Last fall, I
began my research working with Dr. Elizabeth Freeman to investigate the
effectiveness of two technology programs in monitoring behavior in the
endangered red panda. The first program records the time that the red panda
spends in the nest box and the second records desired behaviors based on the
data we want to collect. My project produced very exciting results because we
found that the application created to monitor time spent in the nest box could
record that time as accurately as someone doing it by hand! With the success of
this application, this semester my focus is to continue to test this
application to validate its success and if time possibly start working on the
second application.
While the second
application is being developed, I am continuing to run the videos from the 2015
and 2016 birth season through the first application to validate its
effectiveness and score behaviors by hand in an excel sheet. Although scoring
the videos is time consuming, I have perfected my behavior monitoring skills
and I enjoy getting to use them at the National Zoo where I volunteer with the
Asian elephants. I never realized how essential it is to understand and
interpret behavior in an animal keeper position, and I am excited to improve
that skill through this project.
One thing that I
have discovered this semester is that this project has developed more of my
skills than I initially realized. On top of the behavior monitoring skills, I
have experience creating behavior monitoring reports and documents that have
the potential to be published or used in an animal keeping facility. I also can
say that I have managed large data sets and I hope I can contribute them to
conservation practices one day. I am excited to see what kind of progress I can
make this semester on the project and to continue to still be a part of this
project once I graduate in May!
