If you had the option of either spending your summer vegging out on a beach, or exploring a National Park and identifying wildlife, which would you choose? Though the beach is pretty tempting, I met a group of awesome young women last week who have chosen the latter option, all in the name of science and exploration!
Members of Project Exploration's All Girls Expedition are, at this very moment, in Yellowstone National Park, exploring the natural habitat of species such as coyotes, bald eagles and yellow monkeyflower, just to name a few.
Ariel Torres points out the distinctive shoulder humps of the Grizzly Bear.
I spent some time with the girls last Friday here in Chicago as they wrapped up a week of intense research and preparation with their team leaders and area scientists. At their send-off event, each of the student researchers became experts on two of the species found in Yellowstone, giving presentations leading demonstrations for their parents and friends. I learned quite a bit! For example, the girls taught me that Yellowstone National Park sits on top of an active volcano (one of the largest in the world).
Xochitl Vergara wears a Red Fox skin like a scarf as she talks about how they grow to about 43 inches in length.
(But don't worry, Yellowstone visitors; active is a relative term, as the last time it erupted was 640,000 years ago!) The result was the huge caldera (a deep depression formed by collapsed land after an eruption) of Yellowstone surrounded by extensive mountain ranges. For more about what the Expedition team learned and presented at the send-off, check out the Project Exploration Blog for a really great post by Jehad, one of the group's students.
The All Girls Expedition will be in Yellowstone National Park until Friday. I've never been to Yellowstone National Park, so I can't wait to hear about their trip and all the things they discovered as real-life scientists. Thanks to Project Exploration for letting me come last week, and safe travels home!
-Rabiah
Author's Note: Sources:
http://projectexploration.org/
http://projectexploration.org/all_girls_expedition/index.htm
http://www.projectexploration.org/blog/
Editor's Note: For more blogs from Dr. Rabiah, visit Science Chicago's website at: http://www.sciencechicagoblog.com
