So this week we went on an adventure to the Big Thicket, and while it may not sound like something that could be that fun, it totally was. It's this huge national preserve in east Texas, near Beaumont, where there are four different ecosystems packed away in one park. It was super cool. Supposedly its one of the nations most biologically diverse places, and was recognized for that by multiple conservation companies across the globe.
So we woke up early Tuesday morning to make it to the Preserve by 10 and had a presentation by one of the park rangers. She was really sweet and told us all about the park's importance in the world and in the state of Texas and gave us details about how they go about conserving it and keeping it up for the public. It was really interesting, and there were a lot of gorgeous pictures of the different ecosystems that were there. There were stories of alligators and cougars that you don't see all that often, just hanging out when the park rangers pass by. It was very informative and fun to learn about because it shows us that our nation does care about nature and will save lands to be used specifically for wildlife.
But our main mission while we were there was to build a bridge for a trail that was used by the public. This bridge was on one of the first master naturalists in the region's land, and her friends really wanted the bridge to be built because it was her dying wish. So, if you couldn't tell already, these people were not young and fit and particularly ready for work, but they did their best to show us what to do and actually ended up doing a lot more work than we expected.
The first day we got there we were lead by Paula, the park ranger. And boy, was she an interesting character. She took on a responsibility to not only care for these old people but make sure we were doing our jobs as well, only in a way that was not as productive as it could have been. She was just interesting. She had all sorts of random facts (not very concrete if you ask me) about nature and how it could hurt you or how this or that could happen and to be careful of that. All in all it was a very strange experience. She seemed nice at first, and it's not that she wasn't, she was just very controlling, and didn't really know all the right things to say, or even when to keep her mouth shut. She actually asked about the minimal ethnic people in our group when she thought they weren't there. And she just acted like she knew a lot of stuff that I could almost prove wasn't true. It was just, like most things, a lesson on how to deal with people. I did my best to stay away from her because I knew I would be cracking up if she said something so ridiculous again, so I tried to be mature and keep my distance.
Anyway, she lead us down the path and set us off to get "loppers" or clippers as most people call them, and we cleared off the sides of the path for most of the afternoon. When we were finished we were hot and sweaty, and Paula was telling us of the benefits of sweat and how it cools you off when she asked one of the strangest questions I've ever been asked: "So are ya'lls underwear wet?" And we all just looked at each other in silence, not knowing what to say, and realizing that she was completely serious. And after that awkward encounter, we knew we were dealing with quite the character.
As we drove home from the sight, we were amazed at the greenery all around us, and an hour later, we made it to the Field Research Station where we would be staying the night. We showered, to get all the sweat out of our underpants. Haha, sorry, it was too easy. And had some oven-baked pizza for dinner. After dinner we were supposed to give our presentations, but we had to do manual work first. The most boring part of the internship, if you ask me. They are having us read a manual on how to prepare a project, which is necessary, but one of our intern supervisors thinks it is very important and likes to go over it with us, so we sat down to do that. Then came the presentations.
These were almost my favorite part of the whole trip. We learned about the Bornean Orangutan, which is the most closely related ape to humans, and the conservation efforts they were making to save them from extinction. Basically, like most animals, the Orangutan is in danger because of habitat loss and poaching for bushmeat. The conservation project did all it could to change the face of the culture's outlook on the Orangutan and educate them on its positive affect on their environment. The orangutan is actually pretty cool, they live in packs, and sleep in trees, only really coming down to migrate. Their babies stay with them for ever, 2-3 years, I think. They're also very aggressive and from what I learned at Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, their enrichment has to involve something that isn't all that breakable. The zoo-keepers tried to let them paint, but they ended up eating it and spitting it out on her instead of the canvas. There's also some Orangutan's in San Diego that Skype, because they have iPads, and even do creative stuff on it. And not to mention, the baby Orangutan at the Houston Zoo, Aurora, was hand raised by the keepers because her mother rejected her, but eventually was adopted by one of the females at the Zoo and now lives a very happy life, offering lettuce to people through her glass.
We also learned about the Tapir, a relative of the horse with a very strange snout that makes it look like a pig. Tapir's are native to South America and there are several kinds of them. The work that the conservationist was doing to save them mostly involved research, trapping and radio-collaring to study their range and better predict and tell what kind of range they may need to be saved from extinction. Again, like most animals, they are in danger due to habitat loss, and poaching, but also from road-accidents, they get killed because the roads are very dangerous and crossing it, due to their large range, is necessary. These animals are very unique and are very strong swimmers; their babies look like watermelons, and stay with the mom until they are grown.
The last project of the night was the African Wild Dog, and was by far the coolest. Their conservationist was doing practically everything. He was educating the locals, studying the wild dog, conserving their populations, breeding them in captivity, having children come to his preserve for classes to learn more about them, and he was doing well. Their numbers had been increasing, and the locals were finally getting the message. They were just really cool because they were the last remaining line of this species of wild dog, they are painted, so they have white spots all over them that distinguish them from others in the pack, and they have a very unique pack system that is similar to wolves. Dogs are my favorite type of animal, so that's probably why they were so cool to me. But their conservationist was also the most legit guy you'll ever meet. He was doing everything he could to save this species and even more for other species. He was very devoted, fiery and intelligent. I'd love to meet him someday, and hopefully have a life somewhat like his.
But that was only our first day! We have two more to go and I have incredible stories. Anyway, the fun continues tomorrow!!
(This blog was written for Tuesday May 30, 2012)
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