
Ant lion project is going very well. We are planning to spend the afternoon collecting data from 500 burrows. This will be the starting point for this project. Ant lions are one of Africa's small five, each of which has the name of a big five animal.
Everyone is doing great. All healthy and enjoying ourselves while we learn about this unique part of the world.