In three short days I will be in Kenya! I feel pretty good about where I am with preparation but there is still a lot to be done! I still need to finalize packing for a year abroad, finish up veterinary school applications (as much as I can) and say goodbye to friends and family. As of right now I am only really, really, excited. Luckily, no nerves yet!
Beautiful Maasai Mara here I come!
I thought that it would be fun to have a section of each blog post be animal fun facts. I'm thinking about highlighting a different East African animal every post. Most of you probably already know how much I love animal fun facts (sorry friends I've bored at parties!) so this will be a lot of fun - at least for me!
Our first highlighted animal will be hyenas, obviously.
Hyena Fun Facts
Hyaenidae is an family of mammals that actually includes four different species. There are brown hyenas, striped hyenas, spotted hyenas (our study organism, hence the name of this blog) and aardwolves. What the heck is an aardwolf?! Well, they are wonderful little mammals that can be found in East Africa. Aardwolves are on my list of animals I really want to see while I'm in Kenya that I haven't had the chance to see before. Interestingly, aardwolves are insectivores unlike the other three bone-crushing hyena species. Brown, striped and spotted hyenas are all capable of breaking bone that is up to 7cm in diameter, the big cats can certainly not do this! Just one more reason not to get bit by a hyena and why hyenas are just as interesting as other large carnivores.
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| This is what an aardwolf looks like! |
I'll try to blog once more before I go, I really don't know when my first opportunity will be once I arrive in Kenya.
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