Injured Cheetah!

On our first day of hiking Mary got a phone call while we were out in the bush. There was an injured cheetah in Samburu National Reserve. Since I had come all that way to look for poops, that's what I did while Peter and Mary left for Samburu from Meibae. Here's what I missed:

When they got there they found the male cheetah to be resting in the shade under a bush. They had seen him walk and he was limping. They were concerned he would be unable to hunt. Once they got closer they were able to see a wound on his back leg. The leg didn't appear to be broken so they thought perhaps he just had a bad wound (a tiff with a leopard or other cheetah) and perhaps it was getting infected. Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) approved the shooting of an impala (otherwise illegal) to feed to the cheetah. The impala was coated with antibiotic to treat any infection the cheetah may have from the wound. He hungrily accepted his free meal and pulled it into the bush to eat.

A few days later we went back to look for him but he was no where to be found. The day after we got back to Nairobi we got a call that they saw him make his own kill and he wasn't limping anymore. Yay!

You can see the wound on his right back leg. We were worried here may be a tendon torn or broken bone.

Enjoying a free meal. With a belly full of food and antibiotics, he had plenty of time to rest up and heal.

Thanks to Peter for the pics! Unfortunately, the next cheetah story I have to share didn't end so well. But more on that next time...

Sorry for the quick post but our internet expires today and there is a high school group here now from Michigan so things are a little crazy right now! Heading into Nairobi on Sunday so hopefully I can catch you up on everything then!

Gerenuks, Crocs, and Elephants... OH MY!

Sunset on our last night in Meibae

On our second day out searching for cheetah signs, Chris and Edward were leading the way (as I clearly had no idea where the hell I was going).  It was becoming evident that I lacked the skill of evading bur plants and those damn acacia trees. In short, if you choose to follow me, do so at your own risk. One particular lovely walk (the first DAY I was out alone with the boys), I was scouring the floor looking for poop and I walked right into an acacia branch. It hooked me in the nose just in time for Chris and Edward to turn around and start there unnecessary and incessant cries of "sorry!" as they start running towards me to help me out. I managed (with a little finagling) to unhook my face, just to have it scratch me across the forehead and get stuck in my hair (after which there is usually little hope of escape). Luckily, I survived and after that they never trusted me around acacia trees again.

HOWEVER, on this day I redeemed myself (BIG TIME if I do say so myself). While out searching we sort of fan out to cover more ground (but you must always stay with in sight or it drives the rangers who are supposed to protect you absolutely mad). Edward and Chris had already sauntered by, but I decided to just have a little looksie to the side of where they walk. AND BEHOLD... our first and only cheetah track (at least we think so)!


I mentioned we did some driving through Samburu National Reserve which is nearby. Not really any exciting stories about this drive, just some cool pictures to share.

Gerenuk. Note the extremely long neck!

Croc hanging out at the river.

Photo thanks to Peter! I still have to ID this guy...

And oh yeah... SOME ELEPHANTS!

Outside of the park while we were driving down a quasi-busy road (aka we actually saw a car and a lorry (truck) or two on it once), there was a tortoise attempting to cross. Just in case one of those big lorries went flying through we stopped so I could move him to the other side.

Just saving a tortoise, NBD.

Sidebar: if you're looking at that photo and thinking I look kind of tan, it's actually about 85% dirt. Nature's sunscreen. Yay.

Welp, that's all til next time. My final entry about Samburu will be about a CHEETAH. Yes, with pictures! Whoop. Stay tuned my little minions. 

Dodging plants like a boss.

Welcome to Samburu/Meibae Conservancy!

Chris, me, one of the park rangers who went out with us, Mary, and Peter in Meibae!

My recent (and way too brief) trip to Samburu National Reserve and Meibae Conservancy was great! I went up here for the purpose of looking into the possibility of also collecting poop samples here as a better control area. Because these are protected areas, there is very little threat of development, thus small, controlled human interference with cheetah populations. ACK already has a team in this area so all I have to do is train them in poop collection and help them find areas to check for fresh poops!

ACK rents camping space at the Meibae Conservancy park ranger camp. This means we share a camp site with 15+ dudes toting giant rifles, aka we are super safe. I should also mention that whenever we went out looking for poops in the bush we had a park ranger (rifle and all) out with us. The reason for this is mostly just precaution due to the lions, elephants, leopards, and buffalo in the area. The biggest threat being the elephants. The elephants have become more aggressive due to poaching problems. That being said I never saw an elephant, lion, leopard, or buffalo while we were out poop searching. Mostly we ran into dik dik, hyrax, and lots and lots of camels. Anyways, we camp under the meeting conference center roof. It's a nice little area! I should also mention our toilets were just holes in the ground. Yep. Just a little hole about 6 inches by 6 inches. Well, that's not very big, you're probably thinking. It's not. I had to get VERY good at aiming. It's an acquired skill.

Pitched our tents inside of here.

Girls' side! 

I met the three scouts: Chris, Soulh, and Moses. They are all awesome. Chris is the one I worked with the most since he is the only one who is full time at the moment. Mary and Peter had to leave us for a cheetah emergency in Samburu Reserve (more on that later), so Chris and I were left without a car for a few days. This means we hiked. A lot. Edward, a park ranger, came out with us on those days. He was super helpful and always looking on termite mounds for poops! We walked down to the river (with croc tracks!), across dry river beds (awesome!), elephant corridor (trails frequented by elephants through the bush), and on top of many many rock hills. Also it was super ridiculously hot there. Not that you guys in the States will feel sorry for me regarding this, as you have been officially frying for the past few months... but in Salama and Nairobi it is chilly, so I was quite unaccustomed to the heat. After about 4 hours out there you're about ready to collapse, or at least I was. Chris and Edward NEVER carried water and barely ate anything for breakfast and lunch. These guys are insane.

Edward and Chris leading the way through the river bed.

Beautiful sand patterns on the dry river bed.

Every night we were visited by bats (eating all the bugs attracted to the lights) and a genet cat. The genet cat became more and more ballsy and finally didn't care at all about our presence, it even licked Mary's toe! I've got a lot of pictures of it but I think this is one of my favorites...

Climbing in the rafters above the tents looking for lizards to snack on.

I would also hear it outside my tent at night munching on all the bugs crawling around. So cute.

It rained just about every night, and when it rained, it POURED. Just before or just after the rain we saw amazing sunsets (Color Games!) from camp. The camp is located at the edge of a ridge with a lot of giant rocks great for sitting on and pondering life. A day before we got to camp there was a pack of African wild dogs (say whhhaaaaa???) hanging out on those rocks and sometimes they also see elephants passing through. I didn't get to see these guys frequent the camp, but I did get to enjoy the rock ledges during sunset.

Just after it poured our second night.

Just before it poured one of the last nights.

 Samburu Reserve and Meibae Conservancy are absolutely gorgeous places. In the conservancy live the Samburu tribe. They are semi-nomadic, moving their manatas (homesteads) to follow good grazing areas (for the goats and camels)/water availibility. They wear beautiful bead works (especially the warriors). I didn't take any photos because I didn't want to be disrespectful. If you are really curious google Samburu warriors and Samburu women and you'll see some amazing bead work!

It was an amazing trip and I have a million more pictures to share but I think that will be it for this entry! I will leave you with the first and only HERD of ostriches I have ever seen or heard of. It was a male Somalian (blue necks) ostrich (down in Salama we only have Masaai ostriches - ones with the red necks) and about 26 young ostriches. He did a great job as dad protecting his young from us :)

In Samburu National Reserve

'Merica

I wanted to post this BEFORE I left for Samburu because "obvi" I have many things to write about from my recent adventures in the great Samburu and Meibae Conservancy bush. BUT to stay in chronological order and to keep EVERYONE CALM, I will first do a little blip about my Merica Day in Kenya.

There are 4 women in camp. All of us are Mericans. The three boys are Kenyan. Thus, on Merica Day we had s'mores for breakfast! To prepare Mary and I made a trip into the Nakumatt (super grocery store) of Nairobi. First... to find chocolate! No Hersheys, made do with Cadbury milk chocolate bars (much thicker). Next, marshmallows! No normal marshmallows so I settle for some weirdly pink strawberry and white ones with a weird dinosaur picture on the bag... what? Finally, graham crackers! NO GRAHAM CRACKERS! We had to settle for some weird English breakfast hybrid sugar biscuit (blasphemous to use BRITISH crackers for such a glorious celebration of independence from the queen's regime, I know... for shame). Regardless, it's all we had and by golly if we were going to let this british influenced theme ruin our FREAKING INDEPENDENCE DAY.

Come the morning of the 4th, us ladies got a sparkle in our eyes that we just couldn't explain. For today was the day... of S'mores. The boys had NO IDEA what we were talking about. We eagerly got out our supplies and whittled some sticks into perfect roasting sticks. Then the feast began. So good. The only Kenyan brave enough to go for the food of the free was Mandela. Nelson and Cosi just looked on in confusion while sipping their Kenyan chai. There was a brief rendition of the Star Spangled Banner over the ashes of the fire and then off to work. It was a brief celebration but WORTH IT. Anyways, hope your 4th was full of 'Merican win.

Mandela roasts his first marshmallow in preparation for his first taste of S'moredom.

Erica, seasoned s'more making pro.

S'mores!

'Merica!

Dogs, Goats, and Travels

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. Lots of little stories, little nothings, and awkward moments but nothing I thought was quite blog post worthy. No big discoveries, no mountains of poop (tho I keep dreaming), and definitely no cheetah photos. Sigh... tho I will say there have been plenty of cheetah sightings by everyone BUT ME. A bush pilot who flies over part of our study area quite frequently saw 6 cheetahs (2 adults, 4 sub-adults) on a particular ranch a few nights ago, there was a report of a single cheetah on that same ranch that killed an antelope, 3 sunbathing on a rock near a ranch office, and Cosmas, one of our very own, accidentally stumbled upon a cheetah (and scared it, but not enough to scare it shitless, damn) while looking for samples for me around "poop rock." Yes, we have a poop rock. And no, it doesn't quite live up to it's name. We do have a poop road, and that definitely does. That's where my first fresh poop samples came from!

Tomorrow I am embarking on an exciting journey. We are heading 10 hours north of Nairobi to an area called Samburu. I have decided to try and expand my study site to a new area. ACK already has cheetah scouts working in this conservancy, and they are telling us they have been finding fresh cheetah poop. Because this area is very different from the current areas I am studying, this could act as a control area and give us valuable information about cheetahs living in more natural situations and habitats. The Samburu area has many more predators/competitors for the cheetah. There are leopards and hyenas, but also lions. Other animals in Samburu include large numbers of buffalo and elephants. Very different environment, much hotter and more severe droughts. After shivering to sleep so many nights, maybe the heat will be nice... FOR ABOUT A MINUTE, GAH. The communications there are limited and we have no electricity. Thus, you will not be hearing from me after this for at least a week but hopefully when you finally do, IT WILL BE AMAZING. I hope to have some awesome pictures and stories for you... but don't get your hopes up TOO high please. :)

To ease your curiosity for now I will enlighten you with a little story about Ed (one of our bait goats) and Ginger (Mary's silly dog).

Handsome Edward Sampson the 11th

He loves plain grass... even more than leafy branches. What a goon.

Ed had just finished his week in the cage (we have 3 goats on rotation) and we were heading out on our way to take him home. The rest of the crew had the truck and we had the Toyota Rav. We keep the spare tire in the way back/trunk of the Rav because some of the bolts are missing that are used to hang it on the back. Because Mary didn't want Ed to poop or pee all over her car we put him in the way back, where he had to balance on the spare tire while we drove. Mary and I sat in the front and Ginger took over the back seat. I looked back to quite a view...

Oh hey guys... just a normal day at work!

Ginger expresses her unease with the situation... Ed already seems like he's up to something...

Ginger seemed a wee bit nervous about this situation. She wasn't too fond of the goat hanging out in the car. As we were heading down the driveway to the highway, Ginger suddenly was desperately trying to get into the front seat and onto my lap. She's usually pretty good about hanging out in the backseat so this was weird. Then I looked back and saw that Ed had had about enough of this balancing on the tire bullshit and decided Ginger looked way more comfortable in the seat. He jumped over the back of the seat and had taken up real estate on one side of the backseat (totally content to share the rest with Ginger). Ginger would have no part of this. We couldn't keep Ed out of the backseat and we couldn't keep Ginger back there with him. And this is when things got ridiculous. Kenyans already think most of us Mzungus (white people) are crazy when it comes to pets. They see us letting our dogs sleep in our bed, carrying them around, riding in our cars... They see them as animals that protect their house/bomas or for some, just as pests. So imagine the sight that the Kenyan's had (including some police) when we pulled onto the highway with Mary driving, Ginger (A DOG) sitting shotgun, and Ed (A GOAT) and I sharing the backseat. People were staring. But I'm pretty sure Ed loved it. I was sad to see him go, I'm getting attached to these little goats. Almost makes me want to get some when I get home!

Still looking nervous, even though she's secured shotgun.

Ed, happily hanging out on his comfy new seat. And he didn't even poop in the car!

Oh also, I found this cool spider.

While I was taking the picture, one of the herders started yelling at me when I tried to hold the plant steady (he doesn't speak English very well), but I could understand that he was indicating it was poisonous. He said, AHH POISON, MOUTH EYES!!! Found out later that if I had touched any mucous membranes after touching that plant I would have had nasty blisters all over. Gross. But thank you herder man, and thank him I did, by sharing my biscuits with him. :)

Hope everyone still has all their phalanges after this holiday (be safe with those bottle rockets)!

HAPPY 'MERICA DAY!

See you in a week!

LION KING SIDEBAR: I've recently discovered that PRIDE ROCK IS A REAL PLACE IN KENYA! I will be driving past the area on my way to Samburu but I will not be able to see it from the highway (le super tear). BUT OMG, PRIDE ROCK IS REAL. Best part is, they called it Pride Rock before the movie. Boom. What I wouldn't give to walk on the real Pride Rock though. Sigh, maybe one day...

Camera Trap Set Up

As I mentioned before, Erica, another Master’s student from the States (Antioch University), is doing a study with camera traps. She’s testing different baits to lure cheetahs in. Usually, live goats are used as bait to lure cheetahs to trap stations (to be radio collared). The problem with live goats is that they attract other various animals more often than they attract cheetahs. Everything from baboons, jackals, hyenas, and even a village child have been trapped by ACK in their live traps when using goats as bait. Though I can’t really say with confidence that the village child was lured because of the goat, I think this was more a case of curiosity and humiliation (upon waiting to be released with his family surrounding the locked cage…).

In order to prevent these sorts of captures Erica is looking to find a bait that is more specifically catered to cheetahs. She has 6 different bait types (1 includes the live goat). The others are a predator decoy, robogoat (yes this is EXACTLY what you think it is… well, mostly), two different specially formulated scents that in zoo studies with cheetahs was shown to be a great attractant (they spent a lot of time rolling in the perfume, and let me say they have very expensive taste in perfume), and finally used cheetah bedding provided by a wild animal orphanage in Nairobi.

Setting up these cameras, if you do recall, is when I stabbed myself in the hand with a thorn and later sawed into my finger. That’s right Erica, I GAVE MY SWEAT AND BLOOD FOR YOUR PROJECT! : ) Anyways, here is Deanna being a bit more successful at keeping her hand intact while panga-ing some branches off these stupid, stupid trees.

The area of her bait station needs to be cleared so that nothing interferes with the camera’s angles when something walks into view. Thus, us girls took to removing a bush in the middle of a bait site.

After areas were cleared, 4 cameras were installed at each bait station.

Then it was time to transport the baits! One truck, three cages, one live goat, and one robo-goat gave us a bit of a load to trek across the bush but we managed to make a pretty sweet Jenga puzzle of it.

Making it secure as possible...

Erica is counting any animal that wonders into her bait station within 6 feet of the bait as “trapped” by a traditional live trap that would normally be placed adjacent to the bait.

Measuring out 6 feet from the bait station.

It was a long day of putting out all these bait stations, but it was good fun!

Bait one... predator decoy.

 

Meet DUMA GOAT! He’s our first live goat (we have three on weekly rotations because it tends to stress them out and give them PTSD if they are out there alone too long). This guy is a bit of a bad ass. He didn’t even care that he was being left out there all alone. As long as he had food and some of his favorite branches he was SET. We surround the cage with VERY thorny acacia branches to keep leopards and hyenas from getting to the goat. He’s in a cage but they have been known to rip legs and various body parts off the goat through the cage. As Duma Goat learned all too well his first night alone in the bush… he had a chunk of his ear bit off by a hyena. Two hyenas spent a great deal of time removing the thorny branches at an attempt to get to Duma. Luckily, he survived and we increased the amount of branches around Duma and from then on the hyenas could only gaze longingly. Duma was unphased.

Duma before he lost part of his ear... :)

Another bait is ROBO-Goat. He is a robotic goat, made from those weird animatronic Christmas reindeer that your crazy neighbor puts out in his yard with about a thousand of those creepy blow up decorations that decrepitly deflate during the daylight hours… seriously, what the shit. ANYWAYS, so take the reindeer, cover it in goat skin/fur, hook it up to an ipod with speakers that play a shuffle of different goat sounds and BOOM you’ve got a robotic goat. Even Duma seemed fooled for a moment…

Duma checking out Robo...

Behold... Robo-Goat!!!

After setting up all the caged bait stations the rest were a breeze. Two of them Erica just sprayed some fancy perfumes… mmm (not really…).

Spraying the exclusive scent de duma.

The last station, cheetah bedding, was set up in the dark (it gets dark here around 6:30-7).  Since we didn’t plan on being out after dark no one had a flashlight and we had to depend on strategically placed truck headlights to aid us in the preparation.

Attempting to set up the last station in the DARK!

Then the traps were set! So far she’s seen lots of hyenas (especially around Duma goat), a giraffe meandering through, ostrich, jackals, eland and gerenuk close ups of them sniffing the camera (hilarious) and an equally hilarious photo montage of a herder walking through with his cows all mystified by the predator decoy. She has a nice close up of his face as he stares, confused into the camera. Hopefully I can share some of those photos with you!

For more accurate information on her project visit her fund raising website and feel free to donate! But also save some for me as I will be launching one as soon as I collect enough poop to transport to the Smithsonian! ;)

http://www.petridish.org/projects/here-kitty-kitty-luring-cheetahs-for-conservation-research
 

ZOMG!

You guys... as I posted yesterday, things have not been going well in my search for fresh poops. Not only were we not finding fresh poops, I was beginning to doubt my abilities in the field. I've done little tidbits of field work here and there in various classes throughout college. I know how to use a compass, find a point on GPS (unless we are geocaching with a particular German), even classify a few Wisconsin type trees/plants/animal tracks. That being said I am no Bear Grylls (don't even hate). I have spent the past year and a half pipetting to my heart's content in laboratories. I love it (most days). Lab benches, new box of pipette tips, colorful lab tape, and best of all... perfect CV and control values. Ahh... the confined chaos of the lab. But now I find myself thrown to the hyenas in the world of the Kenyan bush. It all began when the real field work started... looking for poop and helping Erica set up camera traps for her project (more on this later). Beginning of the day we are using pangas (large machete type things) to whack branches from the tree so they don't block the camera's view of the bait stations. FIRST BRANCH: Mind you before I begin this story... these trees have HUGE thorns all over them (instead of leaves), like over 2 inches long sized thorns. So I'm about to go all Xena on this branch, flailing about with my panga. I forget to take into account that this is indeed a tree and there are other branches... when I bring my hand up to get some momentum a giant thorn goes into the back of my hand, right about where the wrist begins. At first it was not a big deal, I only felt a prick of pain and saw some blood. As time passed my hand began to throb and I found myself no longer able to move my fingers. These thorns have some nasty toxin on them that causes some crazy swelling and reactions in people. So I spent the rest of the day only using my right hand, taking an anti-histamine, and icing my hand.

By the next day the swelling had gone down enough that I could grasp things but not straighten out my fingers. Meh, good enough. So we continued setting up camera stations... all the way til dark. The last station we put up in the dark using the headlights of the truck. There are probably some hyenas around, maybe a leopard... let's do this shit and get the heck out of here. Ahh more branches to be cut down. Great. Damn you panga, you betrayed me. This time I shall choose the handsaw! One branch down... Yes! Second branch. It's really dark. What was that sound? I'm not sure... Everyone is still here right? Ouch. The saw slipped from the branch and landed on my index finger of my left hand (yes the same one I paralyzed the previous day). It took my brain about 5 seconds to realize what was happening so for those 5 seconds I had started sawing away some of my flesh. Yay. Again, it didn't really hurt or bleed right away. But then... it was dripping everywhere. With that I was given the ever important job of holding the flashlight near the car when people needed to get supplies. I can handle dangerous lab equipment, radioactive and mutagenic chemicals, and broken glass containers but give me sharp tools and toxic plants and all hell breaks loose.

BUT TODAY I WAS JUSTIFIED.

Today, my friends, marks a glorious day in history. Well at least in my history, and the history of this blog. Congratulations. WE HAVE FOUND OUR FIRST FRESH CHEETAH POOP SAMPLE. Tho having found it without Nelson (the poo guru) or Ginger (sniffer dog champion of wanting treats) I suppose I should be careful... but I'm PRETTY positive that it's cheetah. YAYAYAY! Some AWESOME FANTASTIC AND AMAZING herders walking around one of the ranches called and said they had a fresh one! We made it over there (of course I had forgotten to bring the cooler, which had been temporarily converted to the lunch storage unit) and found 4 dry poops and 1 FRESH! These cheetahs love to poop on this road... I couldn't believe how close together they all were considering we had driven down that road 2 days ago and didn't see ANYTHING. Crazy, these herders know their shit. Literally. And for that... they are priceless.

Because it was so awesome here is a play by play... just so you can feel the excitement from home, AS IF YOU WERE ACTUALLY THERE. You're welcome.

P.S. Sorry some of the pictures are weird/distorted/unclear... my internet is super crappy right now and this is the best I can do. When I can I will reload them for clearer ones!

Checking out the freshness of the scat by mushing it with a stick... could it be? Is it too good to be true?

Writing down all the important information like the GPS point!

My first fresh cheetah poop!

Poop collection in action!

Into the poop bag with you...

Success!