Tag Archives: primatology

Jane Goodall speaks from atop a chair at Woburn Safari Park

October 4, 2014 Sarah Bell 2 Comments

Forward: This is a long post, but it is my hope that you will make it to the end. Getting the chance to meet someone as inspiring as Jane Goodall is an experience I could not limit to a few hundred words. And although this is a post that may not introduce to you a new species or a conservation crisis, I think that it can introduce you to hope if you will let it.

I arrived exactly one hour early. I stood and watched the meerkats outside of the Woburn Safari Park’s Safari Lodge, biding my time until the doors opened and I could find my seat. Even before seeing Jane Goodall standing a mere 10 feet from me the day was perfect. I had seen my first ever wild pheasant, which could seem silly to many people, but for me it was incredibly exciting. Even the mundane turns magical on the day you get to meet your life-long hero.

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Special Interest

The Great Limpopo Tranfrontier Park

June 5, 2014 Sarah Bell 2 Comments

The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is one of the largest national parks in the world and one of the few national parks that actually covers multiple countries. This was in hopes to create a protected migration path for a variety of the species found in this park. So lets learn a little bit more about this amazing park.

Rhino at the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park by Andre Van Rooyen

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My Journey, Special Interest

Education is key to conservation

April 14, 2014 Sarah Bell 4 Comments

Education is key to conservation. I think that this is an incredible message worth sharing. It is what I aim to do every time I post on endangeredliving.com, our FB page or my twitter. I want to educate people and teach them about species they may never have heard of, so that they can care. You have to know something exists and that it is in trouble to be able to want it to help it. It is such a basic idea that can get over looked.

So I encourage you to share this photo, to remind people how important it is to learn every day. Keep an open mind and it can lead to a great idea that might just change the world.

My Journey, Special Interest

What would you take into the field?

March 4, 2014 Sarah Bell Leave a comment

As the time draws closer for my first ever extended period in the field as a real-live grownup, I find my self wondering, what on earth do I bring with me? Of course as a girl I wonder what if I need to look nice? Should I bring make-up? Just in case? Maybe follow Mireya Mayor‘s lead and pack a little black dress? But then the outdoors[wo]man in me kicks in and I wonder which parts of my Wilderness First Aid training I’ll need to use… Will I have to splint a leg with branches and a sleeping bag? What about stop a gushing wound? Then I wonder if I’ll end up pulling something Bear Grylls-esc and get stranded away from my camp and have to use nothing but a knife, a lighter and the shirt off my back to survive for days on end while living on the leaves and trying to not get eaten by a lion.

Well most of this stuff probably won’t happen, but now you know what it sounds like in my head! But I was curious after reading Mireya Mayor’s book Pink Boot and a Machete about what kinds of quirky things are useful in a field situation, so I reached out. I asked the Twitterverse what their item they would never be caught without in the field was, which also morphed into, which books do you read in the field. Here are some of the great responses:

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Special Interest

science and social media

January 14, 2014 Sarah Bell Leave a comment

Today is the age of social media. News papers and magazines are dying and people are now getting their information from places like Facebook, Twitter or… hey! even blogs like this one! Well, besides from online news sources like National Geographic or Science Daily who should you be following to get your daily dose of science? Well, lets take a look at a few of my favorite places gain some serious knowledge.

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My Journey

tonkolili chimpanzee project

January 5, 2014 Sarah Bell 11 Comments

I am so excited to finally announce that I will be spending three magnificent weeks in Sierra Leon observing chimpanzees this summer. It has been a while since I published a personal post, since I have been waiting to hear back from a few different institutions regarding my future in primatology. But now that I am pumped full of excitement and vaccines, I think that it is safe to share a little bit about the Tonkolili Chimpanzee Project in the Tonkolili District of Sierra Leon in Western Africa.

Chimpanzees in Sierra Leon. Photo courtesy of the Arcus Foundation.

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Special Interest

primatologist bio: mayor

October 23, 2013 Sarah Bell 2 Comments

Mireya Mayor discovered the smallest primate species before the age of 30, she has swum with giant squids, great whites, followed in the footsteps of Henry Morton Stanley during his expedition down the Congo River, been in a plane crash, chased by elephants and trekked to the most remote corners of the globe. She is a primatologist, and more importantly she is an explorer.

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O.A.P.

odd animal profile: crested black macaque

September 16, 2013 Sarah Bell Leave a comment

I fall more and more in love with Indonesia at every turn. I am by no means an expert on it, (not yet anyway) just someone who dreams of living the rest of their life in the jungles of Borneo. It seems every time I fall in love with a new species they are close neighbors of the orangutans, whether it be the beautiful hornbills (O.A.P. to come), or even the ever-curious black crested macaque.