Today I was assigned to work in the lab with Nat. The caterpillars are kept in ziplock bags with the foliage they were found on. Our job was to arrange the bags in numerical order, account for each caterpillar in each of the bags, take notes on their stage of development, and to clean out their frass (poop). This took all morning. We had the afternoon off and hiked the Chiricuhuan Wilderness in search of the rare Trogon (a bird). Had the company of a graduate student from Wesleyan University who shared her experiences monitoring sea turtles in the Carribbean. After dinner Dave Wagner gave a lecture on the significance of caterpillars and their survival strategies. Everyone here is so enthusiastic about their studies and very willing to share their knowledge in a friendly way. I am learning so much, having a blast, and am surrounded by a breathtaking landscape.
Frass... great scrabble word. How high did you climb to get the caterpillars?
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