Highlights and Tips from the Desert

The last in the series of posts about my adventures in the Alvord Desert. My tips for roughing it in the desert and a few of the highlights from my research trip, in no particular order. To read more about what I actually did in the desert see:

The Trials and Tribulations of a Herpetologist Part I
The Trials and Tribulations of a Herpetologist Part II
The Trials and Tribulations of a Herpetologist Part III

• Short tents and sturdy tent pegs are a good idea, this is not something to take lightly, it is very windy in the desert.

That was my professor's tent by the way...he should really have taken his own advice. 

He thought this was hilarious though.

The Trials and Tribulations of a Herpetologist Part III

So here it is, the wrap up of my adventures in the desert. At last the time is here and you have -hopefully- read the background story so this makes some sense.

The Trials and Tribulations of a Herpetologist Part I
The Trials and Tribulations of a Herpetologist Part II

If you haven't read these posts...you'll probably be fine anyway. And so, on to the skinning of rabbits...for science.

Near the end of the study my group had been radio tracking lizards for a few weeks, but the thing about this kind of radio tracking is that there is no computer that tells us where exactly this lizard has been, we can only find the lizard a few times a day and record where is was, we have no idea what it was doing the rest of that day. So to solve this problem scientists have come up with a method called "powder tracking." The concept behind this is to first glue fur to the stomach of a lizard, then fill the fur with ultraviolet fluorescent powder that will glow in ultraviolet light. 

Ultraviolet fluorescent powder

To powder track our lizards we glued rabbit fur to their stomach before they woke up and filled the fur with a certain colored powder and let them be, then we caught them again at midday when they're asleep or hiding because of the heat and fill the fur with a different colored powder. 

Phrynie hiding from the heat of the day in a borrowed burrow. On a rather sad note, this is a little dangerous seeing as the owner of this burrow might be home and none to happy about sharing. One of our powder tracked females was killed by what we believe to be was a young rattlesnake when she ventured into the wrong burrow.

The Trials and Tribulations of a Herpetologist Part II

Read The Trials and Tribulations of a Herpetologist Part I if you haven't already.

Now before you say anything  yes I do realize that I didn't actually answer the question of why we skinned rabbits in the last post even though I said I would...I'm just that mean I guess. Yeah, sorry about that.

On with the story, my group of four people, three girls and one boy, were tasked with the job of working with Phrynies, (nickname for the Phrynosoma Platyrhinos that can be seen on my welcome post) what this entailed was catching them, using the biggest ones for radio tracking,track and document the radio tracked lizards four to five times a day, morning (6-7 o'clock), mid-morning (9-10 o'clock), midday (12-2 o'clock), afternoon (5-7 o'clock), and maybe once more if the lizards hadn't yet settled in for the night.

This horned lizard has a red and yellow radio transmitter glued to her back
that allows researchers to find her and study her movement throughout the day.

The Trials and Tribulations of a Herpetologist Part I

The moment you have all been waiting for...why on Earth would I have to skin a rabbit in the name of science. 

In Honor of Lizards

This a poem one of my wonderfully talented roommates wrote for me as a Christmas present this year and, as it is also about lizards I thought I might share it with you. Enjoy.

In Honor of Lizards

for Anne 

(that's me...when I'm not being Hopeful Herpetologist)

Some might think it odd that Anne

Should choose to make her future plan

Involving certain small reptilians

But truly there are many millions

Of cogent reasons (as we’ll find)

Why all should love the lizard kind.

They’re small and quiet, quick and neat

Excepting, maybe, when they eat

Each other. Yes, sometimes they tend

To gobble up a smaller friend

And you’ll sometimes see them trot about

With half their lunch still sticking out.

But if that less than wholesome sight

Should make you lose your appetite

Never fear, there is a chance

You’ll study those that dine on ANTS!

And then the fun begins with speed

Hours of watching video feed—

Ants that leave and ants that stay

Ants that run around all day

Ants that go and ants that come

Until the end of Christendom.

And why? Well, that’s for you to see

You’re the scientist. Not me.

Of course you won’t spend every day

In such a sedentary way

You’ll go wherever the lizards go!

And where is that? Well, as you know

For cold-blooded creatures, the perfect spot

Is always where it’s very HOT.

  

So to the desert off you trek

In dust and sand up to your neck

Without a shower or a bed

Skinning bunnies you find dead

Chasing scales till morning light

Hoping the tent stays up at night.

And when you’re back to civilization

Still you have an obligation

To research, synthesize, regroup

And measure piles of lizard poop.

But there’s no doubt that lizards are

The pinnacle of life by far

And worth the hours, days and years

The strain, the sweat, the blood and tears.

Indeed, I can’t imagine who

Could something more fun to do.

So Anne, I wish you all the best

May you and lizards both be blessed

Good luck, good tidings, and Godspeed

(But I think I’ll stay at home and read.)

~Rachel~

On a side note, yes I did spend three weeks in the desert living in a tent with only two showers to hold me over. I also weighed and measured quite a lot of lizard poop and sent a few months counting ants on videos to help us understand the availability of prey for ant-eating lizards. A rabbit or two were skinned during this time but it was in the name of science I promise.

One of the lizards I worked with in the desert, the Western whiptail,
very hard to catch once they've warmed up.

It truly was a test of my love for lizards and I'm happy to say that I continue love them just as much, if not more than I did before.   

The Leopard Lizard. I think she's sun bathing in this person's hand 

The desert horned lizard, or horny toad if you prefer. They look so grumpy.

Just in case you were wondering about the part with
 "half their lunch hanging out."
Yes that is a leopard lizard in the process of digesting a whiptail,
lovely imagery isn't it? 

If any of you feel the need to know more about my experiences into the nitty-gritty part of science and herpetology, or simply to ask me something along the lines of why on Earth a rabbit had to skinned, leave a comment and I would be perfectly willing to expand on the story.