The students in the Tropical Vertebrate Zoology class being conducted in Moorea have had their say and now it is time for voice of the only non-student, non-swimmer, techno-phobic participant to be heard. This is great and all of you should consider coming to Moorea the next time this class is offered by Rich and Peter! All 7 of the students have been working so hard at their respective projects: why just this evening I saw someone walk by the lab carrying a rock skipper encased in a make-shift carrying case made of 2 plastic soda bottles. Who knows what fate awaited that fish as the students in the fish project tested their hypothesis about the relationship between temperature and the color of the fish. The other group - the lizard people - are not being shortchanged when it comes to having fun. A common activity in the evening is for the students to compare the numbers and locations of all their mosquito bites - bites obtained while they were out "noosing" geckos and skinks in some of the most beautiful forest locations imaginable. Perhaps Peter will figure out how to upload the video he created of the "lizard" people doing the Capture the Skink Dance in the ancient sacred area near the research station. Parents, you might not believe how fast and nimble your offspring are as they leap around the rocks trying to capture the elusive skinks - which have the amazing ability to drop their tails on command!
Each day seems to have its own particular highlight, and today was no exception. The "fish" students stumbled out of bed before sunrise this morning so that they could be "en locale" to catch their rock skippers at the first approach of daylight. The "lizard" people got to sleep in until 7 AM, and had a leisurely breakfast before heading to the lab to "stretch" skinks on a custom-made skink stretching machine - a machine designed to record the clinging ability of the skinks. Just as the work at the lab was coming to an end, the "lizard" people heard the "fish" people returning from their morning of slaving away in the bay. They couldn't talk fast enough as they told the following; Shawna had been walking on the beach when she observed that she was standing on a fish. She called to Rich to describe the fish, and the more adjectives she used to tell him about the fish, the more concerned he seemed to be. The upshot of the story is that Shawna had been standing on one of the most poisonous fish in the ocean! (the stonefish) She is just fine, and she already e-mailed the news about the fish to her mom, so that "mom" would not be concerned, but it surely did make for some exciting conversation around here.
If you are not a bird lover, read no further. However, if you are curious about the birds that can be seen on the island of Moorea, keep reading! There are great crested terns, grey ducks, common waxbills, brown noddies, chestnut-brested manakins, common mynas, red-vented bulbuls, Pacific reef herons, silvereyes, and swamp harriers all over the place -a "twitcher's" paradise! (I got permission from the "fish" and "lizard" professors to mention the birds that are around here. They haven't been looking at the birds - they are only looking at their favorite subjects!)
To all of you compassionate folks who want to hear about the treatment the poor kitty received after fracturing its humerus: The kitty was taken to the vet this morning after spending a relatively calm night encased in Shawna's makeshift splint. The vet gave the kitty some pain medication and a sling and pronounced that the kitty would be back to normal in 2 weeks. Everyone here was so relieved about the happy ending to the story.
This part of the note is to our most faithful "blogger" - Beverly! We love your responses. In answer to your last question, we are eating well and frequently. Today for lunch the cooks announced that the dessert consisted of ice cream and ice cream cones. You can imagine the squeals of delight from all the American ice cream lovers. Tonight's dinner consisted of chicken stew over rice, a salad, bananas and the Chef Rich's cookies, straight from the local grocery store. Thanks, Rich!
5 comments:
Wow! Sounds more like a vacation than a research trip. (lol) Thanks for regaling us with tales of the South Pacific. Today it certainly makes us envious we are hear in dreary, rainy, cold Cleveland!
Good morning...or is it evening for you island lovers. I am vacationing in Tahiti extemporaneously through your exciting blog spot. I wonder if I could get online credit for this course? definately not like the biology classes I took at UA in the __'s( we'll just skip mentioning those numbers for now).We did research on DNA and RNA, not really spoken of outside interested circles at the time,splitting embryos on frogs, and the biggest assignment was babysitting fruit flies for 2 weeks and watering the lab plants while the prof. went on summer vacation-the perks of going to school year round! bali hi is calling me...about those pics. They just brought this home for me..the lasso is quite an invention! but how are you getting the blennies? Can they live outside of water and if so for how long? What colors have you seen them turn and how deep in the ater do they go or at what depth have you observed them changing colors? If you get the video up and going, this would make a great documentary or perhaps with all the excitement- a reality show!!!The bird info was great, too. I live in a protected area next to Egypt Valley, a designated wildlife area in the Ohio Valley area, where they have just discovered a new species of bird and new butterflies so we expect a lot of future observations to be conducted here in the future..Glad to hear your diet included some familiar foods-hopefully it isn't based on Moorea's catch of the day!! ill tomorrow- learn lots and have fun.
Hello Adventurer's, Hopefully this comment will make it this time.
Thanks to the person that included birds in this blog as I love birds.
Now that the drama is over from the "stonefish" episode and Shawna [my daughter] survives another Shawna Story, it sounds like another eventful day in collecting, testing and researching. I did some research myself and found the island of Moorea is quite beautiful and used by author James A Michener in his book Bali Hai. This is also a great place to vacation with many tourist attractions. All of you will want to thank the Profs on a daily basis for inviting you on a trip of a lifetime. It sounds fantastic.
love the stories and look foward t each day cant wait to see al the pics hope you guys all have fun while learning in such a cool place
Shawna this could only happen to you! I hope all your friends enjoy your very amusing company as much as we do. I am so bored without you here to make me laugh, however laughing at you over the internet is filling in. Blake says be careful silly. Randy says only you Shawna only you!
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