Week 8:
Window to Wildlife

July 17, 2022

After spending last week with my family, this week I got right back to the action here in St. Louis!

After an office day on Monday, we got to work tracking the Forest Park turtles. This week we collected location data, performed a general health check and weighed each turtle. One of the turtle’s tracking signals seemed a little strange, so we decided to track her again to see if we might need to change her radio tag. After verifying that the signal was still working, we headed back towards our car across the golf course. There we found a new turtle that appeared to be on a mission, possibly to lay eggs. It’s always nice to add new turtles to the St. Louis Box Turtle Project Database, and her location on the golf course is a reminder of the importance of the study. Understanding turtle home ranges, threats they face, and habitat usage in both urban and rural settings can help us to better protect them. It also allows us to continue to learn about the connections between animal, human, and environmental health.

This week I was also able to help work on the Carnivore Conservation Initiative by reviewing footage collected by trail cameras. Trail cameras are used to help determine what animals are using an area and to make more informed decisions when the team prepares to radio collar new animals for the project in the fall. A total of ten trail cameras have been in place at Tyson Research Center for the past several months collecting footage of animals as they pass by. The cameras use a motion sensor that is triggered when an animal moves in front of it and then takes either a picture or a video depending on the model. So far, I have reviewed 1,800 video files and about 500 pictures to see if the trail cams captured any of the project’s target species. These include bobcats, coyotes, and foxes. It has also been interesting to find rarely seen species like barred owls and some more familiar faces. The trail cameras are like a window into the world of Tyson, and I am enjoying reviewing the footage and am excited to see what I find next!

Throughout the week I was also able to help out with education programs involving the Institute for Conservation Medicine. We went out into the park with the zoo’s teen camp on Thursday and again on Saturday as a part of the Vet for a Day program organized by the Critter Fixer Veterinary Hospital. It was amazing to share the work done by the ICM and also to hopefully inspire some future conservationists and veterinarians by offering a window into a career in wildlife!

I also wanted to share some pictures from my family vacation last week. We spent time with my grandparents in Salem, IL, and had an amazing time canoeing down the channel river in Missouri! We also drove up to Michigan to spend time on Thumb Lake. It was a blast and a good way to escape the Missouri heat for a week!