I am home in Boston. Odd that it is significantly hotter here than it was in Africa! The trip was truly amazing. All of the people I worked with were terrific. In addition to having a lot of fun, I feel that I learned a lot, both about these monkeys and the research process. Our PI (primary investigator) Steffan was very patient as we learned how to distinguish and follow the monkeys.


Contrary to our fear that we were part of the stress they were experiencing, within a couple of days, we were no more than another animal in the forest. They were so oblivious of our presence, in fact, that by the last few days they were falling asleep in the trees while we watched and recorded their "activities".









Mother nursing baby

The social structure was interesting to watch. Periodically the monkeys stopped to groom each other, or grab a baby and start nursing. We all agreed that there is almost nothing cuter than a baby monkey!














This little guy was enjoying eating his tail, but
having a hard time keeping track of it.

Jeffrey and I working in the field.

Jeffrey was a delight to work with. He has run 13 Earthwatch expeditions. Most of his work is on Black Rhinos, but he certainly knew his monkey stuff too!



The trip to Tsavo was an amazing pilgrimage back to our origins. It was wondeful to see all of the big wild animals with 6,000 square miles to roam!









We also got into a few local towns and were treated to a drumming and dancing performance by the villagers just outside the ruins that were our study site.










More photos will be posted at ofoto - I'll forward the link
Marsha

I am at the Nairobi airport awaiting my flight to London. I land in Boston 1:00 Monday afternoon - after traveling for something like 27 hours (between traveling and waiting to travel)
Two members of the group are going on Safari which leaves from a hotel in Nairobi, so I joined them for dinner at their hotel. Much nicer than sitting in the airport for 5 hours!
Our farewell with the Monkeys was sad. They were gentle on us yesterday, dragging us through a minimum of thickets! They were a little more sedate than they've been. Our leader says it's because it's been warmer and they're slower, but I think it's because they're going to miss us!

On t0 my interminable flight to Heathrow

Saturday, July 15 again

Thanks all for your comments. I tried to download some pictures, but the connection is too slow and I thought the place might explode.......

But don't fear - I have about 400 to entertain you all with when I get home! Plenty of videos too - there's nothing cuter than a baby monkey - except for a bunch of baby monkeys! The team has also agreed to post all of our photos on Ofoto, or the like, so you can spend as many days looking at our pictures as we spent taking them.....

Saturday, July 15

Today was our last day in the field with "our" monkeys. The trip has been fabulous! We all have been getting along fabulously, and having lots of laughs.
We had an afternoon in the local town of Malindi, had Pizza and saw a woodworking cooperative!!! Really beautiful woodcrafts.
Every day we get a little better at being able to identify and follow our monkey. My partner, Karin and I have been working very well spotting them and keeping an eye on them while we bushwack through thickets - never missing a beep on our watch to record their activity (well, almost never). Every minute we record whether they are eating (leaves, buds, fruits) or moving or just resting. Today, Karin and I seemed to have gotten the magic touch and put them to sleep about 3 times.
On Wednesday, 4 of us went to Tsavo National Park for a day and 1/2. It was spectacular!!! Saw lots of elephants - even almost got charged by one! Giraffes, antelopes, gazelles - and the park is so huge - lush in some places, like desert in others. The lodge where we stayed was incredible - cabin tents - but luxurious, and at lunch we sat eating our pasta while elephants grazed in the water hole perhaps 50 yards away.
Yesterday, on returning to Gede (our study site), we continued following monkeys, but also got to participate in a vegetation study. We identified the trees with a diameter greatere than 5 cm (with the help of a Kenyan tree expert) and measured the tree cover for a 400 square meter plot. It was interesting, and quite fun.
Tonight we're all going out to dinner for a last hurrah - tomorrow morning we'll do some data entry and start the looooong trek back to Boston.

Talk to everyone soon

Sunday, July 9

Yesterday we spent the day at our field site, the Arab ruins and the forest around them. We met our monkey study subjects .... 10 adult female monkeys. We identify them by their tails and nipples. It took a while, but by the end of the day most of us had the hang of recognizing Nora and Nyuma (bent tail, right nipple longer than the left), and all the rest. I ran through a wasp's nest and got a little stung, but nothing terrible. The food back at our field station have been really great!

Today was our first day in the field. Our mission, identify a female monkey and record her behavior every minute as long as you can. Our monkey, Nyuma was very cooperative at first, munching on leaves and fruits, grooming a friend. Then she took off through the forest. We followed heartily, my partner and I - through a nest of army ants. But we stuck with her even as we jumped around pulling ants from our pants. We followe her through the forest right back to the wasp's nest I hit yesterday. My partner got 3 wasp stings! This gave us justification for a break and some lovely mango juice.

On returning to the forest, our guide found us a much more sedate monkey who mostly sat and munched on berries from the forest floor.

Our afternoon was more satisfying - we followed one monkey until she got into the trees too far away - the next one we found is name "Angle" for the angle of her tail. We saw her get agitated, and then saw her join a big monkey fight with a nearby troupe! Our Angle was bold and did a lot of chirping, chasing and running after the other troupe. There was a lot of yelling and screaming - by the monkeys as well as our group cheering them on. In the end, our group won - probably because of their fine cheering squad!

The guides are two young women who are really great fun and very helpful. They're both grad students and have been great in teaching us and being there to help with stings and other bumps!

Friday July 7

We have all arrived, and although tired, all here and happy! The field station comes complete with its very own supply of monkeys. As we got our tour, one happy jumped on the roof over our head.

The study site is in the grounds of an ancient Arab ruin site from the 14 century. We had a great tour today, and were also entertained by some of our monkey subjects.

The towns on the way from the field station to the field site are filled with people - the roads full of people walking everywhere. Lots of young children playing ball, coming home from school in their school uniforms. It's very lively. The homes are made with sticks and I"ve been told cow dung. They"re quite nice, actually.

The internet cafe I'm in now is in one of these towns - strange to come in out of the third world into a room of computers.

The woman running the cafe would like to go home, so I will sign off
More from the field

ABOUT THE EXPEDITION:





Kenya's Forest Monkeys

We will be observing the behavior of the females in a troupe of Sykes monkeys (or Blue monkeys)
Ceropithicus mitis.

The field station is in the Mwamba bird observatory and the Gede ruins, a protected archaeological site containing Arab ruins. near the coast






The PI, Steffen Foerster is a grad student at Columbia University. His study is assessing gluccocorticoid levels as an indicator of stress, as well as anecdotal observations of individual and social behaviors. Although these particular monkeys are not currently endangered, their habitat is being encroached upon, and interactions with humans, all too common worldwide for wild animals has affected their behavior. Of particular note is the availability of food, both due to scraps and leftovers as well as direct feeding by tourists. The stress of competition among the animals for food sources and mates is the primary focus of this reserach. We have received a briefing complete with photographs and samples of behaviors and how to record them.

I am delighted to have this opportunity to follow in the footsteps of my idol, Jane Goodall and spend many hours each day following, watching and recording every scratch, sniff, nibble and noise these monkeys make for 2 weeks.

After flying into Nairobi, I will check into a hotel in the city and collapse. We wil then take a short flight to Malindi, and then a car ride to the field station. I believe the field station has a wireless connection for me to access from the laptop generously loaned to me by TechBoston Academy to continue this blog - otherwise, use of a local internet cafe has been recommended.....stay posted

65 days and counting

I have met my colleagues via email. A lot of discussion about flights and other logistics. Visas, vaccines (OUCH!), Malaria pills - all ready to go!