Hello, my family and friends! I thought it was about time for another blog
post to update everyone about what I am doing now that I have finished
college. On May 15, 2016, I graduated
from Duke with a B.S. degree in Evolutionary Anthropology and Biology. Now, my plan is to gain more research
experience for a while and then to pursue a Ph.D. The first thing that I am doing is working as
a field research assistant on a project studying Mexican black howler monkeys (Alouatta
pigra).
On June 14, I said goodbye to my
family and flew off to Mexico City. I
decided to allow myself a few days of sightseeing in Mexico City, since this
layover presented a great opportunity to do so.
On the afternoon I arrived, I spent some time walking around in the historic
district of the city, including seeing the largest square in Latin America: the
Zócalo. The next day, I visited the
ruins of Teotihuacan, which are located not too far outside the city. Teotihuacan was once a large pre-Hispanic
city home to around 125,000 people. By
the time the Aztecs found it, the city was already abandoned. The Aztecs thought the huge pyramids must
have been built by the gods, so they named it Teotihuacan (city of the
gods). Most of the pyramids were open
for tourists to climb, so I took the opportunity to do so while marveling about
what it must have taken to build these gigantic structures without even using
wheeled carts or pack animals. After
visiting the ruins, I went to the National Museum of Anthropology. This museum is home to artifacts of the many
cultures that inhabited Mesoamerica prior to the arrival of Columbus. Some of the highlights included seeing the
famous Sun Stone or Aztec Calendar (much bigger in person than I expected) and
the tomb of Pakal the Great, the king of Palenque (where I am currently doing
research).
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| Me at Teotihuacan |
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| Me in front of the Aztec Sun Stone |
After about a day and a half in
Mexico City, I boarded another plane bound for Palenque, in the state of
Chiapas. It is here that I will be
spending the next six months on research.
I live in a house rented by the monkey project, which I share with the
four other research assistants. Monday
through Thursday, we head into the forests of Palenque National Park for a full
day of observing the monkeys along with the post-doc conducting the research and
the local field assistant. There are
five different groups we observe, each ranging in size from three to eight
individuals. Each individual has its own
name and distinguishing characteristics, so I am still in the process of
getting to know them all. In the field,
we periodically record the monkeys’ behavior, and we also take measurements of
their travel routes through the forest and the trees they feed from. The ultimate goal of the study is to
understand how the monkeys make their decisions about where to travel in the
forest based on the current availability of food. Because this involves an intersection of
ecology and cognition, I’m especially interested to see what we find.
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| A howler monkey I saw in my first day in the forest at Palenque |
When we are not working, we have
time off to spend how we want. We are
conveniently located near the town of Palenque, which has all the amenities we
need in a town. On Friday, I chose to
visit the main ruins of Palenque. When
we are in the field, we are constantly seeing traces of the ruins wherever we
go in the forest. Many of the rocks were
clearly cut for building by the ancient Mayans, and overgrown walls and temples
are not uncommon. However, I had not yet
fully experienced the excavated areas that the tourists generally visit until
Friday. This includes are quite a few
pyramids, an aqueduct, a ball court, a palace, and an observation tower. Much like at Teotihuacan, I was really amazed
to contemplate what it must have taken to build such a city. I am looking forward to getting to know this
area better in the months to come.
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| The view from one of the pyramids at the Palenque ruins |
