We arrived to Beza Mahafaly on July 28, 2016. As previously described in one of my blog posts, Beza is a special reserve that receives few tourist visitors per year; it is primarily a site for researchers. We have gotten to work first hand with 4 separate researchers since our arrival. Dr Richard Laller is researching demography, genetics and behavior of the sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) here at the reserve. Our professor, Doctor Wunderlich, is studying the locomotion and expense of energy of the sifaka. She does this by capturing the animals, which we also got to see first hand, collecting necessary data on them, placing an accelerometer “backpack” on them and releasing them back into the wild. The backpack is then removed from the animal after the necessary data is gathered. Elaine Guevera is studying the genetics of sifaka, by gathering their feces and running pcr on it. Chloe Chen-Kraus is studying the effects of human involvement on the behavior of sifaka in the reserve.
