WILDLIFE HANDLING PROGRAM Field Projects International is seeking research assistants to join our team in June. This is a chance to participate in the ninth year of a tamarin mark-recapture project in SE Perú. Our focal species are Emperor and Saddleback tamarins (Saguinus imperator and Leontocebus weddelli), and our protocols at this site place the comfort and safety of these primates as our first priority. These protocols also allow us to gain invaluable information on the health of this wild population without disturbing subsequent habituation to observers. In addition, we provide each individual with a temporary tag that greatly facilitates the collection of individualized behavioral data for our other research programs.
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 Perú. 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) LEARN MORE http://fieldprojects.org/research/wildlife-handling
