The day started out rather normally…breakfast, laundry, reading…and then the fun began! Each Wednesday, one of our mentors will share his or her background and research with the group. Today was Dr. Lovern’s turn, so everyone got a chance to learn what we learned yesterday…plus a little more. He earned his B.S. in Biology at Duke and his Ph.D. in Biology at Virginia Tech, so he’s got some knowledge of North Carolina. (He actually grew up in Virginia.) He did his post-doctoral work at Michigan and came to Oklahoma in 2003. He’s really nice and has a great sense of humor…this is going to be a fantastic summer!
Today we (Michawn and I) were responsible for animal care. This involves checking the incubator for hatchlings, identifying them and moving them into the tanks with the other juveniles. Then we have to check nesting boxes for eggs that were laid overnight, label them, treat them and place them into the incubator. Water is sprayed onto the sides of the tanks for the lizards to lap up, as they rarely drink water from dishes, but bowls of water are provided. And they are fed crickets, mealworms, and fruit flies…yum!!
These little hatchlings are tiny! And the crickets they eat are tinier! As a matter of fact, the baby crickets are about the size of the fruit flies…I’ve never seen any that small before. The hatchlings are about an inch long (not including the tail) and are very active immediately after hatching. This is survival…if they do not find cover quickly in the wild, they become something’s next meal. Here, they don’t have to worry so much about that.
I’ve got some reading and research to do, so I’m going to wrap this up for today. Tomorrow, Dr. Lovern and I will be discussing exactly what we will be working on for the next seven weeks…lots of things to do!