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My Life is Crap

I love working at a zoo!

9/10/2019

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I have moved on from being a graduate student. Although I don't graduate until December, I have started a new position as a post doctoral scientist of conservation genetics at the Center for Conservation Research (CCR) at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (OHDZA)! I will be working mostly on projects on lemurs and other species from Madagascar, throwing in the occasional elephant and big cat project to keep myself associated with main land Africa. I'm still settling in but it won't be too difficult a transition when I can see orangutans out the lab window and I get to take a daily safari walk to see all my favorite animals.
It will take only 15 minutes for me to get to these nuggets (born May 22nd) being introduced to the public today!

I, personally, don't get to do any snow leopard work but OHDZA is a dedicated member of the Snow Leopard Species Survival Plan (SSP), a program that works to maintain a genetically stable assurance population of Snow leopards in zoos. Our neighbors in the CCR in nutrition and reproductive physiology do research on these floofs to improve care and management around the world.
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Being so close to the action I'll hopefully be able to get the inside scoop (like I did with the Indian rhino. The repro team showed us the birth video only hours after it happened!) and you know I'll be making regular visits to their enclosure to bask in the tail poof glory. I'd have to pass by sloth bears and tigers on the way there too. Darn.
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Total Eclipse of the Sun 2017

8/15/2017

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Next Monday, August 21st, a total eclipse will traverse across the US in a spectacle not seen during in my lifetime. The last total eclipse in the US was on February 26, 1979 (right, top) but the last time totality took a similar path crossing the nation from the Pacific to the Atlantic was June 8, 1918 (right, below). So this is a pretty special event!
Totality: where the moon fully covers the sun
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We won't be able to see totality in Texas (68.44% in College Station), but that's not going to stop us from having an Eclipse Party! If you're planning on viewing the eclipse, be safe and view with the proper protective equipment. ​
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www.greatamericaneclipse.com
You can find everything you need to know about the eclipse at
Eclipse2017.org and Eclipse2017.nasa.gov
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I do research on lions, hear me ROAR!

4/23/2017

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Once upon a time, scientists had faith in their president and government. They believed they were advocates of progress and defenders of the planet. These days, massive cuts to funding, freezes in government agencies employing scientists, and attacks on facts have caused a lot of doubt in our government and it's relationship with science.
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Yesterday was Earth Day and thousands of scientists WORLDWIDE marched to show solidarity for the importance of science. I attended the Bryan/College Station March for Science which was small but did a great job of including the local community. As one of the largest research universities in the United States, Texas A&M University does a lot of ground breaking research but most of the community probably doesn't know much about it unless they are directly associated with it in some way. After the march we had a Science Town Hall. There were science demos, the opportunity to "Meet a Scientist" and talks on how science is a part of everyone's life. 
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I think our little event was a success. And, as for the marches around the globe, I don't know how much it will effect policy, but it got people excited about science. And support from the public is just as crucial to policy as support from politicians, as one can lead to the other.
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I took part in the "Meet a Scientist" portion of the festivities. Carrying around my lion skull instead of a protest poster was a great conversation starter. I talked to a lot of people about conservation, lions, bones, genetics, graduate school, etc. I passed my card out to teachers who were interested in having scientists come talk to their students and ended up having a great conversation about Conservation Genetics with someone who said they had never heard of it before. It was exhausting but I had a lot of fun.
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It's All Semantics

3/29/2017

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It has been a rough few months. The Trump administration cannot be accused of being uneventful. I initially wrote this post as a rant in January when, after only a week in office, the Trump administration was imposing a freeze on EPA grants, made 'alternative facts' a daily concern and seemed to have offended everyone in science, regardless of their political affiliation. Being a 5th year graduate student (BUSY BUSY BUSY), trying to still do science so I can get a job in science even though there's a war on science, it's been tough to find the time to finish many posts (I have 6 started... so they'll get there eventually). For now, here's my rant...
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With our country's political dichotomy, terms like "climate change" and "global warming" cause more division than unification. "Climate change" and "global warming" are terms of a global scale when many don't grasp much outside of a local scale. So, you'll probably find more people who think we have a responsibility to the environment than who believe in "global warming". 
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"Global warming" is a misnomer, giving nonbelievers ammo for their argument, and "climate change" is used as a political power play to further agendas rather than what might actually be best action. In reality, we are living in a changing environment and whether you believe it is because it's being caused by people or not, there is scientific evidence showing change. 

So, regardless of these terms and how their usage effects the public, the environment still undergoes change and, despite personal political beliefs, we, as a species on this planet, have a responsibility of helping the environment and not making conditions worse.

Compromise must be made between sides to make something abstract more tangible. My recommendation, take those terms out of it and focus on actual, tangible issues.

My lion example (sorry for all the commas but try to follow me): Climate change isn't reducing the home range of the African lion, anthropogenic factors (things that are a result of human activity), such as humans coming into lion habitat, which, in turn, changes the landscape, do. A focus on alleviating human-wildlife conflict, teaching carnivore-friendly land use, and the creation of corridors to preserve passageways for movement of species across people dominated areas, for example, will better serve the lion population than trying to "stop climate change." It's something people can more readily relate to and inevitably leads to that bigger picture that "climate change" is trying to encompass but is too abstract for many to understand. It's the same goal just a refocus of the issue. And, I think, the lion conservation community is doing this well.
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Well, That's Just Super

10/15/2016

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Did you happen to notice that moon has looked a little bit bigger the last couple nights? Well, you're not imagining things.

​The next three months' full moons (10/15-16, 11/14 and 12/13-14) will be Supermoons, with tonight marking the night of the Hunter's Moon!
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What's a Hunter's Moon?
In North America, the October full moon is also known as the Hunter's Moon because 20 less minutes between sunset and moonrise compared to other months makes for brighter conditions for hunters at the beginning of deer hunting season. Because this year's Hunter's Moon is also a Supermoon, hunters will have an extra bright October so all those deer better watch out!
What's a Supermoon?
A Supermoon occurs when the moon’s closest point to Earth (called a perigee) coincides with a full moon making the moon appear up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than average (right). Tonight and tomorrow's moon will appear 30% larger than the smallest full moon of the year (in April).

​The best time to view a Supermoon? Well, this month, the perigee will be at 7PM CST on October 16, when the full moon will be just 222,365 miles away.
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The next three months' Supermoons will be at their fullest @:
  • October 15 - 11:23PM (moonrise @ 6:55PM)
  • November 14 - 4:42PM (View @ moonrise @ 6:04PM)
              ​The moon will be 221,524 miles away from earth
              on November 14 @ ≈5AM. Closest perigee of the year!
  • ​December 14 - 6:06PM (moonrise @ 4:35PM)
              The moon will be 222,739 miles away on December 12
              @ ≈5PM so this one might not be as impressive as the
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              last two months since it won't be fully full at it's closest 
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              position but is still considered Super!

Moonrise times are for Central Texas. Find the exact time of moonrise where you are!
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space.com
National Geographic wants us to rest assure that there is no scientific evidence for any connection between a supermoon and natural disasters but says we should be weary of unusually high coastal flooding if there's a storm surge since tides are highest during full moons.
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