Yes, I Jumped Out of a Perfectly Good Plane! (Video Below)

Mid-trip Nambia, a group of students booked a sky diving excursion in Swakopmund.  I randomly decided to go too after Erica said, "don't let money be an excuse."  10,000 feet, baby!

It was a long and tiring day because your body is pumped, but I had to wait to go last in our group of six.  We each went up individually with the only tandem instructor, Pip.  In a short short amount of time we all got really comfortable with Pip (I guess trusting your life in someone's hands will do that).  Two other guys jumped from the plane on my run.  So, four of us, plus the pilot crammed into the TINY Cessna 182 that was gutted and padded and felt the size of a bathtub.  Note:  the plane had no doors.  The two guys jumped at a lower elevation and they slowly stepped out on the platform and positioned their feet on the wheel, then pushed off.  This is where I started thinking oh shit!, what have I gotten myself into as Pip positioned himself at the door with only his leg blocking my fall.  Just move.  I scooted over to sit in front of him, basically on his lap, so I could be strapped to his harness.  This was the scariest moment as I was sitting at an open door with NO chute.  My muscles were shaking in my legs, but I calmed after I knew I was hooked to Pip and the chute.  Then, you simply position your right foot flat to the door and step out on a tiny platform with your left foot and he positions you forward and I brought my right foot out...there was a pause..and before you can think or catch your breath you are falling out of the plane!

It is surreal.  I honestly don't think your brain can process that you are falling to Earth.  I immediately put my head back and tucked back my legs as instructed and we had a beautifully smooth free fall looking directly down at the ground.  Your brain goes silent.  Calm.  Truly, no fear -- and then just as suddenly you are pulled up as the chute deploys and now in a standing position.  Now there is only awe as I looked over the undulating sand dunes and ocean and sunset.  I couldn't believe Pip and I actually had a conversation while falling, pointing out landmarks and such.  I never guessed I would be calm enough and rational enough to ask questions!  He let me steer toward our target landing circle and we even flipped a complete 360.  Then the landing -- as soft as stepping off of your bed in the morning. WOW. I was so thrilled I was hugging everyone.  The adrenaline rush is awesome and calming at the same time.  Awesome doesn't even cover it.

A poem on the wall of the Skydiving Club in Swakopmund, Namibia:

"I had the Thrill of My Life:

You Must Jump to Know,

No words can describe the incredible

Rush when the wind invites you to play.

You are One of

The Few.  For a brief moment you doubt,

but the doubt is short lived,

As gravity pulls you from the safety of the plane,

You understand, this 

Freedom.  No turning back now.  But who would

want to??  The dream

of human flight.

You know what it means to 

SKYDIVE."

Success!

---

Our first collared dhole!  Click here for more pictures.


I have been trying to capture a dhole (Asiatic wild dog) for attachment of a GPS tracking collar for over 5 years.  What a technical, time consuming, and complex undertaking.  There was the original set up of our project, finding a suitable location with a knowledgeable field staff, then a delay of a year simply to obtain research permits for Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary, in south central Thailand.  Several grant proposals were required along the way to fund equipment and cameras.   First, we had to locate a dhole pack.  This meant long heat-filled days of trudging through the forest to check our cameras and get a sense of where wildlife was moving.  It is expensive to send manufactured live traps to Thailand, so instead we scoured markets looking for local materials and designed our own box traps.  Those traps had to sit out in the forest to lose human scent before cautions animals would venture close.  And if you do catch an animal, what next?  Of course you have to have an on-call skilled veterinarian ready because dholes are very susceptible to stress and overheating.  It is not so easy to fund and schedule a vet to stay in an isolated field site.  So, after delays and mishaps and years of groundwork, this time we were ready.  And we weren’t leaving anything to chance.  We prepared for various situations.  If it could improve our odds, I would consider it.

This led our team to visit the sanctuary spirit house.  We were informed by the local staff that we should first ask permission from the forest spirits before attempting to catch dholes.  My adviser, Nuch, performed the offering of incense and promised two pig heads if we were successful.

Just days into our trapping, during an early morning site check, we heard whining….a canid.  But, nope, no dhole…an Asiatic jackal.  Good, at least the traps were working.  At the end of the day, the staff joked that perhaps the spirits were confused.  Why did they send the wrong animal?  Did we need to bring a photograph to the spirit house?  See…THIS is what we want…a dhole is RED.  The RED one!

As it turned out, a few days later, on January 26th, it was indeed a dhole in the trap.  My assistant named the male “Suriya” which roughly translates as the time period of mid-morning.  Based on his teeth, Suriya is five to six years old.  We fitted him with a GSM/GPS collar.  This collar records his location on a set schedule and stores the GPS locations in the collar.  When Suriya ventures within range of a cell-phone tower, the data is sent directly to me.  I can monitor him from back at my desk in the U.S.

And we immediately made good on our promise of the pig heads.

Where are the Dogs?

 We have started fitting domestic dogs from surrounding villages with passive GPS tracking devices.  We plan to document their movements into Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary (KARN) and eventually determine the proportion of overlap in the home ranges of dogs and dholes.  This will help us perform an analysis of disease transmission risk.  My terrific field assistant, LungDaeng, is in charge of collar deployment and download while I am back at UMass for the fall semester.  He has never used a computer before, so teaching him to download and save a GPS file was an adventure in patience.  The key was for him to write the directions in his own words, step-by-step.  

Testing of collars in July showed active dogs that roam across the main sanctuary road.  The yellow lines on the above map show the path of a 10 year old female from 10-23 July, 2010.  The main road 304 of the sanctuary is visible west to east in white.  The red line delineates the boundary of KARN.  Forest to the west of the line is inside the sanctuary.

Where are the Dholes?

We have been camera trapping in Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand for over two and a half years.  From 30 January 2008 through 20 June 2010, cameras placed at 276 locations totaled 5,794 trap nights.  (The below maps shows where we set up cameras and where we photographed dholes).  Camera trap surveys resulted in a total of 2,541 wildlife photos. Sixteen carnivore species were caught on camera.  Overall, elephants (n=722), sambar deer (n=241), and Malayan porcupine (n=238) were the most common recorded species.  We targeted camera set up in areas to consistently locate one target dhole pack with six pack members.  Our camera trapping has provided a baseline picture of population distribution, information that is critical for selecting study sties for a detailed ecological study using radio tracking.

North Carolina Trapping

This week I attended an excellent excellent Safe-Capture International Inc. immobilization course taught by Dr. Keith Amass.  I learned an incredible amount of useful information for handling animals safety in the field.  I then spent two days in the field with a graduate student studying road-crossings and red-wolf ecology in North Carolina.  We caught a 450lb black bear and I helped work through the processing of the animal to place a radio-collar.  I also attended a Trapper Education Program developed by the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.  We got hands on experience with the best practices for trapping and I am now a certified trapper in North Carolina.

North Carolina Trapping Photos

Smithsonian's GIS Lab (Again)

I'm currently at the Smithsonian’s GIS lab in Front Royal, Virginia to focus on data analysis and writing.  Luckily, I have a very helpful intern who is processing 500 of my interview survey responses.

My field assistant continues to monitor camera traps and is trying to get collars on other dogs.  I did receive a travel grant from my department at UMass, so I am ready to return to Thailand!

It's been awhile since I've been hiking in the snow...Shenandoah NP with Maureen, Kate, Vincent, and Yang. (Picture from Maureen)

Cleveland Sponsor

My field assistant continues to monitor our camera traps and will attempt to place GPS collars on 2 domestic dogs each month.  My adviser, Nucharin Songsasen, is currently in Thailand seeking more information about our permit status, the capacity of our collaborators to analyze DNA from dhole fecal samples, and the feasibility of future trapping plans.

Good news:  My proposal entitled "The Threat of Domestic Dogs to Endangered Dholes and Other Wildlife" was awarded $3,000 from Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Cleveland Zoological Society Conservation Grants Program.

Dhole Influx

 

December is definitely dhole month as we continued to get an influx of dhole and even jackal photos. This is exciting because jackals have not been verified in the sanctuary for years.  My monthly goal was to place 4 GPS collars on domestic dogs.  This was not met due to a number of unforeseen problems including weeks of downed cell-phone communications in the area, a collar manufacturer sending me an incorrect data download cable, conflicts with software and drivers, and problems with battery life and programming schedules.  I did manage to put out two collars a week ago and I will follow-up with the dogs and download data at the end of this week.

At the end of November, my initial research permit of 2 years expired and we applied for an extension (which was supposed to take less than 1 month).  It is nearing the two month waiting period for my research project extension.  This has to be approved by the Thailand Department of National Parks (DNP) and passed on to the National Research Council of Thailand who then writes me a letter to enable me to apply for a research visa.  Therefore, I cannot get a research visa until my permit extension is granted and I am told this will be an indeterminate amount of time.  Because of recent changes in the DNP staff it does not look like I will have approval before my current tourist visa expires on January 14th.  I cannot enter the country again on a tourist visa because I have used up the maximum of concurrent visas of this type.  It appears it will be most useful for me to return to the US on the 14th of January and work at the Smithsonian’s GIS lab.  

I am currently scrambling to make a new plan that will allow me to finish my dissertation.  This may involve returning to Thailand this fall for further data collection.  I would still like to track movements of domestic dogs as part of the disease aspect of my project and we don’t have the full results from the blood analysis disease tests yet either.  I currently have 13 cameras out in the forest.  We were using the cameras to keep track of our focal dhole pack for future trapping.  Dhole collaring is now out of the time frame for my dissertation, but I would still like to pursue this as part of the overall project.  I am working on a plan to pull all these cameras or work with my assistant to keep up some data collection while I am away.  I also need to rapidly figure out how to store my supplies and personal belongings.

Bonus Photo

Our dhole pack is showing a healthy presence; we had multiple photos at most camera locations.  The clouded leopard is an outstanding bonus.

This month took an unexpected turn because I lost my research visa due to a stamping error when I last re-entered the country.  Despite two full days lost waiting in lines and politely arguing my point at the immigration office, I ended up having to leave Thailand for a couple of days to apply for a tourist visa.  I now have a 60 day visa while I wait for my research permit extension (potentially 1-2 months) and then I can apply for a new research visa.

November 24-27 I participated in a workshop on the small mammalian carnivores of Thailand.  It was an excellent exchange of information between researchers and conservationists involved in monitoring illegal wildlife trade.  We spent hours checking the identification of species in camera trap photos and I learned to better distinguish mongooses, otters, and fishing cats.  The group identified research priorities for groups of species and we discussed appropriate sampling and ways to increase data collection on the small carnivores for researchers who are currently using camera traps.  The organizers brought together camera trap datasets from throughout Thailand.  I will be able to access this collection to conduct a nationwide habitat-suitability model for dholes.  I also plan to research the historical records for canids in Thailand now that I have tips on where to start my search.

At the end of the month Baa Jii (“Yaai”), my cook, gossip connection, and primary friend at the sanctuary passed away.  I am now setting myself up to be a bit more isolated and on my own for food.

In December I will focus on tracking 4 GPS collars on roaming domestic dogs.  I am *still* working on manuscript edits for a paper on the results of camera trapping in Khao Yai National Park.  Plus, this week I will finalize edits from reviewer comments on a short large-spotted civet note.  I also volunteered to help write up the strategy document that will be an outcome of the small mammal workshop.  We hope to have the meeting proceedings finalized by Dec. 27th.

Bush Camping

If you are on Facebook, it is no secret that the last two months I have been globetrotting in Africa and Japan.  Unexpected opportunities arose that I took advantage of while there is a lull in my trapping permits.  My ongoing camera trapping was covered by assistants while I was away and resulted in only one dhole photo.  I immensely enjoyed bush camping in game reserves and national parks in South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe (Photos Here).  It offered a break from all of the hurdles thrown at me during fieldwork and a chance to reconnect with the energy of actually seeing wildlife (including lions and a serval!).  In Japan, I was invited (and fully sponsored) by Dr. Hayashi Yoshihiro, a professor at the University of Tokyo (and the mammal curator of their museum) to give a presentation about my dhole research. This took place at the Hyogo Wildlife Management Research Center.  I talked with graduate students involved in carnivore work and also learned about bear traps.

In September, I sent in a pre-proposal to the Asia Seed Grant program of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.  My proposal was chosen to advance to the next round, so I am currently working on a full proposal.  My Fulbright grant also ended this month and I was required to write a final report on the year.

We are working on a new proposal for the Smithsonian IACUC committee and on research permit extensions from Thailand (which translates to never ending forms).  What does this mean?  No trapping (probably not until February of next year).  I am now focusing on the potential disease spillover from domestic dogs’ angle.  I have one GPS collar and 3 other collars in transit.  In November I will focus on getting these out on roaming dogs.  We also plan to start the blood disease analysis at the University lab and revisit villages for a census of the domestic animal populations.

Waiting for Permits (Again)

August was a slow month as we wait for permission from the Animal Care and Use Committee at the Smithsonian to give the green light for further trapping.  We did have a couple of lone dhole sightings around the Research Station, but no dholes photographed. Instead, we took a big hit on equipment:  Two of my brand new camera traps were stolen! We finally got ourselves elephant proof cases, but they aren't bullet proof!  The thief actually shot off the locks, took the cameras, and left behind the steel protective cases still bolted to the trees.  We talked to the villagers and explained the purpose of the cameras, but they confirmed the cameras were destroyed.  Additionally, one more cage trap was crushed by a family of elephants.

We nearly finished the construction of two long box traps for set up directly on trails and ordered 4 GPS collars for domestic dog tracking.  My team conducted 100 interview surveys in Buriram province to the east.  I am now busy with data entry for a total of 500 surveys.

 I also wrote up a short note for "Small Carnivore Conservation" to document the Large-Spotted Civet photographs we have gotten at Khao Yai National Park and in Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary.

Interviews

After last month’s excitement, we toned down a bit and focused on interview surveys in July. Next week I will collect the memory cards from camera traps that have been out in the forest for a month, but right now I do not have any new dhole news.  We did work with a team from Kasetsart University to interview villagers living near the border of Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary.  Spread over three villages, we have now interviewed 84 households regarding domestic dogs and collected 113 blood samples for disease analysis.  

I sent another team to provinces in the East to finally complete long-overdue carnivore interview surveys (focusing on dholes, tigers, and clouded leopards).  They conducted 300 surveys despite problems such as a blind man wanting to answer a survey, Cambodian language barriers, and a group demanding a whiskey payment for answers!

In August I will organize what we need to analyze the blood samples and possibly open traps if we have a veterinarian living on site.  I am slightly ahead of schedule with the blood draws and may even be able to analyze all of the samples by the end of the year (earlier than my original target of next summer).  

We are now ready to choose village dogs to monitor their ranging movements.  This has been delayed because of lack of funding for GPS collars.  I am working with Peter on a budget and hope to have 4 collars ordered by mid-August.

I also need to prepare forms and reports to extend our research permit (which expires in November 2009).  

Dhole Hunt

June was an exciting month with plenty of dhole activity.  I worked hard from 5am to 10pm every day for 3 weeks and everything seemed to happen at once in rapid succession (after months of delay).  We spent a day in the field with our vet and his assistant on June 3rd.  As we stopped to find the source of a sambar deer distress call, canid shapes came into focus across the reservoir.  Three dholes were herding a young deer into the water!  It was my first chance to observe their hunting behavior which was surprisingly silent.  Still, there was enough non-vocal communication for them to coordinate efforts to keep the deer struggling in deep water.  The lead dhole was so intent on its prey that my field assistant was able to approach within 20m for a photograph.  This confused everything we have learned thus far about the pack avoiding human activity.  Unfortunately, we did not see a kill, the deer was able to sneak away into cover.

We had another exciting opportunity when a fresh sambar carcass was found by rangers who reported a pack of 10 dholes.  I have video of a single dhole returning to the carcass, but he was wary of the camera and focused on pulling the carcass (over the traps) out of camera range within a few minutes.  Our mistake was not staking down the carcass and setting up of cameras directly at the site.  Over the next few days, the dholes returned to the kill site, but did not touch a hind quarter that was staked in front of a camera.  Instead, they preferred to feed on the full carcass in the water by access through a tunnel in the grass where they could stay off of the road, away from our traps, and away from our camera eyes.

We also received news of two dholes that were shot by farmers in a village bordering the west of the sanctuary.  They accused the dholes of stealing chickens.  I set up cameras in the area and am working on convincing the farmers to report the site of the bodies so I can collect skulls.  I now have 15 working digital cameras and they are all in the forest.

Finally, after months of delay, I met a professor from Kasetsart University who brought vet student volunteers to help with blood samples from domestic dogs (for disease analysis). We completed approximately 30 interviews and blood draws, with plans for further work in mid-July.

I made a short trip to Khao Yai National Park at the end of the month to meet with a previous collaborator and obtain his permission to be included as co-author on my camera trapping manuscript.  This is essential for publication because the work was done under his permits. 

 July work will focus on village interviews/blood draws and extensive camera trapping to locate the dhole pack to the west.