It’s been an exciting couple of days! We've been so busy - the Ecology Project International team keeps us moving in order to take in all the awesomeness that is the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. On our travels through the park today, we came upon this adorable little guy walking down the roadway. We just followed behind him very slowly until he decided to head over into the snow and pounce on some unsuspecting prey. It was a spectacular sight to witness. Yellowstone in the winter is amazing, there is no one here, we can go the whole day seeing just a couple of cars or people. The wildlife however, is everywhere. |
Dr. Geremia and Ecology Project International arranged for our students to spend two days in the field with members of the bison research team (Anna, Beth, Carly and Owen). Students learned about the research projects, field protocols, data collection, and most importantly, spent time with scientists learning about their work. These scientists were so open and sharing with our students, they discussed colleges, majors, job opportunities, different career avenues in environmental science, biology, wildlife ecology, and natural resources. Also, they were just superbly cool to hang out with on a bitterly cold, windy day in Yellowstone National Park even if we were collecting poop samples. Really, we hunted down bison and deer poop or scat as we like to say around here. You can learn an awful lot about an animal by investigating it's poop - what it ate, it's hormone levels, you can even do a DNA analysis!