March 19. Today’s research task was behavior observation. We started the day with breakfast at 7:00 AM and were ready to go out in the field at 8. Except for vegetation transects, all of our work is done from a Land Cruiser. It is open on the sides so that we can see very well in all directions. Each time we saw a group of zebras, we would park and two of us would each be assigned a different zebra to observe. The rest of us (there are 5 of us on the team) would record data. There is a different code for each type of behavior we might observe. For instance, our zebra might be walking (W), grazing (G), standing (S), vigilant—standing with ears swiveled forward, alert and listening (V), or rolling (R). The observer watches the zebra through binoculars for 15 minutes, calling out each thing it does. The recorders write down the code for that behavior, along with the time it happened. Pretty simple until another zebra comes and stands in front of yours so you can’t see what it’s doing, or until it walks into a group of other zebras and you have to make sure you don’t get it mixed up with another one! Pretty dull if your zebra does nothing but graze for 15 minutes!

After several sets of observations, we went “home” for lunch around 12:30 and then headed back to the field at 2:15 to do some more. During our afternoon observations, we got a little rain and along with it, a beautiful rainbow. Joseph stopped our final observation at 11 minutes instead of 15—I think because we were so distracted by the beautiful rainbow that we were having trouble paying attention to our zebras. We were not being good scientists!

We got back from the field around 5 and had a break until around 6:30. I decided to take a shower and learned that the first person in the shower gets all the cold water. At 6:30, it was time to enter our data into the computers. Joseph showed us how to do this, and we worked at it until after 8 o’clock. By the time dinner is over, we are ready for bed! I usually work on my journal for awhile—sometimes until after 10:30 when the generator is turned off and the lights go out (then I turn on my headlamp and keep on writing). Our days are long, but they are going by very fast. We’re already beginning to think about how soon we will have to leave Africa.