The Michigan State University Mara Hyena Project in Kenya, which has been monitoring the behavioral ecology of spotted hyenas and other large carnivores since 1988, suffered a major setback on June 13 when the Talek River jumped its banks and inundated the camp, ruining several thousand dollars worth of supplies and scientific equipment.
The river rose at a rate of eight feet per hour and spilled out of the riverbed shortly after dark. MSU students living in camp, as well as African camp staff members, heroically waded back and forth through chest-deep muddy water to rescue what they could for the project, even while their own possessions were being ruined by the floodwaters. The river carried away many supplies and the muddy water also seriously damaged a research vehicle.
When the waters started to recede, everything in camp was left in sodden, jumbled, mud-covered piles. Fortunately, no one was hurt during the flood, and the group managed to save all of the hyena samples and data so no scientific information was lost.
The project members are working hard to rebuild camp and have started a crowdfunding effort to replace the most critical of the lost equipment and supplies.
The Mara Hyena Project, led by Kay Holekamp, University Distinguished Professor of integrative biology and director of the interdisciplinary graduate training program in ecology, evolutionary biology and behavior includes not only basic scientific inquiry about the biology of large carnivores but also intensive efforts to conserve hyenas, big cats and other mammalian carnivores in African ecosystems.
Each year several MSU students, both graduate students and undergraduates, spend several months at the research camp learning how to collect behavioral data and immobilize hyenas for collection of measurement data, blood and bacterial samples. Each year an additional 18 MSU students travel to Kenya on a study abroad class called the Behavioral Ecology of African Mammals.
The MSU students who experienced this disaster describe the flood and their ongoing efforts to rebuild camp on the hyena project research blog.
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Reprinted with permission from Empower Extraordinary: The Campaign for Michigan State University