As I summit Everest, sweating from exertion with the sun glaring on my face, I turn my gaze downward and sweep the creviced ground with my eyes. The creatures I am here to study are inconspicuous, blending into the rocks with their grey, ridged shells. Their species name is Siphonaria gigas, the Greek gigas meaning “giant,” and these…

Grad students everywhere have had their best laid research plans stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year has been particularly challenging for animal biologists whose research requires them to travel to other countries to conduct fieldwork. I’ve had many anxiety-ridden virtual conversations with colleagues whose study animals can only be observed once in a blue…

It has been two and a half years of collecting data for my oxymoronically entitled study, “An assessment of consistent individual differences during human-animal interactions in the pre and post-natal period in rangeland ewes”. Ewes are female sheep for those of ewe that do not know. I say my study seems like an oxymoron because prior to…

Field work with kittens? 1st year graduate student Sabrina Medero shares her experiences with kitten behavior!

As I shifted the sheep from one grazed section of the field to the next luscious cover crop patch, they moved in threes, filling the width of the corridor.  They became more frantic to get to wherever the sheep in front was going, and the electric netting that formed the corridor leaned precariously on its side….

Guest contributor Bradley Wilkinson from Clemson University discusses how brown pelicans on the east coast made a conservation comeback, but face a new set of challenges that he and his colleagues have been opportunistically researching.

In case last week’s Field Notes left you wanting more, researcher Alexander Vining provides some “supplementary material” about what it is like to migrate amid a pandemic.

COVID19 has been a tough pill to swallow for everyone, from teachers, to parents, to everyday employees. The global pandemic has caused unprecedented impacts not only on the workforce and economy, but everyday life as well. Academic research has both suffered and flourished in new and surprising ways under the heel of COVID19. Last month, as we were all adapting to stay-at-home orders, we highlighted some of our animal behavior researchers’ pandemic version of “the field.” For this month’s field notes, we are checking in with them to find out just how the pandemic has impacted their research for worse, or for better.

Seasonal changes in the rainforest? ABGGer Meredith Lutz recounts the seasonal shifts during her latest 8 month stint in Madagascar.