Scientist at Work Blog: Return to Namibia's Elephants

Caitlin O?Connell-Rodwell, who teaches at the Stanford University School of Medicine, writes from Etosha National Park in Namibia, where she is studying elephant societies.

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Wednesday, June 27

I?m taking it as a good omen that Tim, my husband and fellow researcher, and I got bumped up to business class on our red-eye flight from San Francisco to Kennedy Airport en route to Namibia. After pulling many almost-all-nighters in a row, we needed the sleep to be able to hit the ground running in Windhoek, with only two and a half days to gear up and head north to Etosha, to study the elephants of Mushara.

This season marks my 20th year studying elephants in Namibia. I can?t help feeling somewhat nostalgic and retrospective about life choices and where I?ve come as a scientist. I have had an interest in the vibration sense for as long as I can remember, back to the days of catching frogs as a young girl. Did my awareness that frogs could sense my approach and jump into the water before I could catch them lead me to a career studying the vibrotactile sense? Sometimes it?s hard to know what specific influences lead to a particular career. Now, as an instructor in the department of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery at Stanford, I continue to pursue an interest in the vibration sense in large mammals, primarily elephants and now extending to humans as well.

The buildup to this season was a little more hectic than usual, with the shorter-than-normal schedule in Windhoek to prepare and the fact that the Smithsonian Channel had commissioned our documentary on male elephant society, adding to the chaos and pressure of making sure that we had enough of the right technical gear despite limited resources. There were lots of Skype calls to our executive producer in Britain to discuss budget, gear and story. Then came the decisions about getting a door mount for the HD camera so that the cameraman could film while following the elephants, and about how much solar power we needed to charge all the extra batteries for filming (since I was determined not to use a generator, which would disturb the elephants).

Between bouts of packing, ordering supplies and revising and submitting scientific papers, I spent my evenings in the local park with Tim and our dog, Frodo, learning to fly a remote-control drone helicopter (that we deemed the elecopter), since the film budget couldn?t support flying time with a real helicopter to document the lay of the land as the elephant sees it. We?d have to settle for some clever trickery, some fun inexpensive HD cameras made for the modern adventurer, and my brother?s 3-D laser printer to print Tim?s modified camera brackets. Tim and I salivated over the prospect of creating that ?Matrix? shot of an elephant clash of the titans with as many points of view as we could scrape together on a tight budget. We?ll see how it goes. We can?t lose, with such an enthusiastic team and such great subjects.

The pressing question in my mind, now that everything is packed and it?s too late to worry about what didn?t make it into the many cases of equipment, is exactly how the dynamics among the resident male elephants would shape up this season. I?m eager to see how the dominant male, Greg, is faring and whether he is still on top of the hierarchy. I assume that after his stunning recovery last season from a nearly fatal trunk wound, he will be back again in reigning mode. But we won?t really know until we get there and see how it all sorts out in the day-to-day interactions of his elephantine boys? club. Although some things stay the same, like the durability of character, there are always surprises ? maybe an interloper will show up to usurp Greg?s position, or maybe Malan will return to stir the dominance pot again. I?m looking forward to diving back into the pachyderm soap opera.

After days and days of zipping baggage and thinking about Greg and several members of his posse, like the upwardly mobile menace, Kevin; the gentle second-in-command, Abe; and the rising star, Keith, I noticed that my dog has developed an aversion to the sound of zipping. He has learned the hard way what the noise means ? it equates with his beloved family?s disappearance.

As I zipped up my last bags and Tim latched the final equipment case, Frodo was at his wits? end. He jumped into my lap in a final act of refusal to accept the inevitable. It was nearing the end of June, and Caitlin and Tim were off to the elephants of Mushara once again.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=f30a78e40725c31a6b7d26a2e6fd0764

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