Questions & Answers

Answers to questions from the guestbook

Q: What are you most excited about?  What are you most nervous about?

A:  I think I am most excited about seeing cats in the wild!  I also think the adventure of going to a new place and meeting new people will be great!  I am most nervous about traveling alone to a country where I don't speak the language!

Q:  Take your camera along and some plastic gloves for your scooping duties!

A:  Thanks mom! :-)

Q:  What kind of equipment will you use?  What will your days be like?

A:  I think the most important equipment we had was the GPS, which uses satellites to help us mark different locations and be able to find them again.  We would have been lost ALL THE TIME without it!  Obviously the traps are very important.  I think the traps are cool because there are 2 kinds of traps together:  a box trap and leg traps.  The traps are designed to ensure the safety of both the chicken (our bait) and the cat.  The giant telemetry antenna and radio receiver were also fun to use.  Being able to find a cat by following a "beep" on a radio is pretty cool.  Finally, the camera traps-- motion sensor cameras!  I can't wait to see the pictures when we get an update at the end of the summer. Every day was different, but we were busy most of the time.  Sometimes in the afternoon or evening there was some down time to relax, read a book, or play cards.  The hardest part of the schedule was gettting up in the middle of the night and then getting back to sleep to be able to get up and work in the morning.

Q:  How close are you going to be to the cats?

A:  When we trapped the Geoffrey's Cat, it was given anesthetic to knock it out so we could pick it up and touch it.  The wild cats usually keep their distance.  Even when we are tracking the cats with radio collars, we never want to get too close to them because we don't want them to become tame.  The cats have great eyes and ears so they know when a human is approaching and they will usually get out of the way and hide.  It was amazing that we were able to get within about 10 feet of a Pampas Cat on our first night!

Q:  Why are scientists studying these cats?

A:  Very little is known about the different carnivore species in Argentina.  Scientists are studying the cat species, as well as other carnivore species, in order to learn as much as possible about them.  They want to learn things like how much space they need, what they eat, how much they eat, how quickly they reproduce, etc.  As much of Argentina's natural land is turned into farms and ranches, it is more important than ever to learn about these animals and how the changes in their habitat effect them.  If scientists can learn about them, they can share what they know with the farmers and ranchers.  By doing this they can hopefully help prevent these cats from becoming extinct.

Q:  What do they eat?  Will they try and bite you?

A:  All of these cats are carnivores which mean they eat only meat.  In this area of Argentina there are many small rodents, birds, and hares that provide food. We were never close enough to a wild, awake cat for it to bite.  They will usually get out of the way before they feel threatened.

Q:  I heard Buenos Aires had their first snow since 1918...

A:  This is true.  It is winter in the southern hemisphere when it is summer here in the USA.  On the day I was flying down to Argentina, Buenos Aires made history with the first snowfall since 1918.  It was big news!  It was colder than normal, especially in the first few days of the expedition.  Usually winter in Argentina has similar temperatures to fall in New England.

Q:  Are you excited?

A:  I was incredibly excited, but nervous too.  Now that it's over, I'm a little sad.  Now I am excited to hear updates from the team in Argentina and I look forward to finding another adventure like this in the future.