Hello! I’m Belles Cherney, and for the past two months, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to intern at Living Links and the Budongo Research Unit (BRU). As my time here comes to an end, I’d love to share what this unforgettable experience has been like for me.
While I’ve been here, I’ve been working on two projects: one with the chimpanzees, and one with the brown capuchin monkeys. During this internship, I’ve been lucky to experience what it is like to work as a researcher. The work that the researchers at Living Links and the BRU do everyday is so varied, including things such as gathering and inputting data, preparing experimental apparatus and objects for the animals to handle, and helping pilot experiment. This means I’ve spent lots of my time helping to work out some of the kinks that appear while starting a new study!
With the capuchin monkeys, I’m working with Gabriella Smith to study curiosity. We want to know if, when offered bundles of multiple identical looking objects- with only one in five objects having food inside which makes a rattling sound when moved- will the monkeys learn to use the sound cues and show strategic searching behaviours to discover which objects make a sound? Will they learn to shake the wrapped objects in a bundle to find the food?
With the chimpanzees, I’m working with Dr Aurelien Frick and Dr Emma McEwen while we study the effects of social presence on a chimp’s working memory. We want to know if the presence of visitors or other chimps impact how well a chimp can concentrate and remember where we’ve hidden the grape inside of a box. Will the chimps perform worse on the more difficult trials of this task when there are many visitors watching, or if there are many chimps in the room?
The most tedious part of it all is that experiments don’t just happen without the effort required to prepare for them. Some require less work than others, but the curiosity project has required Gabriella and I to wrap 400 objects a week for the bundles. They consist of a PVC tube, 4 specially wrapped pieces of paper, and a fabric strap zip tied tight around it. We spent around 16 hours a week doing this, and it’s exhausting work! I had already been aware of all the work that goes into conducting an official study, but I most certainly have a better appreciation for it now!
While I’ve been here, I’ve learned so much about the field of animal cognition, as well as gotten a better understanding of what it means to be a full time researcher. I have even helped out with public engagement events teaching visitors about the research we do! I’ve been welcomed by the amazing team of researchers, keepers, and administrators here at the zoo. Everyone encourages me to learn and to try everything, and this has truly been one of the best experiences of my life. Working with the animals so much every day, I’ve gotten to build relationships with the individual animals and have gotten to know who each of them are on a personal level.
My favourite chimpanzee, Lucy, is quiet, watchful, loves her food, and she knows what she wants and how to get it. My favourite capuchin, Sol, is a bit of a loner. She struggles with some physical tasks, and moves through life slowly and carefully – that is, until some sass is required! Then all bets are off. These animals have become my friends, along with the spectacular group of people I’ve gotten to work with, and I couldn’t be more grateful or more in awe of what I’ve gotten to be a part of this summer.