FIRST FIELD TRIP
In September, as described previously (see The project), I started my very first field trip.
Through the few days before, it feels both very exciting and intensively stressful. The amount of organization (preparation of all the material needed, trip schedule, last checks of future processing…) is huge and the idea of forgetting something haunting your mind. Indeed, Zoe and I will be at more than 700 kilometers from the university. Thus, any tool missing on the field could compromise the well-being of the project.
But everything went good, all packed and ready to go. First stop: Beaufort West, where we spent the night after 9 hours of driving. The next morning, we headed to the first site and officially began our fieldwork.
Each place to survey implies meeting the owners to ask permissions. In fact, Zoe is setting camera traps – which will stay one month – and I’m trapping for one night so it’s important to explain the purpose of our presence. This is also a nice occasion to chat with them about the fauna around (which can be very useful and interesting to know) and share some experience and stories. Most of them are really helpful and don’t hesitate in some (many) cases to offer us free accommodation!
The best example happened at half of the trip in an amazing place near Murraysburg (Western Cape) called Taaiboschfontein. Situated between impressive mountains, the area presents gorgeous landscapes and cozy accommodation. We arrived there around noon and met with the owner who warmly greet us. After explaining the reason for our presence, we asked if the site to survey was accessible with our car (a 2×4 bakkie). Unfortunately not and as we started to be desperate, he proposed to borrow us his field car. Not any car: a beautiful and strong Land Cruiser. The offer was amazing and even more surprising when we realized he was actually willing to let us drive!
Because of my recent (poor) experience driving in tuff conditions, Zoe was the designated driver for the first round. And of course, it was amazing. The car passed easily high hills and dangerous escarpments that we wouldn’t be able to drive with our poor bakkie. The next day, when we had to come back and check my traps before removing them, I decided I should maybe give it a try. With the help of Zoe (as my temporary driving teacher), I sit in the car and drove it, quite stressed at the beginning I have to admit. It’s not every day you have that kind of opportunity! Frankly, it was one of the best experience I had so far and I feel very grateful to the owners to let us have such awesome experience!
The fieldwork was extremely hard at the beginning. The first two nights were pretty rough but we manage to improve and adapt to the different sites. Zoe was an awesome field partner who helps me a lot and even enjoys it (as you can see)!
Plus, the experience was very rewarding. The landscapes are stunning and every day is a new challenge. It’s crazy to drive not even 5 kilometers and already there are changes in the panorama.
Everything looks so vast and big, sightings of animals all around. Between the wild ones with steenbok (so many jumping around!), springbok, mountain reedbuck, kudu, blesbok, tortoises (crossing the road), dassies (surprisingly not in rocky areas) even wild horses and the domestic ones for instance sheep, goats and cows (not always willing to let us pass).
You can really feel the spirit of freedom in here, with infinite landscapes and breathtaking sunrises/sunsets. Sleeping in the middle of the bush never had been that great! Because yes, in some cases, we had to sleep directly in the site with our very handy trailer.
But most of the time, as I said, people offers accommodation of any sort possible: lodges, hunter’s houses, from simple to very neat room. At another site near Richmond DC (Northern Cape), we also had a nice discovery. The owners offer us not one, but two bedrooms very comfy and lovely decorated.
Despite the difficulties at the beginning of the trip, I managed to catch almost 20 individuals, which is really not bad considering it was the end of winter with still very cold temperatures, especially at night. In total, 4 species were recorded comprising Gerbillurus sp., Aethomys sp.,Elephantulus sp. and Petromyscus sp.
All the animals were weighed, measured and sexed before release directly at the capture site. It was really great to capture some elephant-shrews as they are really trap-shy. I have to admit they are my favorite, so pretty with their big eyes and adorable trunk shaped nose (see note at the end). Only one animal escaped before I even had time to record anything… An almost non-avoidable experience when trapping small mammals, this one did it pretty quickly and the time I realized it, the little buster was already out and running.
After 10 days wandering around the Karoo, it was time to head back to Cape Town with beautiful memories in mind and furiously impatient for the next trip.
PS: We are currently busy preparing the next trip which will start soon and will end beginning of November. See you soon on Instagram for new stunning pictures and updates !
Elephant-shrews or sengis are a very particular group of small mammals with no ecological or behavioral equivalents outside of Africa. Their diet relies largely on invertebrates that they catch thanks to their fast locomotion. The elephant-shrews belong to the Macroscelidae order which contains only one family with 7 species occuring only in Africa. They differs from shrews (Family Soricidae) by their long snout for foraging, large eyes (from their nocturnal habits) and long hind legs adapted to jump. The one captured during my study are found in rocky habitats and relative high altitudes (~1 000 – 1 500 m) (Elephantulus spp.) and differs from the one found in more open habitat (Macroscelides proboscideus). Surprising recent molecular discoveries suggests that sengis are a part of an early radiation of African mammals that is represented by the extant golden moles, tenrecs, the aardvark, hyraxes, sea cows, and elephants.
References:
– Ribble, D. O., & Perrin, M. R. (2005). Social organization of the eastern rock elephant-shrew (Elephantulus myurus): the evidence for mate guarding. Belgian Journal of Zoology, 135, 167-173.
– Springer, M. S., Cleven, G. C., Madsen, O., de Jong, W. W., Waddell, V. G., Amrine, H. M., & Stanhope, M. J. (1997). Endemic African mammals shake the phylogenetic tree. Nature, 388(6637), 61-64.
– Grant and Gillie Hine (2006). Level 1 – Learner manual. Professionnal nature guide development. Field Guides Association of Southern Africa. The Interactive Wildlife Company.
– Stuart, C., & Stuart, M. (2013). A field guide to the tracks and signs of Southern, Central and East African wildlife. Struik.
