While in Zambia, I hope to study whether there is any distinguishable difference between hippo vocalizations when they are communicating within their family unit as opposed to when they are communicating within their herd unit. I also hope to determine if the air and/or water temperature affect the time of day that the hippos leave the Luangwa River and cross onto land.
My concerns include the population density of hippos found in river waters; it may be difficult to distinguish family units from the herd if there are too many hippos crowded together. It also may be difficult to record distinct vocalizations because of the population of hippos. As for the temperature portion of my experiment, time is a major concern, as we may not have enough nights to observe the hippo behavior to see a pattern. Also, I don't know that it will be possible to measure the temperature of the water, so it may be based on air temperature alone.
4 comments:
Sounds both interesting and challenging - Don't Get Eaten!
Mom
Hope you find out what you want to know, Don't get eaten by hippos. Maybe you could just hold a microphone up to the individual hippos while standing hippo infested waters.
Ian
Bree! What the heck are you doing in Zambia????? Your dad and Anne are not keeping me up to speed here. Well anyhow...it sounds like a lot of fun and say hi to the hippos for me. Alex is going to be thrilled to hear about your adventures. BE SAFE!
Hugs,
Brenda Brown
Brenda lives in a Cave, how could she not know you were going to Zambia?
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