Passport to SCIENCE

Pasaporte Cientifico

Yesterday my shopping excursion included a sampling of colored fishing 'bobbers'. C. similis have good color vision and this may be just the lure needed to coax them to a net or noose. (I thank my good friend Jill J. for this useful field technique.)

Today my official permissions arrived from the Ministry of the Environment and Energy of Costa Rica. Permissions are important --  just as we wouldn't want anyone showing up and conducting research in a US National Park, my work had to pass muster with the CR government. My research proposal was translated into Spanish by an intern from the Colorado Box Turtle Project, Caitlin W., who is a graduate student in Biology at Missouri State University. Science is never a solitary endeavor.

Male C. similis

 What will it mean to study this lizard for the long haul? While I don't have as alliterative a phrase, I plan this will be much like Meerkat Manor. I'll know all the players in my groups, who associates with which other iguanas, which individual lizards leave and join other groups, where they go when they leave, and when they die. Observing overlapping generations will allow me to analyse new and settled relationships and their causes. It should be a very exciting adventure!