This August I committed myself to problem-solving tasks. To increase the life of my camera traps I tested methods (including sticky glue to catch mice) to prevent ant invasions. I also looked into the purchase of materials to build “elephant proof” protective housings for the cameras. I have only found shops selling heavy steel, so it will take more time to buy metal for my purpose. We did buy supplies to build 6 box-traps in preparation for dhole trapping.
On the camera trap side of things, I baited with a road-killed sambar deer late in the month, but only captured photos of large monitor lizards.
This month I tested GPS tracking keys. They are made for vehicle tracking, so I have to play with the settings to get them to work correctly for my use (domestic dogs). So far I have not had success with the GPS keys. One brand is not recognized by my computer and I need to spend some time to mess around with the USB drivers. I did a 10 day test of the Trackstick brand on a domestic dog. I tested the key beforehand with me walking and was able to map points easily in Google Earth; however, the memory was blank when I retrieved it from the dog! This may have been due to the settings because I set it to record every 15 minutes instead of every 15 seconds. Also, the silica caulk around the seams got rubbed off and the batteries were wet. The dog's owner told me that he saw a flashing red light for 3 days and then no light. A red light indicates the unit is not able to take a GPS fix. And, it does not sound promising that the batteries may have died after 3 days. I am drying the Trackstick with silica gel and will try another dog test. The stick's batteries are supposed to last a week, but this is considering a vehicle that may only be in motion 3 hours a day. As an alternative, I am in contact with companies that make wildlife telemetry collars to see who can make a very basic and cheap GPS collar.
To tackle funding, we prepared and sent proposals to San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Smithsonian Endowment Fund. From my appeals to zoo list servers, I was contacted about a funding opportunity at Taronga Zoo in Australia (due date end of October).
In September I will continue my camera trapping efforts and prepare the logistics for dhole trapping. I am also working on a proposal and forms to collect anal sac secretions from dholes at San Diego to make a trapping lure.
Scorpion Tales
My room has become my enemy, not the haven it should be. Almost midnight. I can’t sleep because I don’t know WHERE to sleep. I was trying to fall asleep on bare concrete after I ditched my mattress earlier. I rolled over to turn off my music and in the blue glow of my MP3 player a shape emerged, a foreign shadow not supposed to be there – a scorpion!! This was inches from my face! Combined with my stress and loneliness and lack of sleep, it sent me into a panic attack after I safely swept the thing out of my room (me in bare feet).
This was the THIRD scorpion today. In the afternoon I was reading on my mattress (really two foam cushions on the floor). The electricity went out and as I stood up to turn off my computer I nearly stepped on that unfamiliar shape…which took my brain a fraction to identify…scorpion! I tried to keep it in the flashlight beam (remember the lights are out), but of course that just scared it scurrying away to mysteriously disappear in the folds of my cushions. I poked around to find it and made a frantic sweep of my room. No sign. Great—even worse not knowing where it was. I guessed it hid up into the internal grassy matting of my mattress as it is all ripped up and old. I gingerly escorted the mattress out of my bedroom. Hence, I was left sleeping on concrete. I did a thorough sweep of the room and no bugs, no spiders, no creepy crawlers. Ok.
But, then talking on the phone later, I was pacing around my room, closed the door, and lo and behold, what was on the other side? Scorpion! This one I sprayed with bug repellent.
Back to now, midnight. How am I going to sleep? Sitting on a chair? I feel surrounded. I am not a spider person, but I deal. I don’t deal well with dangerous stinging things next to my face.
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The next morning I dutifully wrote out the Thai script for scorpion (pronounced maeng bong) copied from my dictionary. I wanted to be sure the sanctuary staff understood my night. At breakfast in case my verbal pronunciation was off, I gave Yaai the sheet. She got a kick out of it and showed everyone all day my “problem.” They confirmed with the rains the scorpions come inside (but I had yet to see any up to this point). Everyone said just kill them (fine), but I want to know how to prevent myself from rolling onto one in the middle of the night!
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After all of this, I ended up getting stung anyway….by a swarm of bees in the forest during fieldwork!
This was the THIRD scorpion today. In the afternoon I was reading on my mattress (really two foam cushions on the floor). The electricity went out and as I stood up to turn off my computer I nearly stepped on that unfamiliar shape…which took my brain a fraction to identify…scorpion! I tried to keep it in the flashlight beam (remember the lights are out), but of course that just scared it scurrying away to mysteriously disappear in the folds of my cushions. I poked around to find it and made a frantic sweep of my room. No sign. Great—even worse not knowing where it was. I guessed it hid up into the internal grassy matting of my mattress as it is all ripped up and old. I gingerly escorted the mattress out of my bedroom. Hence, I was left sleeping on concrete. I did a thorough sweep of the room and no bugs, no spiders, no creepy crawlers. Ok.
But, then talking on the phone later, I was pacing around my room, closed the door, and lo and behold, what was on the other side? Scorpion! This one I sprayed with bug repellent.
Back to now, midnight. How am I going to sleep? Sitting on a chair? I feel surrounded. I am not a spider person, but I deal. I don’t deal well with dangerous stinging things next to my face.
~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning I dutifully wrote out the Thai script for scorpion (pronounced maeng bong) copied from my dictionary. I wanted to be sure the sanctuary staff understood my night. At breakfast in case my verbal pronunciation was off, I gave Yaai the sheet. She got a kick out of it and showed everyone all day my “problem.” They confirmed with the rains the scorpions come inside (but I had yet to see any up to this point). Everyone said just kill them (fine), but I want to know how to prevent myself from rolling onto one in the middle of the night!
~~~~~~~~~~
After all of this, I ended up getting stung anyway….by a swarm of bees in the forest during fieldwork!
Malaria?
I’ve been sick for over a week with a high temperature (39C), chills and sweats. Aching, sick to my stomach, headache. I finally conceded and had the sanctuary staff drive me to the local clinic. The doctor was convinced I had malaria. She drew blood not to check yes or no, but to test the TYPE of malaria for treatment. Yet, the test was negative and I was sent home with antibiotics. Good thing they are cheap here: $10 for the whole shebang.
Fieldwork has been slow this month as I was down to 1 working camera and sick.
As for the camera situation, I found a dry box, and packed with silica gel for a week some of my film cameras started tentatively working again. We did purchase 5 new digital camera traps that I received yesterday. This digital model also has the ability to take short video.
I have been in contact with an organization called Care for The Wild about potentially funding the purchase of additional camera traps. I also put out an appeal in a ZooNews Digest listserv and directly contacted zoos housing dholes. To date there has been no change in my Fulbright status, so I am still on the list of alternate candidates.
In August I will continue my camera trapping efforts and attempt to attract dholes with various “squeakers” and prey calls.