Field Notes from Kenya
In 2006, a pilot study at Mpala Research Center, Kenya led by the Zoo evaluated normal blood values and capture methods in wild kori bustards.
Now, the Zoo is ready for the next phase of research. Beginning November 1, 2009, Zoo scientists and keepers will be studying wild kori bustards in Kenya. This research trip includes Zoo vet Katharine Hope, animal keeper Stephen Schulze, as well as Rhea Hanselmann, a research fellow from the Smithsonian Institution and Mpala Research Centre in Kenya.
The team will study the health, nutrition, and feeding ecology of kori bustards in the wild by collecting blood samples from wild kori bustards. They will also train Kenyan ornithologists in safe kori bustard capture and sample collection techniques. They hope this will also be the beginning of a long-term relationship between the Zoo and collaborators in Kenya in an effort to conserve and protect these fascinating animals.
Rhea Hanselmann chronicles her experiences with kori bustards in the field notes below.
February 15, 2010
Good Morning, America
Dr. Hope and I are waiting at a traffic light in Washington DC. We both clutch our hot travel mugs as we watch people bustle through the streets on this cold February morning. It snowed overnight and the city is covered in what looks like beautiful, glittery icing. Everyone is bundled up in their dark winter clothes. What a contrast to the hot, dusty, colorful streets of Nairobi, which I left behind less than 48 hours ago!
I feel like I boarded the plane in one world and disembarked in another and I can’t help but compare the two. They are so different and yet so similar in many ways. And honestly, I am not quite sure yet which one I feel more comfortable in: the loud, friendly, and mildly chaotic one I just left, or the cool, clean, organized one I recently returned to. I have felt this way before and know that this state of mild confusion will pass and that I will eventually get used to my new (old) surroundings again. I suppose this is what they call "culture shock." Regardless of my mixed feelings, part of me is definitely happy to be back and is silently singing a line from the Steve Goodman song City of New Orleans: “Good morning, America, how are you?”
Lessons Learned
 |
| Releasing a female Hartlaub's bustard |
As we arrive at the National Zoo’s veterinary hospital and I begin to unload the four large crates filled with samples and supplies, I reflect on the past three months. How fast the time went by and how many things I learned!
Every project comes with its unique challenges. Regardless if the research involves fieldwork or mainly laboratory time, it takes place locally or internationally, it involves a large crew or just a few individuals, there will always be obstacles to overcome and lessons to learn. This is science after all and isn’t our quest for new knowledge why we do this in the first place?
While I think about my time preparing for this project and the time spent working in Kenya however, I realize that the most important things I learned are not solely related to the work in itself. Yes, I did learn how to safely capture and collect samples from a kori bustard, how to spot wildlife in the dense bush, and how to drive on the left side of the road. But I also discovered a new understanding of basic everyday things. I learned that I can get used to pretty much anything, including eating Ugali (a dry cornmeal porridge and a staple food in Kenyan cuisine) and cabbage multiple times a week. And I realized that human nature is the same across the globe, regardless of your cultural upbringing.
In Review
 |
| Male buff crested bustard. |
My time as a Smithsonian/Mpala post-doctoral fellow is not over yet and much work still awaits me. However, as I write my last field notes, I feel that it is time to ask myself what I have achieved so far. Which goals did I actually attain and what remains unfinished?
Needless to say, the most obvious accomplishments are related to the field work in itself. During the past three months, our team was able to safely capture fourteen wild kori bustards, along with eleven smaller white-bellied bustards, and one each of two less common species: a Hartlaub’s bustard and a buff-crested bustard. True, the number of koris we were able to capture is not as large as we had all hoped for, owing to various factors including the drought conditions affecting the Mpala Ranch ecosystem during the initial weeks of the project and a steep learning curve associated with the capture process for all members of the team.
On the other hand, adding these other species of bustard to the study has increased the value of the samples that we have collected and analyzed so far. Having data on infectious diseases, physiological values, and environmental exposures for four different bustard species, all of which share similar lifestyles and inhabit the same environment, will amplify what we can learn from this study and make things even more interesting. Having seen some of the species-specific differences in the results we have so far, I can’t wait to find out what the tests that have yet to be run will yield for the different species. In this case, the perceived downfall of finding fewer than expected kori bustards lead to the unforeseen benefit of allowing us to expand our study to include other species.
Finally, one of the most important objectives of this project, and a goal of many international collaborations, was to share knowledge and expertise across continents, exchange ideas, and provide training to all parties involved. This project brought together people with varied levels of education and experience from both the US and Kenya. Our team included people whose official classroom education ended in eighth grade, those with a bachelor’s or master’s degree, as well as those holding a doctorate. Although what exactly we learned, whether it was a specific skill or simply an understanding of a new culture, was different for each of us, I believe that, as we part ways, every member of our team has grown and acquired new wisdom. I know I have.
Rhea Hanselmann, DVM
Smithsonian/Mpala Post-doctoral fellow
