“You learn many different skills in graduate school; my favorite and most useful by far are construction skills! I designed and built 24 enrichment devices for my PhD and got so popular frequenting the local hardware store that they even gave me a 10% discount on PVC pipe!” [Photo and caption by Karli Chudeau] [Edited…

Sometimes the smallest changes can make the biggest difference in research! In rehabilitation, elephant seals get these nifty “hat tags” so that when there are a lot of seals in one pen, we can easily identify who is who with minimal disturbance (they like to sleep all piled together, and being sick, they like to…

Rock Hyraxes (Procavia capensis), elephant’s closest land relative, are grumpy little floofs with poor thermoregulation (the ability to regulate their body temperature). Luckily they are gregarious and to keep warm, pile on top of each other in burrows until the sun comes out, then take their cuddle puddle outside to bask in the sun together….

In animal behavior research, we are often at the mercy of our animal collaborators. Acai, a harbor seal in rehabilitation, was uninterested in checking out this PVC puzzle in the water as a part of her cognitive tests. While frustrating that she didn’t want to participate, her behavior still provides valuable information that can help…

Before my field season, my garage turns into a Santa’s workshop- if Santa were a seal and the workshop made only food puzzles. Prepping for my field season means lots of trips to the hardware store and getting confused looks from the employees on why I have my arms full of PVC pipes while I…

Spotted on the border of Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo, this male African Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone viridis) uses his long tail feathers to attract a mate, for life. During the mating season his 2 central tail feathers will grow to be 30 cm (or almost a foot) long, so that he can put on…

The best part of my field season is seeing the subjects that I worked with while they were in rehabilitation get released back into the ocean! These harbor seal pups came to The Marine Mammal Center (MMC) in Sausaltio, CA as young as a few days old, malnourished, and separated from their moms. But after…

Ever been tidepooling and poked your finger in a squishy sea anemone just to see its petal-like arms grasp your finger? You may have noticed a somewhat sticky feeling as you shake those arms free, but how can something be sticky underwater? That sticky sensation you feel are actually nematocysts, which are microscopic stinging cells…