Protecting South Africa's Rhinos

Hello everyone,

At long last, I found a location in Hoedspruit that has unlimited internet and allowed me to use it for free. You can finally view my "Protecting South Africa's Rhinos" video on youtube. (Click Here). I captured all of this footage myself on my Canon PowerShot SX230 HS digital camera.

To refresh your memory on our different anti-poaching techniques, visit "Our Hearts Ache for the Rhino."

If you feel so inclined, please spread this video to your friends to build awareness for rhino poaching. It would mean the world to me.

Sincerely,
Aria

Between a Lion and a Hard Place

Hello everyone,

As you can tell by the title of this post, Victoria and I were extremely lucky this week. Monday morning, we received an emergency call from the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center regarding two adolescent male lions that had escaped from their enclosure. The lions had actually torn a hole through the fence into the buffer zone between the HESC and the Kapama game reserve. The buffer area was also next to the public area. The situation was so critical because the lions could tear a hole in the fence again, either escaping to Kapama or the public area. Victoria and I were beyond excited. Not only were we going on a high-profile rescue mission, but we were  also going to get to touch (and likely treat) lions! After today, I will have touched Africa’s Big Five: Lions, Leopards, Buffalo, Rhino, and Elephant. The only member of the Big Five I will have left to treat, however, is the Elephant, and we actually have one scheduled for late next week. Few students working with Dr. Rogers are so lucky as to treat the Big Five in such a short period of time, so I feel very fortunate!

When we arrived at HESC, we all hopped in the back of a pick-up truck and drove to the area in which we believed the lions to be, where we met up with the founder and owner of HESC, Lente Roode. I had heard about her during my initial tour of the HESC a few weeks ago, and now I was going to meet her! I felt so honored to meet the woman who had reversed the dismal fate of the cheetah population. We decided on a plan of action for the day: Victoria, Janelle, and I would join the eleven HESC student interns and two staff members in one vehicle, and Dr. Rogers and Cristo (the head animal curator) went into the pickup. These lions were very shy, and if we were sitting in the back of the pick-up, then we might scare them away. In fact, while we were still discussing our plan of action, the lions appeared close to us, on the top of a large rock! We were all so excited that we all started making noise and taking pictures. This, of course, scared them away immediately. I could tell Janelle was pissed. We spent the next nine hours trying to find the lions again.

After searching for two hours with no luck, we all started to get frustrated. We decided to stop looking for the lions for a while and work on something else that HESC needed done: moving eleven African Wild Dogs from one enclosure to another. African Wild Dogs are stunning to look at. They are about the same size as a German Sheppard, but have large round ears. Their coat is a complicated splattering of black, white, and beige. (Click here to see for yourself.) The African Wild Dog is also critically endangered because farmers detest them for stealing livestock. To Africans, the Wild Dog is a pest, so it is a battle to save them.

African Wild Dogs have a very interesting social structure, which is the real reason why we needed to move them. A pack of Wild Dogs has an alpha male and an alpha female, which are the only two dogs in the entire pack that are allowed to breed. When the alpha female becomes pregnant, she secretes pheromones that cause the other female dogs to start lactating. The alpha female will have up to 12 puppies and allocate their care to the subordinate females. If a subordinate female becomes pregnant, she has violated a grave rule, and the pack will eat her puppies. In the case of the HESC Wild Dogs, one of the subordinate females had become pregnant while in quarantine, so she was in a separate enclosure with her puppies. Her enclosure was right next to the pack’s current enclosure, so we needed to move the pack to that they would stop harassing the new mother.

We darted four dogs at a time, using the tranquilizers Ketamine and Medetomidine in the dart. Victoria, Janelle, and I traveled in the back of the truck with the dogs to monitor their breathing. It felt incredible to touch such a beautiful animal. When we reached the new enclosure, we injected each dog with the Dectomax (dewormer), Lentrax (long-acting antibiotic to prevent an abscess from the dart), and Rabisin (rabies vaccine). To reverse the Medetomidine, we injected Yohimbin to reverse the Medetomidine. The Ketamine wore off independently. For the dogs that did not wake up after a few minutes, we also injected Antisedan, another reversal for the Medetomidine. All of the dogs woke up well from the anesthetic and seemed to enjoy exploring their new enclosure.

Throughout the day, we kept taking breaks from the Wild Dogs to look for the lions in the buffer zone. Each time was unsuccessful. Late in the day, we decided to try something new: we would tie a dead warthog to the back of our vehicle and drive around to attract the lions. It was a great idea—if we could get the lions to come out of the bush, then Dr. Rogers could dart them. However, I suddenly realized the significance of what we were about to do. We were going to attract lions to our car. At this point, the ranger driving the car said to all of us, “You ride in this vehicle at your own risk. There is another vehicle over there if you would rather move. There is a large chance that a lion will jump out of the bush and attack our car to get the meat.” Holy shitake mushrooms—this was the real deal. Victoria and I decided to stay in the car. This is why we came to Africa.

As we drove slowly around the buffer zone, I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. What was that book called that my mom got me for Christmas? Oh yeah, Whatever You Do, Don’t Run. I recalled the lessons I learned from the book and made a mental plan just in case I encountered a lion. If the lion stays outside of the car, stay as quiet as possible. If the car somehow tips over and you come face to face with a lion, then act as intimidating as possible by waving your arms and making a lot of noise. If the lion attacks, curl up in a little ball to minimize the damage.

Nothing happened. We did not even attract the lions. We needed a new plan. We decided to spread the warthog’s organs around the hole in the fence and tie the warthog to a tree inside of the lion’s previous enclosure. Maybe, just maybe, the lions would go in by themselves? We unloaded the hog and drove around the buffer zone one more time. All of the sudden, everyone started making urgent shushing sounds. Right ahead of us were two lions, staring at us. They were sitting where we had spread the warthog’s organs. We approached the lions in the vehicle quietly. Dr. Rogers aimed the dart gun. When we got a little bit closer, we stopped the vehicle. The lion was still staring straight at us. Dr. Rogers fired the dart and we were all hopeful for a split second that we would catch at least one of the lions tonight. However, the dart missed by a few centimeters, and the lions dashed into the bush, not to be seen for the rest of the night.

We looked until 7:00 p.m. At this point, we decided that we would need to come back tomorrow. I had worked for 11 hours straight (having arrived at the clinic at 8:00 a.m.) and was exhausted. I could not wait to hit my bed, eat a huge dinner, and call Jack to tell him about my experience.

The next morning, we left the practice at 8:00 a.m. It was a much simpler operation since the HESC students were not there. Having the HESC students with us yesterday was a great chance for them to gain some valuable veterinary practical experience, especially since most of the time their work revolves around animal care like cleaning and preparing food. However, having so many people (11 students) also meant that Victoria and I each got less practical experience. For example, Janelle let a vet student in the HESC group do some of the injections, and the HESC students carried the dogs when they had to be moved. However, Victoria and I could not help but feel a bit excited that we were the only students that would work on the lions. We certainly felt a little guilty that we felt this way, but the excitement certainly overpowered the feeling that we were being selfish.

Because the lions were so shy, Dr. Rogers decided it would be best if he and Cristo went to look for the lions, and Janelle, Victoria, and I would come once the lions had been darted. Dr. Rogers and Cristo hung the warthog carcass on the fence inside of the buffer area to attract the lions out of the bush. After a few hours, Dr. Rogers actually found and darted the first lion! We met up with Dr. Rogers and drove to the lion. The lion was lying on the ground underneath the warthog carcass. Janelle got out of the pickup, put a catheter in the lion’s leg, and administered Lentrax (long-acting antibiotic) subcutaneously.

Suspecting that the other lion might be curious enough to investigate his darted friend, Dr. Rogers decided to hide in the bush to try to ambush the other lion. We left Dr. Rogers hidden in a bush and waited for his call. I was a little worried—if the lion became angry when he was darted, he could charge Dr. Rogers. He had never before tried to ambush an animal like this.

According to Dr. Rogers, the other lion came to investigate the darted lion and then picked up Dr. Rogers’s scent. The adolescent male was very curious and walked right towards Dr. Rogers! When Dr. Rogers darted him, the lion actually became frightened and ran away. He fell a few yards away from his friend. Dr. Rogers phoned us to come and move the lion. When I approached this lion on foot, I was blown away by his size. He weighed approximately 150 kg (330 lbs) and would be about 250 kg (550 lbs) when he was fully grown. His paw alone was twice as large as my hand! The short hair on his body was very soft, yet the mane was coarse. It took seven of us to lift him onto to back of the truck (and we barely made it). The lion was so large that he took up the entire length of the bed. I cannot imagine what it would have been like if the lion was fully-grown.

After Janelle inserted a catheter and administered Lentrax, we brought the lion to the hole in the fence and carefully carried the lion through (yes, the hole was that big), placed him under the shade, and quickly returned to retrieve the other lion. After both lions were properly situated, we injected both lions with Dectomax (dewormer), a rabies vaccine, Yohimbin (reversal), Antisedan (reversal), and Acuphase. Acuphase is a long-acting sedative we administered to keep the lions quiet for the next couple of days while they readjust to their enclosure. After the maintenance crew with us fixed the hole in the fence, we were on our way!

Victoria and I could not have been happier about the past two days. We had touched and injected Wild Dogs and Lions, spent hours out in the sunshine enjoying the bush, and added several new drugs to our knowledge. Spending so much time with these animals was truly a blessing and rare occurrence. To work with a vet so generous as to allow us to have an active role in treating these animals is more than I could have ever wished for. He could have told us to stay back and simply watch during our time in South Africa, but he truly values our education. He wants us to have as much diverse practical experience as possible. After five weeks in South Africa, I have handled, restrained, or treated Lion, Buffalo, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant, Hippo, African Wild Dog, Nyala, Tsessebe, Duiker, Warthog, Vervet Monkey, Cat, Dog, Goat, Cattle, Chicken, Horse, Brown-Headed Parrot, White-Headed Vulture, and Brown Snake Eagle. I cannot wait to see what happens next.

Until next time, 

Aria

(Injecting the rabies vaccination.)

My First Vulture

Hello everyone,

Whenever I treat animals for more than one day, I inevitably form a bond with them. The times when I nurture an animal’s health over time and witness the spark come back into their eyes have been the most rewarding experiences in my pre-veterinary adventures thus far. A good example of this is our Old Rhino I spoke about a few weeks ago. Whenever I heard about his improvement, it was like opening a Christmas present. For him to live another day was the sweetest gift I could have been given. Last week, I had a similar experience with a White-Headed Vulture.

White-Headed Vultures are the scarcest vultures in southern Africa, with only an estimated 500 breeding pairs left in the wild. If you recall my discussion of the vulture’s decline in my “Moholoholo” post, you will remember that the locals poach vultures for use in traditional medicine, which has caused population decline. It is believed that the White-Headed vulture in particular, when mixed with other muthi, enables one to predict the future, and is especially effective for horse races. It does not help that the White-Headed Vulture is monogamous for life. Even when a partner dies, the White-Headed Vulture will remain unpaired for the remainder of its life.

A juvenile White-Headed Vulture was brought to the clinic by the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center, which had found him floundering in the grass on their game reserve unable to fly. The vulture was only half the size of an adult vulture and had brown feathers on his head instead of the adult white. Once we got him on the table, we anesthetized him so that we could properly examine his damaged wing. We observed that his wing was badly broken and the bone had punctured his skin, causing a nasty infection. If the wing had simply been broken, we may have been able to fix it, but due to the bad infection, it was necessary to amputate the wing. However, for the time being, we put a feeding tube down the vulture’s esophagus into his crop, an expanded part of the esophagus in birds that stores food prior to digestion. This would prevent dehydration in case he was too upset to drink from a water bowl. We administered Metacam for pain and Baytril for the infection, and put him in a cage for the night.

I helped monitor the breathing while the vulture was under anesthesia, so I was able to touch his soft feathers! I never, ever imagined that one day, I was going to hold a vulture. They are actually much more beautiful than people give them credit for. His beak was a rosy orange color and his paper-thin skin was a delicate pink. The feathers on the top of his head were so short and dense that it felt like I was stroking carpet! I gently maneuvered my fingers through his large feathers to reach the down. His down was so soft that it felt like there was silk flowing through my fingers. I already loved this vulture, if not for his beauty, for his resilience to make it this far.

I noticed something else while I was holding the vulture—he was covered in lice. I grimaced, but was determined to continue the task at hand. A few minutes later, I found one crawling on my arm. Ew. They could be in my hair. I could cause an infestation in my host family’s house. Cue freak-out. When my host mom picked us up from the clinic, I insisted that we drive to the pharmacy to get anti-lice shampoo, even though she assured me that lice from another species would not stay on me. Just as we pulled up to the closed pharmacy, I found a bug in my hair. Cue another freak-out. Even though my host mom insisted that there would not be any anti-lice shampoo in the Pick-and-Pay (the local supermarket), I ran in anyway. I asked a cashier if they had any anti-lice shampoo, and of course, she said no. Thankfully, a kind woman standing in line said that if I was very worried, I could wash my hair with white vinegar. I thanked her profusely, purchased the vinegar, and immediately took a shower when I got home. I washed my hair for three days with the vinegar and changed my sheets. I am happy to say that I have not seen another bug since. I guess my host mom was right.

For the next few days, we tube-fed the vulture canned A/D, which is very easy to digest. In vet clinics, A/D is often given to critical care patients that refuse to eat anything else or have very sensitive stomachs. To animals, A/D tastes really good. We also repeated the fluids, Metacam, and Baytril in order to increase his strength. He needed gain some of his strength back so that we could amputate his wing. Three days later, the vulture was much stronger. He had responded well to the feeding and medication, and was much perkier than he had been before. He resisted much more when Janelle had to pick him up. The amputation went very well and the vulture reacted well to the anesthesia.

We force fed the vulture for the next couple of days the same as we had before, and then we decided to leave some chunks of raw meat in his cage to see if he could eat for himself. By the next morning, he had not touched the meat. Dr. Rogers deemed him strong enough to graduate from the A/D, so we decided to force-feed the chunks instead. Excitingly enough, Dr. Rogers told me I could catch the vulture if I wanted too! I was so excited. I had never been allowed to restrain a wild animal before by myself. After three weeks of hard work, I think I had finally earned Dr. Roger’s confidence and trust. I put the bird gloves on and opened the cage. To my surprise, catching the vulture was relatively easy. The vulture was more scared than aggressive towards me. In one motion, I grabbed the vulture’s head with one hand and his talons in the other, hugging him close to my body. His wing was only partly tucked under my arm, so I asked Victoria to push the wing a little bit further. I had to fight to keep him restrained—he was much stronger than he had been earlier. I felt so much love as I held this beautiful boy. Even though he had been so weak, he had pushed through his pain and fear and regained his spirit. I especially loved him because he allowed me to catch him, to have this small success—to feel like my skills were improving and it was possible to get into vet school. Above all, he allowed me to feel worthy of the wild animals I was treating every day.

Now it was time to force feed him. While I restrained the vulture on the table, Janelle held a syringe in his beak to prevent him from closing it. Then, Dr. Rogers would put one small piece of meat down his throat at a time. His skin was so thin that we could see the meat travel down his esophagus!

After this last feeding, the people from the Endangered Species Center came to pick him up. They would provide him with a permanent home and perhaps, when he matured, find him a female in a similarly captive situation. Even though the vulture is destined to be in captivity for the rest of his life, I think his life will be a good one. He will be an ambassador for his species, allowing guests at the Center to gain appreciation for the magnificent White-Headed Vulture and value its conservation.

We contact the Center every couple of days to check on the vulture. According to them, the vulture is doing very well! He is eating on his own and seems stronger every day. Tomorrow when he comes into the clinic to have his bandage removed, I will be elated to see my beautiful boy again. This is one of our happy endings.

Sincerely,

Aria

Elephant Whispers

Hello everyone,

Yesterday, I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Victoria (the new volunteer) and I went to Elephant Whispers in Hazyview, South Africa where we were allowed to feed, ride, and interact with African Elephants. When I look back at pictures from the day, all I can see is pure joy on my face as I am gazing up at the massive creature in front of me. I cannot wait to share this experience with you through words and eventually, through pictures and video.

After our guide reminded us about the dangers of being around wild animals, we were lead down a path to an open area where there waited six African Elephants. Each of them had a rider on their backs for the safety of the guests. When there were no guests, the elephants roamed free in the 2000 hectares of land owned by the company.

While we gazed upon the statuesque animals in front of us, our guide gave us a brief history of the African elephant and explained the problems facing the elephant today. Before the white man colonized Africa, elephants roamed free across Africa and lived harmoniously with the indigenous tribes. When white men came, they poached the elephant almost to extinction for their ivory. Eventually, laws were put into place to protect the elephant against poaching, but this caused another problem. By this point, much of the elephants’ former territory had been claimed by men, who were using the land for agriculture. Elephants were limited to specific areas, but their population continued to grow. This led to there being a much higher density of elephants than was sustainable by the land. The elephants were eating so much and knocking down so many trees that other species began to suffer, so it was decided that the elephants must be culled. Culling is the shooting of a species to reduce its population to a sustainable number, preventing damage to the environment and other species. All of the elephants in front of us had been rescued from a cull.

Culling effectively reduced the elephant population even though it caused a host of other problems because elephants are such socially complex mammals. For example, when the oldest elephants were culled, the entire social structure of a herd would break down. There was no one left with the experience necessary to lead the herd. There was no one to teach the younger elephants skills that take decades to learn. When elephants are distraught, they can cause a lot of damage, so culls were officially halted in 1994. Since then, the elephant population has exploded again. We face the same problems that we had before the culling. For example, the Ground Hornbill is critically endangered. Ground Hornbills are very picky when choosing old, hollowed out trees for nesting sites. Because elephants are so concentrated, their destruction of trees suitable as nesting sites for the Ground Hornbill happens much faster rate than the formation of new nesting sites. This means that the Ground Hornbills have a much slower reproduction, which is unable to counteract the rate at which the locals poach them for good muthi.

After the guide’s introduction, he explained how the staff trained the elephants through positive reinforcement. While police dogs will learn around 15 commands, all of these elephants knew at least 80 commands! Tambo, the eldest elephant at 29 years of age, knew over 130 commands. The guide then led the elephants through a series of commands that frankly blew my mind. He would call out individual elephants by name and tell them to turn left, turn right, lift up one of their feet, twist their trunks, shake their heads, make vocalizations—the list goes on. My favorite command by far was to “talk.” The elephants would make these deep rumbles that sound unlike anything I have ever heard before. It had the same rhythm and speed as a cat purring, but had the timbre of someone blowing into an empty glass bottle. Then, the guide instructed a 16-year-old elephant named Medwa to walk up to us! One by one, we each were allowed to walk up to him, hold his trunk, and put pellets inside. I was in awestruck when I walked up to Medwa. You do not realize how big an elephant is until you are standing right next to it. As I looked into his eyes and put the pellets in his trunk, I could not have been happier. My only wish was that the people I love could experience this with me. My family and I have always loved going to the zoo and watching wildlife documentaries on Animal Planet. When Jack and I went to the National Zoo before I left for Africa, we watched their Asian Elephants for at least 15 minutes with huge grins on our faces. I need to bring my family back to Africa one day so that they can share the wonderful experience of interacting with an elephant.

The guide instructed him to lie down on his side so that we could feel the different parts of his body. We felt his trunk, his head, his tusks, his ears—everything. Our guide explained the anatomy and physiology of the elephant. My favorite part of the elephant was the inside of his ear, which was silky smooth. The tightness of the skin allowed me to see the webbed network of veins. Our guide told us that the ear of the African elephant looked more like the African continent, while the ear of the Asian elephant looked like India.

Eventually, Medwa became bored with this whole ordeal and stood up. His trainer led him away and the guide brought Tambo up to us instead. Tambo was at least twice as big as Medwa. Each of us was allowed to stand under his trunk against his legs as the staff took our photo. My head did not even reach the top of his leg. This elephant could have crushed me at any second, but he chose not to. He trusted the groomsmen enough to allow complete strangers to touch him and to stand at his most vulnerable place—right beneath his heart. I asked one of the groomsmen who was standing nearby, “Do you think these elephants love you?” He gave me a toothy grin and said, “Yes.”

Next, it was time for the elephant ride. Victoria and I, to our delight, were assigned to Medwa.

He kneeled down and we were pulled onto Medwa’s back. We were told to hold on tightly to our groomsman while Medwa stood up. I am very glad I did, because it felt like a rollercoaster as Medwa shifted his weight forwards and backwards to lift his 4-ton body from the ground. Then, we went on a trail ride, with Medwa in the lead of all the other elephants. Riding an elephant was much different than riding a horse. Probably the most important thing was that you were much higher off the ground. The shifting movements of the back muscles as the elephant stepped forward were so large that if I was not holding onto the riding pad, I could have fallen off at any minute! Even so, riding this elephant was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The most brilliant thing about this whole operation was that the elephants were treated extremely well. After the encounter, they were allowed to roam freely across 2000 hectares for the remainder of the day. The elephants were never beaten and had large enclosures for the times when they had to be confined. This elephant encounter was vastly different from those in Thailand and even in the United States at circuses and fairs, where the elephants are treated poorly and may not even be in a herd. The Hazyview elephants were allowed to be wild and live in a herd, but had the benefits of captivity—the best medical care (done by Peter Rogers), guaranteed food, and positive human relationships. I hope that one day, all of you have the opportunity to ride elephants that live under these conditions.

After we dismounted the elephants, we were allowed to thank our elephants for the ride by stroking their trunks and feeding them more pellets. As I gazed into Medwa’s eyes for the second time that day, I felt forever changed.

Aria

Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center

Hello everyone,

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center (HESC). I had been planning to go for some time, but had not been able to coordinate with my host mom to take me. However, two of the curators of HESC had been to Dr. Rogers that morning to watch the wing amputation of a vulture (more details later), so I was able to hitch a ride back to the center with them. I was glad to save my host mom a trip, and it gave Cassie and I something to do for the rest of the Sunday afternoon.

After we had arrived at the center and were waiting for the tour, I spotted an African Grey sitting on top of his cage on the other side of the room. The sign clearly said “Do Not Touch,” but I figured since I was used to handling birds, I could play with him a little bit. I rested my arm on top of the cage so that he could approach me himself. His eyes dilated and he cocked his head. He certainly seemed very interested in approaching, but seemed a bit hesitant. He started making some wheezing noises and waddled towards me. For the next few minutes, he kept placing his foot on my hand briefly, and then releasing it quickly. Unfortunately, before the Grey had the courage to actually step on my hand, they called us for the tour. I would be back.

We watched a short video explaining the origin of the center, the research being conducted, and different conservation projects. The goal of the center was primarily to conserve endangered species through breeding in captivity. The focus of most of this breeding lies on the cheetahs. Several years ago, the cheetah was almost hunted to extinction. The gene pool was so small that the population was on the verge of no longer being sustainable. HESC selectively bred cheetahs to increase the quality and diversity of the gene pool. When the cheetahs are of age, they are released back into the wild. As I mentioned before, most animals cannot be released into the wild after they have been raised in captivity. Cheetahs are different. Their hunting behavior is based on instincts; a cheetah does not have to be taught to hunt. It only takes a few failed hunting attempts before the cheetah is catches its meal. Cheetahs have another advantage as well: their solitary lifestyle removes the need to fit into a complex social system (like the lions).

I was surprised to hear that the tour was going to be in a vehicle rather than on foot, as in Moholoholo. We were instructed not to get out of the vehicle. Even though this was not an interactive tour and I did not get to be close to the animals, it was still wonderful. We first saw two lions practically hugging each other while sleeping. At first glance, they both looked female: both of them had light coloring and did not have manes. We were told that one of them was actually a male. He had lived with a family that had castrated him before puberty. As a result, the lion did not have enough testosterone to produce a mane. These lions were not going to be released back into the wild.

Then came the cheetahs. We saw cheetah after cheetah after cheetah. Their coats were stunning as they prowled gracefully along the fence. Our guide told us that because the cheetah is built for speed, its body must be lightweight. Consequently, more often than not, other predators such as lions and hyenas steal the cheetah’s catch because the cheetah is not massive or strong enough to defend it. This makes the cheetah one of the least successful predators. I was very surprised—I had believed, from my Animal Planet education, that the cheetah was one of the most formidable predators in the bush. The cheetahs are always depicted as fast, cunning, and well adapted to its environment. I guess I had never thought of what would happen if a cheetah and a lion met at a bar. I mean…a carcass.

Along with seeing many adult and adolescent cheetahs, we saw two litters of cubs that happened to be right at the fence. At first, it was impossible to see the cubs because their coats and furry little faces blended so well the tall brown grass. All of us in the vehicle let out a collective sigh when we saw them. Imagine a spotted kitten, but fluffier, with big dark eyes, and large round ears. Or, you could just find some pictures on Google. Either way, these were the cutest baby animals I had seen in Africa thus far.

I remember that at one point during my childhood, I was obsessed with cheetah cubs, and subsequently, the National Zoo’s website. I could watch the babies through webcams 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. I was obsessed and I begged my parents to take me to see them. They were only on exhibit from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. every day because they were so little. When we got to the zoo, we rushed to the cheetah exhibit to see them. I was so short that I could only catch a few glimpses, but seeing them was still incredible. At long last, I have gotten to see cheetah cubs again! They were even cuter than I had remembered.

By far, the coolest part of the tour was seeing a King Cheetah. I had never even heard about this subspecies of cheetah until now. Apparently, a recessive mutation in one of the gene for coat color results in a darker spot pattern. Both parents must be carriers of the recessive allele in order for the offspring to have the recessive phenotype. The result is stunning, and very rare in the wild. I insist that you Google some pictures to see for yourself.

During the rest of the tour, we saw Ground Hornbills, African Wild Dogs, Zebras, a Caracal, Vultures, and several other animals. To my delight, we learned even more about vulture conservation. Another detriment to the vulture populations was the absence of proper calcium in the diet, resulting in fledglings being unable to fly due to the lack of strong bone growth. Once farmers were educated about the importance of vultures to their livestock in the prevention of disease, farmers were encouraged to create “vulture restaurants.” These restaurants are designated areas in which the farmer can put any dead animals from his farm. The vultures can then have access to the meat. However, in the wild, vultures normally rely on other scavengers, such as hyenas, to break the bones of the carcass so that the vultures can eat the bone. Because a farm lacks such predators, farmers must break some of the bones of the carcass so that the vultures can obtain proper calcium. This revelation about the vulture’s need for broken bones has virtually solved the problem of fledglings being unable to fly. This is good news for the vulture population.

The tour ended and I thought I had learned all that I could for that day. I was wrong. While we were waiting for our host mom to pick us up, I went back to the African Grey I had been playing with earlier. I engaged him the same way I had before: I put my arm on his cage and he slowly approached me, wheezing and dilating his eyes. After several minutes, he actually stepped on my arm! I slowly removed my arm on the cage so I could interact with him. I am not sure how to describe this next part so please bear with me. Suddenly, his wheezing got a bit louder and he started bouncing on my arm, tilting his pelvis back and forth rhythmically. I thought this was very odd behavior and let it go on for a few minutes. Eventually, I called Cassie over.

“Cassie?”

“Yeah?”

“Is this…normal?”

(pause). “I’ve never seen a bird do that before.”

“Can you video tape it so I can show a bird expert later?”

“Sure.”

After we taped it, we realized that the bird was trying to mate with me. The coloring of an African Grey, which is grey with a bright red tail, was very similar to what I was wearing—bright pink scrubs with a grey sweatshirt (don’t judge—I had been in the clinic earlier that day.) As he continued to pulsate on my arm, I could only think of two things: 1) Just wait until Jack hears that a member of another species was trying to steal his girlfriend; 2) Sorry buddy—human anatomy doesn’t work that way.

After Cassie and I had a good laugh, she grabbed someone who worked at the HESC. She helped me get him off my arm and affirmed that he had been trying to mate with me. Now I know the reason for the “Do Not Touch” sign.

Best,

Aria

Moholoholo Rehabilitation Center

Hello everyone,

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to visit the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, which is only a half hour away from my host family’s house. You may remember that Moholoholo brought a leopard to Dr. Roger’s clinic to check its sex and to see if it was pregnant. The leopard had been captured when a farmer had threatened to shoot the animal if it was not removed from his property. Moholoholo plans to release the leopard into an area where it is welcome. They will put a tracking collar on the leopard to detect its movements. If the leopard stays in one location for too long, then it is suspected that the leopard was shot or snared; Moholoholo may send out a team to check on the animal. Knowing about a leopard’s movements also provides crucial information about the effectiveness of the catch-and-release program. Research is currently being done to determine whether leopards are likely to return to the farm where they were captured.

From the moment I walked into the Center for the 3:00 p.m. tour, I was enveloped by the serenity that pervaded the grounds. Wild animals in cages, which would normally make me feel uneasy, surrounded me. However, the animals were so calm and beautiful that I could barely think of the fenced-in areas as ‘cages,’ but rather as ‘enclosures.’ The animals were here to heal. If they were permanently maimed and could not return to the wild, then they stay at Moholoholo as ‘ambassadors’ for their species. Guests to Moholoholo can get up close and personal with the animals to learn more about them and to value their conservation. Our tour guide described a program in which Moholoholo brings cheetahs to farmer meetings. The farmers are allowed to pet the cheetahs to build an appreciation for their beauty. After these encounters, farmers swear that they “will never shoot a cheetah again.” Examples like this demonstrate how education is one of the most important aspects of conservation.

Visiting Moholoholo gave me a new appreciation for the fragility of animals when faced with human environmental intrusions. For example, our guide described why vultures are critically endangered solely because of human activity. First, let me give you a little bit of background: scavengers such as vultures and hyenas will consume the remnants of a carcass after a predator has eaten its fill. This prevents the spread of disease. Without the vultures, humans and livestock would encounter serious health problems.

The native Africans believe that vultures are a source of good muthi in traditional African medicine. As I understand it, muthi is the equivalent of luck. Eating body parts of hyena and crocodile bring bad muthi, and eating vulture brings good muthi. As a result, natives will poison carcasses in order to kill large numbers of vultures. Poisoning a carcass not only affects the vultures in a certain area, because vultures have a network in which a vulture circling alerts other vultures many kilometers away about carcasses. There is a chain reaction of communication, bringing hundreds of vultures to a carcass; a single poisoned carcass can do massive amounts of damage. According to our guide, a record number of vultures were killed before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. What will save the vulture is education. If people can learn to appreciate vultures for their role in the biosphere, then perhaps people will reconsider before they poison a carcass.

I had some amazing experiences during my Moholoholo tour. Every time we passed an enclosure, we were told how that animal had come to be there. The vast majority of the stories were due to humans—such poaching, keeping the animal as a pet, circuses, or human involvement in the environment. When we visited the birds of prey, we were allowed to enter one of the vulture enclosures. One at a time, each of us in the tour put on a thick leather glove. We held my arm perpendicularly to my body and held a piece of mean in my hand. A vulture landed on my arm and ate the meat! When the vulture was on my arm, it spread its wings and flapped them to brace its landing. Its wingspan was quite impressive. I loved its long eyelashes and long, thin necks. The skin was so thin that I could watch the meet do down its esophagus! It was an incredible to see the vulture at such a close proximity without it being restrained (I had quite an amazing experience with a vulture that came into the clinic, but it was restrained the entire time. This story will come later.) Even watching the vulture from a distance was interesting. Some of them sat hunched over, with their long necks folded down to the middle of their bodies. I thought they looked like henchmen plotting our untimely demise. Others waddled around the enclose picking on the others. And some, much to my amusement, sat with their necks straight up, monitoring the current events with alert skepticism.

I saw lions, a leopard, a serval, a lynx, a cheetah, honey badgers, eagles, vultures, wild dogs, a baby white rhino, and a baby black rhino. I was allowed to pet a baby honey badger and I took a picture with the baby white rhino. All of the enclosed animals were very interested in us humans and were right up against the fences. We were allowed to go right up to them; I stood two inches from fully-grown lions!

When I left Moholoholo, I had a greater respect for how humans influence wildlife. I saw so many animals that were meant to be wild, but could no longer exist in their natural environments. I hope that many of you may have a similar experience in the future, because it was truly enlightening.

Sincerely,

Aria

Taming Wild Animals

Hello again everyone,

It has been a few days since I last posted. To tell you the truth, after loosing our old rhino, I lost the will to write. However, to get back into the swing of writing my blog, I am forcing myself to write right now. Too many amazing things have happened for me to just stop writing and leave you wondering. It is not fair that only my mom and Jack get to hear all of the fun stories every night. Bless them for always wanting to listen.

Today I want to talk about some of the tamed wild animals with which I have interacted. Most of you probably have learned about the disadvantages of attempting to tame wild animals since grade school. One of the first things I learned about wild animals when I was a young kid was that it was a bad thing if people kept them as pets. No matter how cute these animals were as babies, when they would get older, their natural instincts would take over and they would no longer be friendly towards humans. Humans abandon these animals as soon as they become too hard or too large to handle, but these animals cannot survive in the wild due to their dependency on humans. I heard this message repeatedly in school, on animal documentaries, and at zoos. Now I know that the “natural instincts” of an animal are its development into a sexually mature adult through increased levels of testosterone and estrogen. Once animals are sexually mature, they become territorial, acting out against their human caretakers who may be infringing upon the animal’s perceived territory.

Animals in the wild have a natural fear of humans. On game drives, I have observed that wild animals will run away as soon as we get too close. The risk of getting a fatal injury from the flight is too great, because even the smallest scratch can become fatal if it develops an infection. If an animal perceives you as a threat, the animal would rather run away than fight. The exceptions to this rule are when a mother is defending her offspring or when a male is defending his females. Then, the animals may fight to the death.

For example, if one encounters a lion (without something to defend) in the wild and gets too close, the lion will either mock-charge or run away. The mock charge allows the lion to gauge if he or she will win a fight. If you stand your ground and act menacing, then the lion will run away because, as I mentioned before, the risks of injury are too great. If you run from the lion, then the lion knows that you are afraid and will pummel you. By running, you are acting like prey.

What happens when humans raise a lion from infancy to adulthood? The lion loses its fear of humans. Disclaimer: No one here has yet given me the specifics as to why a lion raised from infancy by humans would lose its fear of humans. The answer “lions just get used to the humans” does not cut it for me. I believe that “play” has a role in this process.

Disclaimer: I will attempt to explain my own hypothesis here. I am basing the following statements on a primate social behavior class I took last year at Harvard with Richard Wrangham, a premier primatologist. Even though lions are not primates, they are socially complex animals, so I some of what I learned about primates may apply to lions. The principle that I will focus on here is the function of play in juveniles. From Richard, I learned that the function of play is for a juvenile to learn his or her environment, build social and foraging skills, and forge relationships that will be important later in life. Through play, a youngster prepares for adulthood.

For now, because you are likely to be more familiar with kitten behavior than with lion cub behavior, let us focus on kittens. I have spent many hours at the clinic observing stray kittens at play, so if some of the behaviors I mention below seem foreign to you, please forgive me. If you can picture a kitten playing, the kitten will chase after feathers on a string, chew on little stuffed mice, or it may stalk a certain toy and then pounce on it. If there are two kittens, then they will play-fight with each other: biting each other’s ears, chasing each other. One kitten will end up on its back, and the other kitten will have its paw on the kitten’s chest, showing dominance. All of these behaviors originate from natural behaviors that a cat would need to survive in the wild: stalking prey, killing prey, fighting to defend offspring, mates, or territory, learning social cues, and establishing a dominance hierarchy within a group of cats. The kitten, through play, is preparing to become an adult cat.

I am less familiar with lion cub behavior. However, on the documentaries I have seen, I have observed that lion cub behavior is very similar to kitten behavior, even though there are, of course, differences. Cubs will play-fight because fighting is one of the most important skills adult lions must have, and they must have time to hone this skill just as a piano student must study for years before he or she can play a concerto. I suspect that play amongst cubs allows the development of skills similar to those of kittens: stalking and killing prey, fighting to defend offspring, mates, or territory, learning social cues, and establishing a dominance hierarchy amongst a group of lions.

Now that you have all of this background information, it is time to return to my original topic: attempting to tame wild animals as house pets. I hypothesized that “play” has a role in the lion losing its fear of humans. Let us examine the previous role of youngster play in development. At first, when a lion cub plays with its human companions, its human companions are much larger than the cub. The cub learns that it is weaker than its companions. The cub and humans can have a very affectionate relationship, leading the humans to lower their guard around the lion. As the lion becomes bigger, it begins to “win” some of the play fights. The humans may not be aware of this—to them, the lion is just getting bigger and his playing is getting a bit rougher. As the lion “wins” more dominance contests, he becomes more confident in his own strength. He sees that he is stronger than his humans. In his perceived dominance hierarchy, he is the most powerful family member. Eventually, when his hormones kick in, he becomes defensive. The humans may steal his mates. The humans are infringing on his territory. However, instead of approaching the humans with caution, as he would have in the wild, the lion already knows that he is more powerful than the humans. He already knows that he would win the fight. He becomes aggressive and the family, realizing he is too much to handle, gets rid of him.

The simple answer would be to release the lion into the wild, but there are several problems with this solution. Most of us know that a lion that was raised by humans will fail in the wild because he does not have the proper skills to survive. How did this happen? Shouldn’t the lion’s instincts be enough? Some animals, like the cheetah, can be easily reintroduced to the wild because their skills are based on their instincts: they learn to hunt after failing the first couple of times. However, lions are not successful in the wild after being raised by humans, which I believe means that the lions rely on social learning for essential survival skills. For the human-raised lion, development as a cub was incomplete because he did not have the right type of play. Instead of learning lion social cues, he learned human social cues. Instead of learning how to fight lions, he learned how to fight humans. Instead of learning to hunt from an adult lion, he learned to eat from his food dish. He is overconfident in his own strength because humans are weak in comparison. The absence of the proper type of play with members of his own species causes him to fail.

Keeping all of this in mind, I have had a few encounters with “tame” wild animals that I would like to share. All of these animals have either not yet reached sexual maturity (they have nothing to defend) or they have already shown signs of aggression.

The first tamed wild animal I met was a warthog. As Peter, Jenelle, and I drove up to a farm last Sunday to capture and relocate a buffalo, I saw a blond woman off in the distance playing with what looked to be a dog, hairy and rolling around in the grass, the woman rubbing its tummy. As I got closer and the furry creature ran towards the car in excitement, I could see that it was a male warthog! I could not believe my eyes—male warthogs are notorious for their aggression. Their tusks have gored many dogs and humans. Actually, a warthog killed one of my host family’s dogs recently.

I got out of the car cautiously and went up to the warthog. I asked the woman, “Is he a pet warthog?” She said yes! She had found the warthog as a baby and had taken him in. He was not yet sexually mature. I looked down at the warthog and he was on his “knees” looking for grubs in the grass, as warthogs are often apt to do. I knelt down and engaged the warthog. His skin was very rough and his hair was widely spaced and very wiry! I could see each individual hair cuticle. He was very excited to meet me and bounced around in the grass, just like a dog would. He came up to me and sniffed all of the important places—my scrubs, my shoes, and my hands. Then I scratched behind his ears and stroked his nose. This was certainly the nicest warthog I had ever met.

When it was time to find the buffalo in question, I got to ride in a helicopter first time in my entire life! It was absolutely amazing. I do not think my words can give justice to this experience. As I flew above the bush with Dr. Rogers and the pilot, I saw giraffe, nyala, zebra, and all sorts of wildlife. It was breathtaking to see the world from an entirely different point of view—from that of a hawk or a bat. It really made me appreciate how small I am compared to the vastness of our planet. It was indeed humbling, but I cannot wait to go up again.

Anyway, I mention the helicopter in this post because the warthog reacted hilariously to it. When we were revving up for takeoff, the warthog went crazy with excitement! It darted back and forth, would roll around in the grass, make grunting noises, and playfully mock-charge it. I have never seen a member of a pig-like species so excited in my entire life. Perhaps it was because its caretakers played with it as if it was a dog?

The woman’s husband thinks that once the warthog becomes older, he will not be friendly anymore. We will have to see.

One of my favorite experiences thus far has been interacting with Jessica, a twelve-year-old tamed hippo. What most of you are probably thinking is the same as my first reaction to hearing that there was a tame hippo: hippos are notoriously the most dangerous animals in Africa. There are more hippo-caused human deaths than those by any other animal in Africa. Hippos are territorial, fast, massive, and have razor sharp teeth. I was excited to visit this tame hippo; it would be an once-in-a-lifetime chance to touch a non-tranquilized hippo—unless I want my hand bitten off.

You may have heard about Jessica on Animal planet or one of the 83 documentaries including her. The story goes like this: After the 2000 Mozambique floods (which greatly impacted South African rivers), Tonie Joubert found a newborn baby hippo washed up on his lawn bordering the Blyde River. The umbilical cord was still attached. Tonie named the baby Jessica and hand-raised her himself—bottle-feeding her, allowing her to sleep in the house, and swimming with her in the river. Their bond became incredibly strong. Tonie insists that Jessica is different than most tamed wild animals because she was never forced to remain in the company of humans. Jessica is free to leave whenever she likes. She may hang out in the house, in the river neighboring the house, or just decide to swim away for good. Tonie wants to make sure that it is Jessica’s choice to spend time with her human companions; she is never confined or made to do anything against her will.

Twelve years later, Jessica is on the verge of becoming a sexually mature adult hippo. Hippos actually do not become sexually mature at a certain age, as in most animals. Rather, she becomes sexually mature when she reaches a certain weight. This is because a female hippo must be able to bear the weight of a male hippo when they mate. Even though Jessica still enters the house frequently, she chooses to spend nights with the pod of wild hippos downstream, and spends the day with her human companions. Many animal behaviorists doubt whether Jessica will stay “tame” once she is sexually mature and has a calf, as hippos are notorious for being ferociously defensive of their offspring. However, Tonie insists that he and Jessica’s bond will remain strong. When Jessica becomes pregnant, he plans on being there with her when she delivers her calf. The reason why Tonie is so confident in their bond is that once, Jessica defended Tonie from an attacking crocodile. She shielded with Tonie with her body and tore the crocodile to shreds. Once she was sure Tonie was safe, she turned to him and made a sound to him to Tonie has only heard mother hippos make to their calves. Tonie insists that this is a vocal admission of love.

For the small fee of R75 ($9.38), I got to meet and interact with Jessica the Hippo. The interaction began with a 20-minute excerpt from one of the documentaries about Jessica, explaining how she was found, how she was cared for, and problems that experts believe Tonie faces when Jessica becomes an adult hippo. Then, we got to meet Jessica herself. Each of us was allowed to feed Jessica a piece of bread, feed her a few slices of potato, bottle-feed her Lipton tea, and stroke her on the nose. She opened her mouth widely for each piece of food so we got to see all of her teeth! Her skin was rubbery and wet! There were thick hairs, widely spaced, on her nose. I admit that it was quite surreal to stroke Africa’s most dangerous animal and have her enjoy it too.

Then, all of the women were allowed to kiss Jessica. Tonie said that she did not like males kissing her (except Tonie, of course). We were instructed to lean down in front of her, say “suni suni suni” in a baby-voice, touch her nose, and then kiss her on the nose. Then, Jessica allowed us to rub our bare feet against her back. Her skin felt very interesting against our feet! Tonie said that we were “getting a pedicure” from Jessica. I was in awe. How could such a powerful creature feel so comfortable around us humans, and would she stay this way forever?

A few days later, I encountered a pet vervet monkey. The owner had called Dr. Rogers requesting the monkey’s canine teeth to be removed, because the monkey had bitten the man’s daughter and had needed 38 stiches. Woah. Hold the phone. First, having a monkey as a pet is illegal in South Africa exactly for this reason: wild animals kept as pets hurt people. Second, the owner’s solution to behavioral problems was pulling out the monkey’s perfectly healthy teeth? If you could train a dog not to bite, you could surely train a monkey, which is more intelligent than a dog, not to bite. You do not pull out a dog’s teeth just because it bites. The owner was just lazy. Dr. Rogers refused to do the procedure for the sake of morality. He instead suggested castration, a publically accepted veterinary procedure. Castration would lower the monkey’s testosterone and reduce aggression.

I was able to interact with the monkey before the operation, although he had to stay in his cage the entire time. He would stick his fingers out of the cage so I could hold his hand. He seemed to like the company. Otherwise, the only time I could touch him was when he was under anesthesia. It was incredible to see how similar his hands were to mine. His fingernails were black and a bit long. He had several more pads on his hands, I assume for greater traction while swinging through the trees.

Many of you may not know what a vervet monkey looks like; a quick search on Google will answer your question. What you may not see from the pictures is the colors of the monkey’s genitalia. The scrotum is bright blue and the penis is bright red. Similarly, the nipple is bright red while the skin surrounding it is bright blue. From my Primate Social Behavior class with Richard Wrangham, I learned that the brighter the coloring, the better. The male with the best coloring will mate with more females, so he does the best he can to show it off.

The discussion of genitalia is relevant, of course, because we were doing a castration. Dr. Rogers had actually never done a vervet monkey castration before, but handled it like a champ. The surgery went well, without any problems. However, because the monkey was so dexterous and could easily pull out stiches, Dr. Rogers put two layers of stiches in the skin (normally, there is only one). He tied each suture with several knots to prevent little fingers from pulling out the suture.

That’s all for now, folks!

Sincerely,

Aria

Our Old Rhino, Part 3

Everyone,

It is with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes that I write to tell you that our old rhino was poached today. Both horns were taken. He had outlived our dimmest prognosis and was on the steady road to recovery: eating well, traveling large distances, and marking his territory. We were planning to visit him this Saturday to check up on him and give him one last treatment. I was so excited to see him again and to witness his progress. We all were so hopeful.

Cassie woke me from my nap to tell me that dinner was ready, and then told me about our rhino. I could barely eat dinner because I was physically nauseous. Even now, it feels like a fist is clenched around my heart that refuses to let go. The world has lost a stoic, majestic creature all for the greed and superstitions of man. Why must the priorities of man trump those of every other creature on the planet? Why can we not share the planet with our fellow species, instead of monopolizing every resource and killing animals that get in the way of that goal? Why do humans have to be so selfish?

Cassie and I have interacted with and anti-poached over 20 rhino thus far, and this is the first time one has been poached. I had not realized how profoundly I had been affected by working with these exquisite creatures until we lost one. I now have some idea how the South Africans feel. They grew up with rhino and cherish them as a national treasure, an emblem of power and beauty. They are the pith of the South African soul. Bit by bit, the Taiwanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Saudi Arabian superstitions are chipping pieces of that soul away, to be consumed as a perceived aphrodisiac or to be made into a dagger hilt. These are not necessities. People do not need rhino horn to survive. They just refuse to use Viagra.

And crawling on

the planet’s face

some insects

called the human race

lost in time

and lost in space

and meaning.

--“Superheros,” Rocky Horror Picture Show