Today at the zoo: Jedward! Last week at the zoo: Sporty Spice!
More London Zoo celebrity sightings next week :-)
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Hello! Finally got round to uploading some photos. None taken by me by the way
, my nature photography skills aren't at the stage where I can photograph dolphins from a moving boat. They were all taken by my supervisor Kevin Robinson. These encounters happened just over a week ago. The female in the photo with the calf is called Panda, and the baby is called Swayze. Swayze has a spinal deformation, which may be the result of numerous factors potentially including attacks by adult male dolphins, but he's gloriously playful, and often bow-rides with us when we meet him. The juvenile on its own is Pirate. And the other picture is the wonderful minke whale which leapt six or so times right out of the water, then followed us out of curiosity for a while. Absolutely incredible experience, to see such a massive creature breach like that, and according to Kevin it's really rare behaviour. As for my project, ArcGIS is finally installed on my laptop and I start analysis tomorrow. I can't wait, it's a fascinating topic, I just hope I fare well with the software... J
, my nature photography skills aren't at the stage where I can photograph dolphins from a moving boat. They were all taken by my supervisor Kevin Robinson. These encounters happened just over a week ago. The female in the photo with the calf is called Panda, and the baby is called Swayze. Swayze has a spinal deformation, which may be the result of numerous factors potentially including attacks by adult male dolphins, but he's gloriously playful, and often bow-rides with us when we meet him. The juvenile on its own is Pirate. And the other picture is the wonderful minke whale which leapt six or so times right out of the water, then followed us out of curiosity for a while. Absolutely incredible experience, to see such a massive creature breach like that, and according to Kevin it's really rare behaviour. As for my project, ArcGIS is finally installed on my laptop and I start analysis tomorrow. I can't wait, it's a fascinating topic, I just hope I fare well with the software... J 
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Hello!
I hope everyone is enjoying their respective places/placements. I don't have that much to blog about really but thought I would anyway since I'm wasting time in the library before for the England match.
So far I've been growing plants and insects and trying to stop both from dying. The insectary where I work is really cool with lots of strange creatures and peoples pets including a goliath bird eating tarantula which gives me the creeps every time I see it. Its a high containment area so I have to change lab coats about a zillion times before I can get to where my insects are kept. I'm working on disease transmission in leafhoppers, and they are sooo cute! I had to dissect some the other day and I felt really guilty. I'm gonna be doing more insect murder tomorrow and one from outside jumped in my soup today so thats quite alot of insect lives I've ruined!
Ive set up a preliminary experiment while I'm waiting for things to grow and have started collecting saliva for analysis. I haven't learnt alot of the techniques I will be using yet as people have been away etc so I' mostly just plodding along slowly and enjoying their swimming pool. They also have tennis courts etc, amazing!
I'm loving the sunny weather, I hope it stays this way!
Kellyx
I hope everyone is enjoying their respective places/placements. I don't have that much to blog about really but thought I would anyway since I'm wasting time in the library before for the England match.
So far I've been growing plants and insects and trying to stop both from dying. The insectary where I work is really cool with lots of strange creatures and peoples pets including a goliath bird eating tarantula which gives me the creeps every time I see it. Its a high containment area so I have to change lab coats about a zillion times before I can get to where my insects are kept. I'm working on disease transmission in leafhoppers, and they are sooo cute! I had to dissect some the other day and I felt really guilty. I'm gonna be doing more insect murder tomorrow and one from outside jumped in my soup today so thats quite alot of insect lives I've ruined!
Ive set up a preliminary experiment while I'm waiting for things to grow and have started collecting saliva for analysis. I haven't learnt alot of the techniques I will be using yet as people have been away etc so I' mostly just plodding along slowly and enjoying their swimming pool. They also have tennis courts etc, amazing!
I'm loving the sunny weather, I hope it stays this way!
Kellyx
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Wild Scottish Coast
Hello! After many trials (and a little help from Lucy) I have finally figured out how to add posts. So I've been in Gardenstown for just over a week, the analysis side of my project won't start officially for at least another two weeks; at the moment I'm enjoying the scenery, learning field techniques, collecting data and playing games with the rest of the team.
We have a gannet colony not far from us which nest high enough on the cliffs that they are easily visible from the footpaths, and we've encountered a number of curious grey seals from the boat and in the harbour. The house I'm staying in is built onto the seawall, and the water comes within feet of my window at high tide. The place is beautiful.
Big news today: wild dolphins!!!! It's the second time we've been out on the boat due to rough weather, and we came across a group of 30+ dolphins with calves!! I can't do the experience justice in words, it was absolutely magic. One of them, a female called Aye Aye, was bow-surfing with us for a while and I could see her clear through the water. And the babies were really playful, two of them chased the boat for a while. We observed hunting behaviour with adults leaping out of the water and throwing fish, and some aggression; dolphins are quite vicious, some males have even been known to kill calves. They weren't in a tight group but spread out so that there were dolphins in every direction we looked. We were with them for about an hour.
Going out on the boat again tomorrow for longer, hopefully they'll still be around. Absolutely buzzing from the experience. We record encounters which will then be mapped (by me) using GIS (if I can EVER get it to work) to see how dolphins use the area.
Goodnight from Gardenstown. X
We have a gannet colony not far from us which nest high enough on the cliffs that they are easily visible from the footpaths, and we've encountered a number of curious grey seals from the boat and in the harbour. The house I'm staying in is built onto the seawall, and the water comes within feet of my window at high tide. The place is beautiful.
Big news today: wild dolphins!!!! It's the second time we've been out on the boat due to rough weather, and we came across a group of 30+ dolphins with calves!! I can't do the experience justice in words, it was absolutely magic. One of them, a female called Aye Aye, was bow-surfing with us for a while and I could see her clear through the water. And the babies were really playful, two of them chased the boat for a while. We observed hunting behaviour with adults leaping out of the water and throwing fish, and some aggression; dolphins are quite vicious, some males have even been known to kill calves. They weren't in a tight group but spread out so that there were dolphins in every direction we looked. We were with them for about an hour.
Going out on the boat again tomorrow for longer, hopefully they'll still be around. Absolutely buzzing from the experience. We record encounters which will then be mapped (by me) using GIS (if I can EVER get it to work) to see how dolphins use the area.
Goodnight from Gardenstown. X
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Ice ice baby
Here is a photo of one of my fieldsites. Despite being mid June, it is mostly frozen and tadpole-less. This would probably not be referred to as 'optimum conditions' for an experiment requiring tadpoles. Perhaps I shouldn't have laughed so much about Kelly Redeker's concerns about hypothermia...
Anyway, hoping to be at said lake in about a week or so, hunting for tadpoles like my MRes depends on it.
Other than that, all's well at IoZ and I'm becoming a pro at DNA extraction!
Lucy
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Preliminary goat report
INTRODUCTION
Fera take advantage of unsuspecting students to do the jobs they couldn't persuade their paid staff to do. This includes staring at goats in Wales.
METHODS
The first week was spent goat-viewing in the blazing sunshine. The second week was spent goat-hating in sporadic rain.
RESULTS
After day one of week one: extreme sunstroke produced vomitosis and bed-riddenness. Following recovery from this, excessive walking in wet boots generated red raw feet (with risk of gangrene).
DISCUSSION
Complete disregard for the elements seems to result in suffering. Recommendations for future work include the use of a hat, suncream, and three pairs of socks.
ps... is this blog still public?? Louise x
Fera take advantage of unsuspecting students to do the jobs they couldn't persuade their paid staff to do. This includes staring at goats in Wales.
METHODS
The first week was spent goat-viewing in the blazing sunshine. The second week was spent goat-hating in sporadic rain.
RESULTS
After day one of week one: extreme sunstroke produced vomitosis and bed-riddenness. Following recovery from this, excessive walking in wet boots generated red raw feet (with risk of gangrene).
DISCUSSION
Complete disregard for the elements seems to result in suffering. Recommendations for future work include the use of a hat, suncream, and three pairs of socks.
ps... is this blog still public?? Louise x
Aussie Update :)
Hello!!
Hope you're all well and placements are going ok. Just thought I'd update you all on how I'm doing!
Got to Brisbane a week ago - my pilot dad flew me & my mum here (on a normal scheduled flight!!)so I spent the first two nights in luxury in the hotel the crew stay at. They returned to Brunei pretty swiftly as my dad was working again and I moved in with a friend of a friend of Lucy's (slightly tenuous link!!) who was a postdoc at York and now is working at UQ. They live only 10 minutes walk away from the Uni which was really handy. Turns out Karen and her boyfriend are really nice people and helped me loads in my first week.
I spent the first week travelling by the glamorous City Cat into the city to the State Library to use the internet to find longterm places to stay. I saw some pretty special places - one where my potential housemates were total stoners and didn't know what time of day it was. I've now found a place about 10 minutes walk from Uni that's nice and quiet, with superfast broadband (pretty difficult to find in Australia!!) and a pretty large room which I'm happy about :)
Work at uni has gone well so far - the lab is pretty cool - it's got an aquarium in it (with only sustainable flora & fauna - i.e. not wild-caught - it's all been captive-bred prrreeettty cool!). This week I've been removing otoliths from fish (earbones) which is quite hard, but makes me feel like a keyhole surgeon from Grey's Anatomy as it's all done under the microscope with tiny tweezers! The otoliths will all be sent off to an otolith consultant (pretty random job!) who'll count the rings on them so the fish can be aged (they grow a new ring of calcium carbonate in the otolith - a bit like trees). I'll be looking at the parasites (there aren't actually that many) when all the ears are removed!
This weekend is a long weekend - for the Queen's Birthday! We don't get a holiday in the UK!! I'm going to head to Byron Bay as there should be epic waves for surfings :)
Anywhoo....hope you're all well, and get posting!! I don't want to be the only one to post stuff :)
Genevieve xxxxx
Hope you're all well and placements are going ok. Just thought I'd update you all on how I'm doing!
Got to Brisbane a week ago - my pilot dad flew me & my mum here (on a normal scheduled flight!!)so I spent the first two nights in luxury in the hotel the crew stay at. They returned to Brunei pretty swiftly as my dad was working again and I moved in with a friend of a friend of Lucy's (slightly tenuous link!!) who was a postdoc at York and now is working at UQ. They live only 10 minutes walk away from the Uni which was really handy. Turns out Karen and her boyfriend are really nice people and helped me loads in my first week.
I spent the first week travelling by the glamorous City Cat into the city to the State Library to use the internet to find longterm places to stay. I saw some pretty special places - one where my potential housemates were total stoners and didn't know what time of day it was. I've now found a place about 10 minutes walk from Uni that's nice and quiet, with superfast broadband (pretty difficult to find in Australia!!) and a pretty large room which I'm happy about :)
Work at uni has gone well so far - the lab is pretty cool - it's got an aquarium in it (with only sustainable flora & fauna - i.e. not wild-caught - it's all been captive-bred prrreeettty cool!). This week I've been removing otoliths from fish (earbones) which is quite hard, but makes me feel like a keyhole surgeon from Grey's Anatomy as it's all done under the microscope with tiny tweezers! The otoliths will all be sent off to an otolith consultant (pretty random job!) who'll count the rings on them so the fish can be aged (they grow a new ring of calcium carbonate in the otolith - a bit like trees). I'll be looking at the parasites (there aren't actually that many) when all the ears are removed!
This weekend is a long weekend - for the Queen's Birthday! We don't get a holiday in the UK!! I'm going to head to Byron Bay as there should be epic waves for surfings :)
Anywhoo....hope you're all well, and get posting!! I don't want to be the only one to post stuff :)
Genevieve xxxxx
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