Getting to work

My research has not officially started yet. I am still waiting on some info from cattle GPS collars and then I will get to work setting up camera traps and cages soon.

In the meantime, for the last couple of days, I have had lots of good, long meeting with some new collaborators from Illinios, Stanford, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) who arrived on Sat and Sunday. They are planning to model how cattle and wildlife affect ecosystem services over the whole landscape-- everything from ticks and disease, to human attitudes and economics. I heard about the beginnings of this project over the summer when I was last here and mentioned the research I am already doing. It fits in well with what they are trying to do and so I am excited to be involved now too.  Since photos of us in meetings are not so exciting, here are a few of wildlife instead

My first cheetah sighting since returning. 2 males

 These 2 male giraffe might look light friends in this photo... but they are just pausing in between bouts of hitting each other with their long necks. I got some good videos of it, but not sure if they will upload.