PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Our primate mark-and-recapture program is the backbone of all our research based in the Southeastern Peruvian Amazon. This annual project began in 2008, and allows us to not only gain valuable information on the health of this wild population without disturbing subsequent habituation to observers, but the use of temporary tags also greatly facilitates the collection of individualized behavioral data for our other research programs.
Field Projects International is seeking research assistants to join our team in June. Each participant will individually handle upwards of 25 animals of two species of primate, while gaining valuable knowledge on the natural history of the 9 other primate species present at this site. Our focal species are saddleback and emperor tamarins (Leontocebus weddelli and Saguinus imperator, respectively), and our protocols at this site place the comfort and safety of these primates as our first priority. All of this work is sanctioned by the Amazon Conservation Association, the Animal Care Committee of the University of Missouri, St. Louis, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Peru. This training program targets students with an interest in wildlife handling, zoology, or veterinary science. At the end of this program, research assistants will be able to: - Construct an animal field processing kit - Collect biological samples from the primates - Determine sex and appropriate age of individuals by morphological characters - Learn appropriate handling techniques for wild primates - Record TPRs at regular intervals (temperature, pulse and respiration) - Manipulate a weighing scale to accurately record the body mass of subjects - Store and process biological samples for analyses of endocrinology, parasitology and reproductive physiology - Manage and work in a laboratory like no other. PROGRAM DATES FOR 2017 Start date: June 1st End date: July 1st APPLICATION DEADLINE April 17, 2017, or until all program openings are full PROGRAM FEE $1800 (includes all lodging and food, as well as transportation from Puerto Maldonado to the field station and back) PAYMENT ASSISTANCE While we currently do not offer any scholarships for these programs, we do provide an optional peer-to-peer crowd funding platform that can significantly reduce costs. LEARN MORE http://fieldprojects.org/research/wildlife-handling ABOUT US Field Projects International is a 501(c)(3) organization chartered to conduct field biology research and provide tropical ecology education.
