Feces ... poop ... shit ... #2 ... scat ... crap .... dung ... defecate ... manure .... droppings ... ka-ka ... dookie ... turd ... stool
Caitlin Curry |
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Well Shit......
The sun was just starting to rise over the termite mounds at the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in Namibia, Africa. I had been waking up this early for a few weeks so making my way down the dirt path with a flashlight being careful not to step on snakes and keeping a close eye out for leopards was starting to feel routine. With my clipboard and timer in hand I entered the cheetah pen. This was starting to become routine for the cheetahs as well, as they acted as though I didn’t exist. For two hours every morning I did behavioral observations on four cheetahs before anyone in the center was even awake. And every afternoon I fed these same four cheetahs chunks of meat laced with barley, corn, lentils or rice so I could determine who’s scat belonged to who when collecting samples and later extracting the hormones.
A little history behind my fascination with poo...
I would like to say that this was by first encounter working with feces, but I cannot. Aside from being forced by my parents to clean up after my pets growing up, while in college, I cleaned poop for three years at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. I worked in the Tropical Rain Forest, African Savannah and the Family Farm as a volunteer in the Animal Care Unit, aka, shoveling shit for free. But, as shocking as it may seem, it wasn’t the poop that attracted me to the job. Volunteering allowed me the opportunity to interact with many species of animals, such as ocelots, jaguars, DeBrazza’s, colobus and Goeldi’s monkeys, hippos, giraffe and many species of birds, as well as do regular behavioral observations on those animals. This lead me to develop a research project on the Golden Lion Tamarins (GLT) I took care of in the Tropical Rainforest. This is what first sparked my interest in doing research. Through this project I investigated parent-rearing versus hand-rearing of GLTs in which I compared the social interactions of two litters of GLTs from the same parents, one hand-reared by keepers, the other reared by the parents. I examined the overall behavior of the individuals in both litters to determine if they were developing in a typical manner. This project was the winner of the spring 2005 Woodland Park Zoo Behavioral Studies of Zoo Animals contest, commended for being the most scientifically accurate. |
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In the summer of 2005, I spent three months in Namibia, Africa at the Cheetah Conservation Fund as an intern for the founder and executive director, Dr. Laurie Marker. During my internship, I was involved in a multitude of projects from 24-hour waterhole game counts to helping finalize the 2005 International Studbook and creating an identification handbook for the captive cheetahs at CCF. As I described above, for my primary project, I set up and implemented behavioral research to coincide with the endocrinology project of a Fulbright Scholar who was doing research on the estrous cycle of captive cheetah at CCF. As part of the project I was taught to do biological sampling extracting hormones from cheetah scat, and after the Fulbright Scholar left, I continued the endocrinology portion of the project, collecting and processing samples. I also assisted in many workups on cheetahs helping to take measurements, give medication, and take blood and tissue samples.
At the end of my internship, about a week before I was going to be heading back to the United States, Laurie approached me about a project CCF had considered starting utilizing scent detection dogs for fecal collection and analysis. At this point, it was just an idea and she thought my animal behavior background made me a perfect candidate to help get the project off the ground. To find out more about it, go to my cheetah research page.
At the end of my internship, about a week before I was going to be heading back to the United States, Laurie approached me about a project CCF had considered starting utilizing scent detection dogs for fecal collection and analysis. At this point, it was just an idea and she thought my animal behavior background made me a perfect candidate to help get the project off the ground. To find out more about it, go to my cheetah research page.
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Since graduating from UW (Go Huskies!), I have traveled to the Amazon, visited the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford in England, become a certified dog trainer through the Animal Behavior College and have taken enough open university courses to obtain an equivalent to a minor in Biology. In addition, I was a volunteer researcher for five years for the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research, or the Institute for short, participating in studies on various species of bears, birds, elephants, and local fauna with a main focus on the behavior of the Giant Panda. I assisted with two fecal studies; a Mississippi State University (MSU) study identifying and characterizing micro flora in the gastrointestinal tract of the giant panda and a study in conjunction with the Memphis Zoo and MSU evaluating the physiological condition and foraging behavior of giant panda via fecal analysis. My responsibilities included monitoring giant panda activity, collecting and managing samples and maintaining project supplies. I was also one of the first interpretive volunteers at the San Diego Zoo, specializing in the Elephant Odyssey exhibit.
Showing my true dedication towards and confidence in the Cheetah Conservation Fund and their programs, I am a founding member of their Southern California Chapter. As the fundraising officer, golf tournament coordinator and, now, communications officer I have helped our chapter raise over $250,000 since 2010. |
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I am now fully engrossed in my program at Texas A&M as a member of the College of Veterinary Medicine in the Veterinary Pathobiology department. I have joined the lab of Dr. James Derr which includes being part of the DNA Technologies Core Laboratory staff and the Texas A&M Wildlife Conservation Genetics program. Our lab uses biotechnology for the conservation and restoration of biodiversity for a myriad of species. While a large focus in our lab is the American Bison, my research is looking at biodiversity of the African lion. To find out more about it, go to my lion research page.
Alter Egos.....
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I am an artistic scientist. I enjoy photography and doing crafts, love to cook, have a fond appreciation for art, and have been a dancer my entire life. My mother has always said my brain is in a battle with itself, the right side and the left side, but I believe it just makes my point of view stronger, and has honed by organization skills to a point of being borderline OCD.
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