Bonjour Moorea!

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Moorea is one of many islands making up the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collective of France. The official language is French although Tahitian is spoken by many people in the local population. Many people speak or at least understand English, which is fortunate for me as I am struggling to rem

Main expedition complete...

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The main expedition is now complete and we are all now back in Maracaibo doing some post-expedition sample sorting and prep. Not a whole lot of time to write at this moment so hopefully some pictures will suffice:

Dunes and Lagoons

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From San Cristobal: The last week has been a whirlwind of different habitat types (as normal). We zipped across from Maracaibo to Coro in Falcon state where we stayed for a few days to work the region. This part of Venezuela is mostly dry semi-desert. Lots of cactus. Among the more striking feature is a dune region which is large enough to make you think you were in lost somewhere in the Sahara. Of course, there are oases of sorts that were full of beetles.

The Perija

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Arrival

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We arrived safely in Maracaibo yesterday. Today is for errands and setting up other logistical details for the trip. Stay tuned for an actual update...

Dragon Eyes, Vol. I

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I wouldn’t necessarily call myself clumsy, but at times I wonder if I should. My recent trip to the central Philippine islands had its first disaster a mere 3 days into the trip. However, before I can get into the details of the saga, I need to quickly recap a few of the most painful experiences I have had while doing fieldwork. Formalin is one of the most painful substances to squirt into your eye—that I know of, anyway. Formalin is the fluid used by many researchers in the field to harden and preserve specimens.

March Summary

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The word of the month for March was exhausting! I spent 26 days traveling through several islands in the central Philippines. I have created a little digital map to summarize the trip. We went from Manila to Cebu Island, then traveled to southern Negros Island, northern Negros Island, Bohol Island, Lapinig Island, and finally back to Luzon.

The biggest pig I have ever seen…

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There we were, just outside of Dumaguete City. We had been trying to access a small watershed at the foot of Mt. Talinis in southeast Negros Island. While we couldn’t access the area during this visit, we were able to stay at the house of one of the wildlife specialists in the area. Renee runs a tree and flower nursery of native plants from around the Philippines. His property in the Municipality of Bacong is actually quite impressive.

Don’t forget the keys!

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Finally back in Manila you would think the bad luck would have stayed in the Visayan (central) Islands. Just so you all know, if you plan on joining a friend outside your apartment after midnight while he smokes a cigarette, remember to bring the keys to your apartment because some apartment doors lock on their own when shut. Oh yeah, and wear more than just your boxers.

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