Notes From Kenya: MSU Hyena Research

Hello! My name is Brianna Zapata. I graduated from University of California, Santa Cruz this past June. I have lived in Kenya since August 1st. What an adventure it has been! Getting to know th...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2024/01/jambo-from-brianna.html

Greetings from Fisi camp! My name is Maya and I’m one of the newest research assistants for the Mara Hyena Project.  It’s been wonderful to be here and experience the Mara. During our d...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2023/09/jambo-from-maya.html

  Jambo! My name is Kayla Fowler, and I’m here to tell you a little bit about the time I spent this past semester with the Mara Hyena Project. I always knew I wanted to work with animals. L...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2023/06/jambo-my-name-is-kayla-fowler-and-im.html

The Mara Hyena Project was established by Dr. Kay Holekamp in 1988 and has been studying the South Clan since 2008. We have two research camps in the Maasai Mara – one based in the Main Reserve...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2022/10/welcome-to-mara-hyena-projects-south.html

Hi all, It’s been a busy time in Fisi Camp (“fisi” means “hyena” in Swahili for those of you who are new to the blog), so this will be a short and sweet update. We are currently prepp...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2022/08/how-to-fart-oops-sorry-i-meant-dart.html

Hi all, I’m backkkk! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jana (Yah-nah) and I’ve been working with the Mara Hyena Project for a little over three years now. I started out as a ...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2022/06/jambo-from-kenya-part-3.html

And that’s a wrap! As of last weekend, I’m back in the States for my first semester of classes as a PhD student. I officially joined the Holekamp lab earlier this summer and will hopefully re...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/09/goodbye-mara-for-now.html

Over the last month, Happy Zebra went from my least favorite clan to my most favorite clan. From meeting the new cubs, to figuring out the hierarchy changes, to determining who has gone missing/i...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/08/meet-wapi-dave-crew.html

Out here, we have a lot of time to appreciate the little things in life... a hot, indoor shower after 3.5 months of cold showers, the first post-supply trip breakfast with avocado toast, eggs, sa...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/07/its-little-things.html

Hi all, Because we are working so far away from home for up to 12 months at a time, Kay encourages us to have family visit while we are here. Not only does this help them understand what our wo...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/07/fisi-visitors.html

Hi all, Serena has been incredibly busy this month – the migration is slowly starting up, with the first batch of zebras starting to cross into the Triangle; my new coworker finally arrived t...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/06/happy-zebra-cubs.html

Hi all, The Mara has been truly wild lately – crocodiles at the den, puff adders in camp, and leopard sightings galore! And of course, lots of hyena drama 😊 CAPE (Capellini) and I had...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/06/serena-clan-updates.html

Here at the hyena lab, we look forward to Michigan State University's Science Festival every year. We get to play around with skulls, talk about hyenas, and share our enthusiasm for research with...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/05/msu-virtual-science-festival.html

Hi all,  One of the best selling points of the Mara is its sheer amount of biodiversity: with 60+ mammal species, 470+ bird species, and 30+ amphibian/reptile species (numbers from Mara Triangle...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/05/birds.html

Hi all,  Remember this blog post ? Well, after 2.5 months of extreme den hunting, I’ve finally earned back the title of Superstar RA! Since coming back to the Mara, I slowly, but surely, narr...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/05/south-cubs.html

Hi all, As you may know, I’m currently the only research assistant in Serena camp. However, this doesn’t mean that I’m alone out here, so I figured it was time to introduce the team that ...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-serena-team.html

Hi all, One of the best parts of this job is the opportunity to get to know the individual hyenas. Since we spend a lot of time at the communal dens, we get to see the different personalities o...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/04/north-cubs.html

Hi all,  There are many words to describe the Mara: magical, breathtaking, stunning, a photographer’s paradise… However, after living in the Mara for almost a year, I’ve started to view ...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/03/sour-patch-kids.html

Hi all! After unsuccessfully den hunting in Happy Zebra for the past few weeks, I’ve decided to call in for back-up. Lila, former Serena Superstar RA, was happy to oblige! Back in July 2019, ...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/03/an-ode-to-happy-zebra.html

Hi all, I’m super excited to announce that I’m back in Serena Camp! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jana and I spent ten months in Serena with co-RAs Lila and Matthew befor...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2021/02/jambo-from-kenya-part-2.html

Hi all, Contrary to the picture above, it’s a sad, sad time in Serena Camp right now… After spending ten months together, my co-RA Lila is heading back home. During our time together,...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2020/03/an-ode-to-lila.html

Back in 2016 I participated in the Behavioral Ecology of African Mammals study abroad course at Michigan State University. That was the time I knew that I had to come back to Kenya. I had to exp...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2020/03/rain-rain-go-away-we-want-to-get-out.html

The flood scare that wasn’t a false alarm… This wasn’t the first flood scare we had, but it would certainly be the one we remember. The night before, we were woken by Stephen and Lesi...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-flood-scare-that-wasnt-false-alarm.html

Most stay for a weekend But I stayed the whole year through And there’s nothing to say but You’re the coolest of the cool You got me into birding So I’m officially a grandma B...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2020/02/an-ode-to-mara.html

African Paradise-flycatcher We spend a lot of time outside. Pretty much from when we start morning obs at 5:30 AM and return to camp after evening obs around 8:00 PM. Being outside this much...

http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/2020/02/three-months-in.html