#FieldworkFriday: Capture & Release
Summer 2013 I completed the 2nd field season of an ongoing Capture-Mark-Recapture project for African Giant Pouched Rats (CM) Cricetomys ansorgei (formerly C.
By DNLee
This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Summer 2013 I completed the 2nd field season of an ongoing Capture-Mark-Recapture project for African Giant Pouched Rats (CM) Cricetomys ansorgei (formerly C. gambianus) in Morogoro, Tanzania.
I capture rats, take measurements, give them an individual identifying microchip, and then release back into the wild. It's pretty simple. Sometimes I see them again, sometimes I don't. So far, it's the females that I catch over and over again in a given area. Males are captured (and re-captured) less frequently.
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