Wildlife Research Unit - a lifestyle

Imagine a typical day in the life of a Wildlife Research Intern at Ocean’s Campus...

Before 8:30am, you have already scarfed down breakfast and are finishing off the last bit of toast in the passenger seat bound for Gondwana Nature Reserve. Reference book in hand, you spot Orange-breasted Sunbirds and yellow Cape Sugarbrids in the entrance to the 14,000 hectacre park. Cheetahs are the target animal for the morning however. You assist expert ranger Jo Fourie in triangulating the exact location of two collared bachelors not far from the visitors’ lodge. This requires tracking by foot and wheel as you make your way through savanna grasslands and up fynbos knolls. Inspect some scat, study a faint print in the track (rhino, you deduce), scout the raptors trolling the plains, then makeshift a pond-side camp for a lunch of your own. The afternoon consists of another game drive, this time to record the behaviors of giraffes within a predator reserve. Rays of sunshine filter through the window; you can feel them bathing down your neck and arms as you follow the patterned long necks with your binoculars. On the short ride back to campus, you chat with Jo about the day’s data, but also about the wonders of ecology, the folktales of animal behavior, and the finer details of life. Another day, another adventure. One thing is certain: Tomorrow will be entirely different.

The Wildlife Research program debuted in May, 2014 as an addition to the suite of eight other educational internships offered by Oceans Campus, in Mosssel Bay, South Africa. It sets itself apart as the only program dedicated solely to developing the skills necessary for running a terrestrial research project. Interns learn various scientific methods for compiling and analyzing professional level research on wildlife species. Projects may involve birds, insects, small animals, and/or large animals like caracals, rhinos, and elephants.

Two years in the making, the program kicked off this month with a bang. First-time intern, Alex Raposo, spent a full week camping in the African bush with senior instructor Arno Smit. There, she learned the technical as well as survival skills that would help her understand the bio-diverse environment on a profound level. When she wasn’t around the fire or procuring dinner, she was tracking animals, learning to identify their footprints by size, shape, and impact. She also studied various scat samples, practiced how to best approach animals, and even got a tutorial on how to properly defend herself in an adverse wildlife encounter.

“I recommend it to anyone who plans to spend a significant time in the bush,” said Alex. “And it was just fun too.”

One highlight for Alex was witnessing the release of a male rhino into the park. It was the second day of her program. Alex watched from a safe distance as rangers assisted the large bull into its new home. The excitement was high for the rhino reintroduction, but also cautious, for rhinos are a controversial issue in South Africa due to rampant poaching. Alex was happy to report that the male rhino had been spotted mating with a young female less than a week into his transition. Perhaps this means the 2015 interns will even get to glimpse a rhino calf.

No day is quite the same for Alex, but each day builds on the last. She has become an expert for example, in the telemetry used to map the approximate locations of collared animals, especially cheetah and rhino. She has also assisted the senior instructors in collecting data for a project on giraffe behaviors. The hypothesis revolves around whether the giraffes in Gondwana, where predatory lions share the same park, act differently than giraffes in predator free parks. Other projects include trapping small mammals to study genetic diversity and survival rates, camera trapping for nocturnal activity, and crunching bird data to research whether or not there exists a difference in diversity between nature reserves and local farms.

By the end of her time in Gondwana, Alex will have composed a research proposal of her own design. She plans to return to the University of Toronto where she will be a senior this year in order to complete her degree in Biodiversity and Conservation Biology.

Meanwhile, Arno and Jo will be busy going “bush” with a host of new Wildlife Research interns over the next couple month (three for June and six for July). They will continue research started with Alex and begin new projects as they arise. With the start of winter bloom budding the beauty of fuzzy Pretoria and lavender hued Ericas across the Western Cape, it is a promising time for Wildlife Research interns wanting to do some blossoming of their own through a bit of adventure, a lot of learning, and more than touch of fun. 

Jordie Ricigliano

Wildlife Research Unit kicks off

Oceans Research has evolved and crawled out on land, and so we have started with land based research with one intern and five projects. The studies were conducted on two private game reserves in close proximity to Mossel bay. The small mammal survey and bird surveys were done at Botlierskop for safety reasons, as the Lion on the reserve is kept in an enclosure and not free roaming as is the case on Gondwana Game Reserve.

 The month kicked off the first week of Training. Camping at a water hole overlooking the rolling hills covered in indigenous fynbos must have been an experience for anybody with a love for nature. The campers were reminded of the force of nature when a huge wind storm blew the tents down on late Sunday afternoon and were they forced to seek shelter from the elements. Replacing all damaged equipment on Monday morning, they returned to the field to resume their field work.

We started our research work at Botlierskop on Monday morning with our new set of 4x4 wheels called “THE AARDWOLF”. Two small mammal trapping grids were laid out with 25 traps each.  We focussed our efforts in two habitat types, fynbos and grassland.

After finishing our packed lunches, we set out to look for suitable places to deploy the two camera traps. Both were eventually deployed in two separate river beds where we expected game movement.

For the next three days we checked the traps every morning, for small mammals and after the first two escaped we had our skills honed and marked and weighed a total of 19 mice. We took 17 tail clippings for DNA analyses.

The afternoons were spent doing the behaviour study on the Giraffe and some interesting interactions were seen as one female is expected to be pregnant and the other female being in oestrus.

Week three was focussed the behaviour study and bird surveys and tracking at Botlierskop and Gondwana.  

The last week were put aside for tracking and the giraffe behaviour study. We tried to find the cheetah, but could not get to see them but got a good fix on their general position. We focussed on the behavioural study on Tuesday and Wednesday being our last day at Gondwana we tracked the Rhino and were hoping to see the elephant as both these pachyderms were not seen by us.  After finding them we spent the afternoon following their movements in the valley until they moved into the thicket and could not be seen anymore.

On Thursday morning we went out to Botlierskop to retrieve the camera traps and the afternoon was put aside for downloading and analysing the images. We were quite disappointed about the results, as we only recorded a waterbuck and eland on the one trap, and a giraffe on the other. I am planning to place the traps on existing game paths where there are good visibility for the next session. But that is what research is all about: not always a success. To be continued...

Shark Chronicles 089 - First impact with Mossel Bay

After being accepted as an Oceans Research intern I was thrilled that I would have the opportunity to work with leading field experts in marine research and, more specifically, having the opportunity to work in close proximity with Great White sharks.

Having been an active intern for a little over a week now, I can say with full confidence that Oceans Research is an excellent program for anyone looking for practical experience in field work. Every day is a series of new and interesting tasks from working in the Mossel Bay aquarium, cataloging new data, going out into the bay,chumming the water and acoustic manual tracking. The highlight so far happened when one of the most powerful and fearsome creatures in the ocean decided that it would be fun to breach close to the side of the boat while we were tracking it. And let me tell you, nothing can prepare you for the awe of being within twenty feet of a Great White.

Two days into my stay I was assigned a hands on task that involved handling a 1 meter long shark at the Mossel Bay aquarium. Unfortunately, the shark was apparently not amused, a wrestling match ensued, during which I was in the face with his tale. Fortunately, we got the data.

Being with Great White sharks is an awesome and very exciting experience. The firsthand experience is worth more than gold, and the mentoring and knowledge I’ve received from the experts is priceless. I would recommend the Oceans Research intern program to anyone with an interest in marine biology – or any other field of biology.
Also, coming to South Africa has been eye-opening. The diverse and unusual flora and fauna have been a treat. On the first day I saw an ostrich farm, elephants, a bird that was as large as a turkey that looked like a dove, and trees you would only expect to see in a Dr. Seuss illustration.

On the whole, I feel blessed by this experience and look forward to the rest of my stay here.

Bryce Colby – Oceans Research Intern

Shark Chronicles 088 - Olivia

A couple of weeks ago an Italian film crew came to Mossel Bay to make a documentary on the research that Oceans does. During three days they came out on the boat with us to film us catching sharks for the aquarium, going on chum trips and tagging a shark. As a field specialist I was on the boat to help. First I was chumming and later, when Enrico tagged the shark, I was on bait rope to get the shark close enough to the boat. The Italian film crew left with great footage of the work we do at Oceans Research.

The next week we decided to start tracking the 2.2 meter shark we tagged and because I was on the boat when she was tagged I got to chose her name. A few months before I came back to Oceans I lost one of my friends, so I decided to name the shark after her: Olivia.

For almost 60 hours we tracked Olivia continuously, with the interns working in shifts on the boat. During the day we could sometimes see her when she was hanging out at her favourite spot, Hartenbos and she took us on a few trips to Kleinbrak and Seal Island.

Since the continuous track, we have tracked Olivia a few more times and the interns have become really good at tracking, skippering and taking data. One of the things I learned from my friend passing away is to fulfill my dreams and take every chance for adventure I get. Therefore, I am very happy to be back here to be a part of this research and for having an amazing experience.

Shark Chronicles 080 - This is Sparta!

Pinocchio was the first shark that we tracked, so it was exciting to see where she went when she was not at Seal Island trying to steal our bait, whilst chumming. We had to stop tracking her since Enrico decided to tag another big shark. Enrico found and successfully tagged a shark about 3.5 meters long and she was nicknamed Sparta by one of our fellow interns.

Once tracking commenced we were on the 6pm till 2am tracking shift, which was cold and very swelly, which made it even more difficult to skipper the boat, and made it a very nerve wracking experience, constantly looking out for swells if you got close to the beach and also looking out for whales. We each took it in turns to skipper the boat, track, take data and rest.

It was good to see that Sparta’s behaviour was alot different to Pinocchio’s as she stayed mainly at Groot Brak (another white shark hotpot), which is about half an hour to an hour boat drive from Mossel Bay, staying mostly in the same area and very shallow. It was frustrating at Groot Brak because of the reefs which she liked to hide behind so the signals from the tags were weakened or lost altogether sometimes. Then she headed away from the river mouth and past Groot Brak. It was interesting to try and figure out where she was heading and why. After a few hours of tracking we had to stop because she swam to far out and unfortunately we couldn’t follow, which was frustrating because we didn’t know whether she would return. The next day a chum trip went out and they could not find her. However the next day she was found, so tracking commenced again. However after a day and a half of tracking Sparta again, tracking was called off because very bad weather was approaching.

The experience that we have had here working with white sharks will be one that we will never forget. We have had the most amazing time going out on the boat and seeing sharks and even dolphins and whales on a daily basis. We would definitely love to come back again in the future and do it all over again as we have loved every second of it.

Natasha Riches and Alexandra Rosskopf– Mossel Bay Marine Lab interns

Shark Chronicles 069 - The longest white shark manual tracking ever done

Last week (22-26 June) we tracked Pinocchio, a 2.3m female great white shark with two continuous tags providing us information on her swimming depth, water temperature at that depth and muscle temperature, every second. After a lot of cold nights and long days we managed to break the current record for continuous manual tracking of a great white. Our new record is 106 hours.

What will stay with me the most about this tracking is especially the night with dense fog: when there are no orientation points around, you really have to rely on each other and work together to make sure you do not lose the shark or get too close to shore.

Liesbeth

My dear lady Pinocchio,

Thank you for having let us track your movements during 106 hours… and access that way a bit of your secret life. It does probably mean nothing to you but it is a giant leap for us! Not only for science but moreover for our own sense of achievement: only with these can we fully realized what such things as team work and spirit really mean. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. You deserved your bloody seal that last night. Keep in touch,

Lucille

Tracking is truly a learning curve. Not only do you learn how to use the equipment, but you learn how to work well with others to perfectly map the movement of the creature we all came here to study. You learn to fight through the cold, wind and rain with more layers, 9 on top and 5 on bottom. You learn to laugh at the hiccups at 2am when you haven’t seen daylight in 3 days and hot cocoa is all you want. But what an experience! The communication you must have with your team grows into this amazingly well oiled machine. This is Marine Science and I love every minute.

Cory

Tracking white sharks is an experience I will remember for years to come. Every shift was a new experience to learn and a new challenge to face. You learn to rely on others as they rely on you as well. Definitely the best part of the track was when we were tracking in very thick fog. Working as a team to keep the shark close by while dodging all sorts of hazards was a blast. Wouldn’t trade anything for it in the world.

Aaron

Pinocchio was the first white shark that I experienced when chumming, so it was fitting that she was the first one that I tracked. She was so fun to move around with and hypothesize of what she was doing and why. I will follow you anywhere, Pinocchio!!!!

Kat

I had so much fun tracking Pinocchio. It really brought me closer to people in a way I never expected. I have to admit it was a little annoying to hear the beep for hours on end but the scariest moments were when the beep left us. I have never felt happier and more defeated all in a 10 minute time frame. Tracking just gives you a little more info into the secret lives of sharks. I will miss Pinocchio and here little upturned fin. She is really an amazing creature.

Amy

Thanks to the whole team: Adam, Kim, Rabi'a, Amber, Cory, Amy, Lindsay, Liesbeth, Lucille, Aron, Kat, Karen, Carolyne, Maddy, Martha, and a special thanks to the amazing interns managers Rob and Dylan.