Tracks + Dung + Grass = Dirty Fun Time

The second week of classes, we set out a couple of times to Lake Manyara, just outside of the Lake Manyara National Park. Here, we are able to get out of the vehicles and explore the area occupied by zebras, wildebeests, thomson's gazelle, hippos, buffalos, hyenas, and lions.

We were initially given a lecture in class on identifying wild animal dung and tracks. Dr. Kioko went over to his garbage can of goodies and pulled out a massive lump of elephant turd. He just rough handled that thing like it didn't just come out of the rear end of a large animal. I got a whiff of earthy  slightly sour stench (lucky me, I was a keener in the front middle seat). Thank God he didn't make us pass that around...although I thought too soon. He then placed a dry baboon duke on my notebook! I had to pick it up, examine it in all its seedy glory, and pass it to the desk behind us. I couldn't help but think how unsanitary it was, considering how a lot of the baboons are suffering from a gruesome epidemic that manifests itself as backside ulcerations...but I put those thoughts aside when I realized that 'I am a rugged scientist manhandling crusty wild animal poo!' Next on the menu was giraffe, wildebeest, gazelle, and zebra poo. Giraffe poo resembles a red blood cell in the sense that it is small, round, and depressed in the center. Wildebeest poo condenses into a mound of small circular bits. Gazelle poo is tear drop shaped, and zebra poo resembles a kidney. Kioko brought out a fresh specimen of buffalo poo to finish off, and this particular one had just as fresh a smell. We compared it to cow paddies so that we can tell the difference in the field (basically, buffalo poo is bigger and messier, whereas cow dung is layered and flat). Lion and Hyena poo is apparently rancid because it consists of meat and blood, so we didn't have to go through that potentially traumatizing experience in an enclosed space.

I didn't really get much from the animal tracks lecture because, silly me, I forgot to bring my glasses to class, so I couldn't make out the finite details or the names underneath the tracks on the powerpoint. However, I learned a lot more once we were in the field. Kioko couldn't physically bring in hippo poo because it is a splatter 3-5 feet along the ground (almost as if someone had projectile vomited). As for the tracks, they were very easy to see along the soft wet sandy banks of Lake Manyara. We found lots of distinct hippo tracks (left), a hyena track (right), and some wildebeest. 

We then were divided into groups of 3 and were instructed to do a line transect from the lake shore to the acacia forest about 2 km away (top). We carried this 2x2m square frame, dropped it on the ground, lifted it up and dropped it again at a 90 degree angle a couple more times so we got a 4x4m square plot to look for dung and tracks. It was hard! Especially when we got out onto the dry grass where it is really hard to decipher tracks, and identify dried dung pieces. It was really cool watching the Thomson's gazelle run across our transects (middle). Man, those guys are fast! I also encountered a Marabou Stork (bottom) feather that I mistook for an eagle feather - its massive.

Towards the end of our transect, we were just getting ready to pack up our square frame and move on to the next plot when I saw a track we had missed before. It was big and definitely carnivorous looking, but my partners and I couldn't remember or figure out what it was. We measured the breadth of the track and I drew the indentations on the back side of our datasheet. When we asked Kioko what it could be, he said it was a lion track...the only one seen of all the groups - Laramie the Lion Tracker.

 

We packed it up to return for another day. By the end, we were all sweating like pigs, as there was no cover in the sodic grasslands, and the sun was beating down on our heads. After a long day in the field and hot sun, it is so easy to fall asleep in the safari vehicles, despite the bumpy roads. I tend to have little naps between camp and parks...the rocking motion is very soothing and puts me to sleep.

Another day, we came back to Lake Manyara, except instead of looking for dung and tracks, we were identifying and assessing the phenology (reproductive vs. leafy stages) of grasses, forbs and sages within 2x2m plots along a transect. The grass here looks super strange compared to our grass at home. It has interesting little internodes with small clumps of grass digits, some can be super spiky, others aren't grasses at all! It wasn't as fun as the tracks and dung, but still fascinating. Our group was admittedly slower at doing the assessments, but we were thorough.

After spending a couple hours doing transects, we walked to the edge of Lake Manyara and observed the flamingos up close.