Vampire Bats at Gamboa- Yeli

Hi friends,

Welcome to Gamboa! 

My name is Yeli (short for Yelitza). I am a rising Environmental Biology and Outdoor Education senior at Earlham College, a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. This summer, I was honored with the opportunity to work with the STRI bat lab at Gamboa.

Gerry working away on his next Nature and Science publications. 

I have a passion for animal behavior. I plan to keep producing research that will hopefully contribute in meaningful ways to the ongoing discussions of vertebrate cooperation and sociality. That is why I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to work at such a wonderful lab that explores many of the same questions I am interested in. AKA, the Gamboa Bat Lab! On a daily basis, I interact with a beautiful and driven group of people who have the same passions. The bat lab is made up of many other interns, graduate students, post-docs, and our Staff Scientist, Rachel Page. My mentor is Gerry Carter. He is a post-doc at the bat lab working on the social and sensory ecology of vampire bats. He is a creative, passionate and driven scientist and a great person all around. I was scared to meet him before coming to Panama, but since getting here, I have had a blast getting to know him and working for the vampire bat project. 

This is the other vampire project REU intern, Emily. She is also my roommate, collaborator and my closest friend here. I couldn't be more grateful to work with someone so sweet and wonderful! 

This is my bucket of feeders full of bovine blood.
 Lovely isn't it?

This is the maternity roost. Pictured are 4 moms and 4 pups!

My work at the lab is two things: "chores," and my own research. A typical day will usually consist of around 3 hours of chores, such as cleaning the bat feeders, feeding the bats, scoring videos of food sharing, and an entire day of experiments, running trials and statistical analyses for my research. I am currently interested in social dominance and aggressive behavior in vampire bats and chemical cues as a sensory bias for roost finding. 

This is a great stripe-faced bat, and the first bat
 I untangled from a mist net. 

Some days, I get to go mist netting with other interns or graduate students for bats. Mist nets are long, thin nets that form little pockets that bats fly into and get tangled. We untangle, process and either let the bats go or keep for studies. It's a really cool process, and probably one of my favorite things to do (because I get to pet the bats).

This is Deadpool. He was echolocating when I took this picture!

Look at this adorableness. Unbanded pup. 

People enjoying the Tangaras and Trachops station! 

This week in particular was special because July 3rd was Gamboa Bat Night! On the first Sunday of every month, the bat lab invites the public to come over to learn about bats and the research we have going on, and interact with bats in real time! This month, we had 3 stations: vampire bats (the best), the Tungara frogs and Trachops, and a mist netting station. It was amazing to see so many different people interested in bats and making the time to come out and learn about them! 

This sign was A+. 

Gerry killing it at bat night. 

It has only been a month since I have arrived at Gamboa, but it already holds special place in my heart. I still cannot believe I am here, getting to do the work I love the most and sharing with so many people who have similar passions and aspirations. I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer holds!

Thank you for reading about my journey at Gamboa.

Love and light, 

Yeli