Animal Behavior Society, Day 1

Diane and I said good-bye to our house-sitter and drove to the Animal Behavior Society conference meeting. This year, it is being held in scenic Snowbird, Utah.

We briefly chatted with Colin Allen, who is here with his wife, Lynn, and their two children. Then we were off to the ice-breaker, a barbecue dinner.

After the dinner, we spoke with Michael Noonan, a fellow marine mammalogist. He had a video that he wrote and produced that was in the film competition this evening. The topic was the Asian elephant, and the title of the film was simply, “Elephas maximus: The Asian Elephant”. Other films included one on ethics and enrichment for zoo animals, one on the marine mammals of one of the Canary Islands, and another on individualized strategies of foraging in minke whales.

Unfortunately, I developed a mild headache and nausea following dinner. I wasn’t able to stay through all the films that were shown. I think that I had a relatively mild bout of altitude sickness. Since we’re staying at a hotel back down the mountain in South Jordan, I got to feeling better, though fatigued, when we came back downhill. This is going to be interesting to see if I can avoid further problems in that regard. Anyway, the next step is several hours of sleep.