NEWS
6 April 2015
Trap success was slow over the rainy season (November-February) but the data is steadily trickling in. We now have 8 large tree shrews with body temperature data loggers. The loggers will be retrieved starting in July and will provide us with the first body temperature data from free-ranging Scandentians, as well as the first from Borneo! We're pretty excited to see the data. In the meantime captures and respirometry data collection are continuing.
Our lastest week-long trip to Kampung Barieng (a small area on the side of Mount Singai) resulted in a record number of lesser tree shrews (Tupaia minor). It's the (or a... there might be more than one) breeding season for the littlest diurnal Scandentian which apparently makes them hungry! We also caught a single slender treeshrew (Tupaia gracilis) which can only be differentiated from the lesser treeshrew using hindfoot length.
In non-treeshrew news, Shaun caught a tarsier! They really are unbelievably strange creatures. Here it is after spending the day asleep in the respirometry chamber.
Trap success was slow over the rainy season (November-February) but the data is steadily trickling in. We now have 8 large tree shrews with body temperature data loggers. The loggers will be retrieved starting in July and will provide us with the first body temperature data from free-ranging Scandentians, as well as the first from Borneo! We're pretty excited to see the data. In the meantime captures and respirometry data collection are continuing.
Our lastest week-long trip to Kampung Barieng (a small area on the side of Mount Singai) resulted in a record number of lesser tree shrews (Tupaia minor). It's the (or a... there might be more than one) breeding season for the littlest diurnal Scandentian which apparently makes them hungry! We also caught a single slender treeshrew (Tupaia gracilis) which can only be differentiated from the lesser treeshrew using hindfoot length.
In non-treeshrew news, Shaun caught a tarsier! They really are unbelievably strange creatures. Here it is after spending the day asleep in the respirometry chamber.
27 October 2014
Still processing the photos and data from the last few trips. There are now a total of five tree shews with radio collars and we are starting to have an idea of where they live, what time they wake up and go to bed, and how to find/trap them. Next up bring out the vet to come and help implant the body temperature data loggers. In the process of trapping for our target species we've had quite a few other species venture into our traps. Here's a picture of either a lesser or a slender tree shew. They can be very hard to tell apart but are lovely, so much easier to handle than the large tree shrews! Probably most exciting to those of us who like to study large insectivorous mammals we've managed to capture two moonrats. More details on those mysterious beasts to follow. A previous study by members of our team has also been getting a bit of press. We're hoping that our research here proves equally interesting. |
1 September 2014
We've had an exciting couple of months and now have three tree shrews and three tarsiers fitted with radio collars. Pictures and stories to follow the next field trip which starts tomorrow.
We've had an exciting couple of months and now have three tree shrews and three tarsiers fitted with radio collars. Pictures and stories to follow the next field trip which starts tomorrow.
15 April 2014
The second trip to Mount Singai provided our first chance to handle and to measure the resting metabolism of a tree shrew. Over four days of trapping we captured three Tupaia tana.
Tarsiers, however, remain elusive...
The second trip to Mount Singai provided our first chance to handle and to measure the resting metabolism of a tree shrew. Over four days of trapping we captured three Tupaia tana.
Tarsiers, however, remain elusive...