the bats are crazy this year. some giving birth at abnormally early times while others are holding out until their typical late-birth dates which reflects the extreme conditions of northern environments. it makes for very interesting observations, but busts the walls of my neat and tidy masters thesis right off the hinges. true to form, this seems to be what science is all about: deriving reasonable and even supported hypotheses only to have your study subject decide to shake things up a bit and prove you wrong. and although i will have to rethink my explanations and steer my thesis in a slightly new direction, this is what i love about field research and studying mammals.
thesis-altering craziness aside however, one of the really cool things i've been seeing this summer, is the return of females that we caught and banded last summer. at two different maternity colonies i’ve recaptured females that were fitted with silver bands sporting their unique scientific number, allowing me to follow their reproductive progress for a second season in a row. so while i may be spending the fall re-directing my explanations of female reproductive activity in northern environments, at least i'll have a few sweet females helping me look at seasonal variation over a two-year span along the way.
1 comment:
aww it's nice to have a visit with old friends! and just think, where would we be if everyone just accepted that the earth was the centre of the universe and copernicus never bothered to check out whether that theory checked out or not? maybe with the help of your lovely repeat ladies, you'll discover something entirely new about bat behaviour :) keep up the good work! (and have i told you yet that i love your header? those are some gorgeous pups you got there)
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