Professor Dan Rubenstein's Email from Kenya
Dear Parents of Kenyan EEBers,
Today marks the end of the first part of the mammal course so it is
time for an update before we head off on safari where email contact
will be erratic at best. As many of you know, the aim of the mammal
course was to get your kids to not only learn about this fascinating
group of vertebrates--their evolution, their taxonomy and details about
their ecology, life histories and sociality--from my lectures and a
series of structured readings, but to have them learn about a mammal
species and a issue concerning its biology from observing the species
in the field.
After some preliminary observations they then were to
perform some simple experiments or judicious comparisons to answer the
specific questions they proposed. To do all of this in a week we had
to climb a steep learning curve during the first two days so the
students were well enough grounded in key fundamentals and concepts so
they could customize and shape an original field project. And then
with only 4 days to do the work we all put in some very long days with
at least two sessions in the field sandwiched around discussions of
readings.
In the end I think the students surprised even themselves by all they
accomplished and at what such a high level. Today was presentation day
and each group presented their question, methods, findings, conclusions
and inferences from very professionally crafted powerpoint
presentations. The clarity of the arguments and the appropriateness of
the the graphics were outstanding; some of the graphics were even new
to me! Each talk lasted for 45 minutes and each individual seamlessly
passed the baton to the next speaker. They clearly are learning how to
work as a team and yet express their own point of view. This ability
to be collegial and individualistic is as important a lesson to learn
as are all the facts and processes about mammals--perhaps precisely
because we are large brained mammals ourselves.
Next Saturday we will leave Ol Pejeta and head to Amboselli for a week
where professor Altmann--an expert on baboon behavior--will join us and
where we will learn about some of the most social mammals-- primates and
elephants--on the planet. While at Amboseli there is little
electricity and no email connection. So unfortunately, between the
12th and the 19th of March you will probably not be in contact with
your sons and daughters.
Well, that is about it. I just wanted to update you and send you 3
pictures of them working on their projects. They are a terrific bunch
of kids and they are willing to put in the effort--which has been
considerable--to master a whole new way of thinking and 'doing' on a
new group of animals. I am enjoying working with them and they seem to
be doing so as well.
All my best,
Dan Rubenstein
Go to the next page..... Professor Dan Rubenstein's Email from March 19, 2006
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March 6, 2006
Now they are packing and relaxing as we prepare to go on safari. In a
few hours we will head to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy where the wildlife
are habituated. This will help us on our next set of projects where we
will concentrate on studying the behavior of mammals of different sizes
and exhibiting different mating and social systems. We will be
examining how sexual differences take shape in different societies and
we will examine how various species adjust their behavior to different
risks of predation. To do this we will compare time budgets near and
away from cover and in two parts of the conservancy--one where lion
densities are extraordinarily high and one where they are equivalent to
the background levels we see throughout the region. To examine how
lion predation is affecting the demographic structure and thus
stability of the populations themselves we will drive around recording
the age and sex of all zebras we see and compare ratios of juveniles to
adults in both areas to see how well each sub-population is replacing
its aging adults with up and coming subadults. During this week I'll
see if I can arrange for the students to write an email at least once
so they can fill you in on what they are experiencing.
EEB professor and chair
Instructor of EEB 404 in Kenya
Department Website: http://www.eeb.princeton.edu/
