August 5, 2014 – Duke students Faye Goodwin and Kyle Smith have begun their last month in Madagascar as part of a two-month service learning project funded by Duke Engage. Here, Faye reflects on the final days of their experience, their work and their legacy.
70 days, 1,523 data points, 3 lemurs, 15 fecal samples, ½ bottle of Pepto-Bismol, 700 kg of rice, 1 pair of very very muddy boots. Countless new friends. Infinite memories. Too many goodbyes. 4 airplanes, 4 days, 8,000 miles between me and home.
I admit I’ve been doing a lot of counting in the past month, and I’ll even admit sometimes I was counting down. How many more hours do we stand in the rain watching lemurs sleep until the work day is done? How many days in a row will it rain? How many pairs of dry socks do I have left (answer: zero)? How many days until I encounter a washing machine?
And now, suddenly, those numbers are too small and those hours are too fast. Isn’t it always the way?
For the past month, Kyle and I and our Antanetiambo team have been collecting behavioral and nutritional data on the group of three bamboo lemurs that live there. It’s about an eight hour work day, following the group and taking data points on a GPS at a five-minute interval. This way we can record what the animals are doing, where they are, and what plant species they are eating. These plant species will later be identified by our friend and visiting botanist Richard from Missouri Botanical Gardens, giving us scientific names and knowledge of origin of the plants the lemurs are using most. It is exciting to be collecting preliminary data for a species about which so little is known, and we hope that at the end of the data collection (Jackson will continue without us until December) there will be enough information to try and create a paper about the nutritional ecology of Hapalemur occidentalis. Since we began data collection in the beginning of July, Kyle and I have been able to question, tweak and solidify our method, even creating an ethogram (dictionary of behaviors) to specify which codes should be used for what instances of activity. These are all skills we have directly been able to bring from our classes at Duke, particularly Primate Field Biology with Dr. Leslie Digby, in which we created ethograms and developed scan sampling methods just as we are doing here. I imagine that’s a rare experience as a sophomore undergraduate, to be able to directly draw from classwork in a real-world situation (and it feels good to know what you’re talking about). We may even go on to clean up, analyze and possibly run statistical tests on the data we collected when we return to the US, which would be a solid contribution to the study.
So have we contributed?
This is what the Duke Engage program is about, after all; enabling students to create change worldwide. What have we changed? For much of the project I confess was doubtful of our importance to SAVA Conservation’s work in Antanetiambo—the trail flagging, plot-marking, and map-making felt like good practice for us and like items at the bottom of a very long to-do list for SAVA. But time, of course, tells better, and I’m sure will continue to as we return home and reflect. The data collection, though being done mostly by Jackson, was a way for us to really use our science skills in a valuable way to the project.
We experienced our first two tourists in Antanetiambo in past few weeks as the season picks up, and the trail maps we created were put to good use. The trail map (of which many copies are being requested!) was also useful in developing a monitoring schedule for Ramichel, the forest guard. One of our main goals for the project was habituation of the bamboo lemurs, and we have already seen a difference in their comfort levels around us as well as around a tourist we encountered during observation.
All of these contributions I truly feel have made a positive impact on the infrastructure, development and accessibility of Antanetiambo. But what feels much more tangible are the relationships we formed and the positivity we promoted about ecotourism and research in the Andapa basin. As a biology student I wanted to do much more do skilled work to make a difference, but what made the most difference was our interest and enthusiasm; the long talks after dinner about conservation and education; the new friends we took out to lunch; the discussion we started with regional visiting English Clubs about ecotourism; the families we waved at on our daily bike rides to Antanetiambo, knowing we were there from far away because we care about what’s here. It was difficult to really see that impact until we departed from Matsobe, and heard everyone telling us they would see us when we came back in a few years. And I would hate to disappoint.
Another confession: as an undergrad trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, I’ve been doubtful that a science career is right for me. I hoped this trip would help me understand what conservation possibilities were available for somebody who’s (let’s say) not so great at math, or more interested in talking to people than prepping slides and hitting books. What I’ve seen is that conservation work is many-fold and requires all types of people with all types of skills from the researcher to the teacher to the sign-makers and guides. But one thing I’ve found to be absolutely integral to conservation is care. Is heart.
Maybe that’s all I’ve got, or all you’ve got. But boy does it count for something.
More to come when I make it home—we’ll see how the world has changed, how I deal with rice withdrawals, and how much pizza I can consume in one sitting.
Faye is a junior at Duke University and a docent at Lemur Landing. She’s studying environmental science and performance art, and spends her free time onstage, at the Duke Lemur Center, or baking goodies.
