Agouti!!!!
This guinea pig potato shape large rodent has dominated the Wilson Botanic Garden at Las Cruces Biological Station. Giving the fact that they have longer hair on their butt than other parts of the body, and the hair stands when irritated, fuzzy puffy butt became an iconic symbol of our agouti seed dispersal research. Wilson Botanical Garden has the biggest plant collection from the world in Central America, and a non-native species in the garden might be an invasive species if they’re dispersed to the nearby primary forest by fluffy butts. Along with Dr. Erin Kuprewicz and other team members, we learned agouti’s hoarding behavior through our experiments. All we need was artificial fruits or coconuts, thread with labels, and camera traps, and let agouti do the science.
Days in Las Cruces are intensive and leisure at the same time. While conducting one faculty-led project and an independent project with two presentations and one paper, we still explored the garden and the forest. During our walk to the primary forest, we saw a family of coati (6-7) drinking from the river, which made the day! A great spot to hang out is the observation tower. Get up at 5 am, climb to the top of the tower before sunrise, look down into the forest canopy in moist clouds, watch toucan fly by, wait for the sky to change color, and start a fabulous tropical morning.
-Elle Xu, Duke Kunshan University
OTS Field Ecology 2020-1 