THINKING OUTSIDE WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST UMA RAMAKRISHNAN’S FOCUS: NOT BEING STUCK INDOORS By John Wall Photography: Rick Hamilton
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pending time hiking up into a mountain scrub forest, observing the alarm calls of a Malabar giant squirrel. Slogging through jungle environments in India, Thailand, and Indonesia observing and tracking Asian elephants. Monitoring communication among the wily bonneted macaques of the forests and urban settings around Bangalore, India. Studying the behavior of whitetailed deer in suburban Connecticut. Getting down-and-dirty studying the innards of the coyote.
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2014 Spring-Summer
Geez, this sounds like the resume of Indiana Jones crossed with Steve Irwin. Nope, this is just a partial list (be thankful we left out the cockroaches) of all the wildlife experiences amassed by Juniata biologist Uma Ramakrishnan, who has counseled countless Juniata students interested in wildlife conservation and enrolled in the College’s expanding environmental science program. Like Indiana Jones, a college professor who doesn’t do much indoor classroom work (one lecture in four movies), Uma tries to get out of the classroom and into the field.