2/22/2010

We had lectures up the wazoo today. To make it easier on the people lecturing us, we relocated to a more central location in the park. The room was so air conditioned it felt like it was snowing. Just like home. We first had a lecture on the veterinary life in Kruger, which doesn’t really have anything to do with treating animals. Most of what they do is relocate animals to other areas of the country or private buyers. This lecture was interesting, but something about the methods just didn’t sit well with me. After that, we had a lecture on GIS and its practical application. Almost this entire lecture went completely over my head, as well as everyone else’s. The graphs were pretty, though.
In the afternoon, we had a lecture on plant defenses given by Laurence. We talked about the research that had been done on herbivory as a negative influence on plant communities, and how almost all of it has been based in the tropics, such as costa rica. Then the FFP’s were presented by the groups who were doing the analysis, though they didn’t really have anything yet to talk about. That evening was spent mostly just relaxing and trying to sort out everything we had left to do, like our insect collections (due in April). Words of the day: banana = banana, grapes = grapis.