Ready to RMBL!
Hi everybody! My
name is Jenny Yang. I’m a third year undergraduate student at UCLA and have
been part of Team Marmot for a little less than a year now. Having lived in the
city all my life, I spent my first week at RMBL getting acclimated to the
wonders of mountain life. Other than the pesky mosquitos that have been having
a feast on body recently (I can only imagine what will happen when the biting
flies come out) though, I have been having the best time! It has been amazing
meeting so many passionate people and being surrounded by so much wilderness—the
closest I get to nature on a daily basis in Los Angeles are the squirrels
roaming around UCLA. I definitely see why people love RMBL so much and why so
many come back time and time again!
In less than a
week, I have already learned more than my brain can process! During my time
with the Blumstein Lab at UCLA, I have worked a bunch with the poop samples,
blood smears, and social interaction data that were collected on the marmots
here at RMBL. Actually learning how to live-trap and observe these little guys,
however, has offered me a whole new perspective on the work that I have been
doing. While it was overwhelming at first to remember the different colony sites
and individual marmots, which, by the way, are all insanely cute, I have found
it such a rewarding and satisfying experience. I can only imagine what kind of
craziness the next three months will bring!
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