ABC Minutes March 23 2010

= Hampshire Animal Behavior Club Meeting Minutes  =

March 9th, 2010
Meeting Minutes March 9th, 2010


 * Butterfly Trip on March 27th, 2010

- Need to go to Ficom again to get more funding

- Charles Ross will be coming too!

- How can we apply a butterfly garden at Hampshire?

- Can we raise butterflies in the Greenhouse?

- Annual Butterfly release in Spring/Summer?

- Butterfly release at Hampshire's 40th?


 * Hampshire Animal Behavior Library?

- What happened to this project?

- We need shelving

- Did Sean get a hold of the books from the library?


 * Salamander Migrations!

- Contact Hitchcock Center

- Let's do the Egg Mass Surveys


 * Apply for a computer from Ficom next semester?

March 23rd, 2010
Meeting Minutes March 23rd, 2010


 * Butterfly Trip on March 27th, 2010

o Who’s going for sure

o Do we have enough space? • Yes, plenty of cars and defensive drivers available      o E-mail sent to everyone to confirm if they’re going


 * Hampshire College Mascot

o American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) or some Dendrobates? o Start forming a more detailed proposal for the community              • Illustrations               • Conversation Status               • Importance to History and Culture       o Contact Usha to draw some proposed sketches       o Who do we present this to? o Who can vote on this? o How to incorporate athletics? o Andrew and Dan will follow up on this


 * Dr. Steve Tilley coming to speak on April 6th, 2010 at 4 PM

o Making flyers              • Half a page or so big with a big salamander on it               • Should we provide any type of food?


 * The need for new members and signers and general community building

o Good candidates? • People in animal related classes              • How to target these people? o Movie Night? • 3D Sea Monsters              • Planet Earth of Blue Planet               • David Attenborough’s Birds       o Cookies and Milk Night for Stressed People at the End of the Semester       o Animal Party               • Dress up as an animal               • Food etc. o Speak in Animal Related Classes       o More advertising and flyers? • When does it become annoying? • Host more events?

March 30th, 2010

 * Dr. Steve Tilley coming to speak on April 6th, 2010 at 4 PM
 * Dr. Bronwyn Heather Bleakley will come to speak on April 21st, 2010 at 5 PM in ASH.
 * The Hitchcock Environmental Center

- Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) egg mass surveys with Ted Watt, Naturalist

- Will call this weekend when he goes out to conduct population data

- Should we attend the annual Salamander Soiree at the Hitchcock Center?

- Try and be more involved with their programs?


 * How do we get the community involved?

- Each meeting has a species theme

- Movie clips at the beginning of each meeting

- Be less intimidating and more generalized toward the public for the beginning but then get more in depth in conversation

- Really push doing group research

- Informal article readings/ topics for each meeting (e.g. Endangered Species, Conservation, Maternal Care, Social Behavior, etc.)

- More movies! Bring animals on campus for a day?


 * Building a Butterfly Garden

- Add to the community garden by Greenwich

- We bought seeds and a book to help us

- Summer Splash Marigolds

- Summer Peaches

- Grandmother's Pincushion

- Butterfly Trip was a great success, pictures are now up on our photobucket linked on the home Hampedia Page


 * 3D Sea Monster Movie

- Movie screening will take place on April 13th, 2010 in Ruth Graham Hammen Auditorium in ASH at 5:00 PM


 * Faculty Dates

- Get more faculty involved with the club and have designated nights for faculty to attend

April 6th, 2010
• Dr. Steve Tilley came to talk about Biodiversity in Appalachian Salamanders

o Great lecture focusing on the speciation of Desmognathus salamanders       o Used gel-electrophoresis to find diversity within populations        o No hybridization yet no barriers to gene flow • Possible Animal Enrichment Group Research Project? o Give cows at the farm different objects       o Measure the amount of time interacted with        o Facilitate social interactions? • 3D movie screening next week • Short Meeting because of lecture

April 13th, 2010
• Screened the National Geographic’s Sea Monsters in 3D • Dr. Bronwyn Heather Bleakley will be coming to talk next week (Wednesday at 5:00PM April 21st, 2010) to talk about the Evolutionary Genetics of Cannibalism and Cooperation. Everyone should be there! • Next, next meeting we’ll be talking about conservation of endangered species what should be conserved, what shouldn’t? What do you think? • Animal Behavior Group table will be at Spring Jam giving animal tattoos and face painting! o Alexis and Amelia! • Student Group Research Project Ideas       o Cow enrichment        o Salamander Surveys        o How variation in the environment affects mate choice in amphibians • Animal Photography Contest? o What can we offer contestants? • Space for poster in ASH       o This could be a yearly thing?

April 21st, 2010

 * Dr. Bronwyn Heather Bleakley of Smith College's Biological Sciences Department will be talking about the Evolutionary Genetics of Cooperation and Cannibalism on April 21st, 2010 at 5:00 PM in the Ruth Graham Hammen Auditorium in the Adele Simmons Hall.
 * Cooperation - Fancy Guppies studied
 * Cannibalism - Arthropods studied

More discussion on this lecture next meeting

April 27th, 2010

 * Marksman Photography judging
 * How should we decide?
 * Based off of, color, animal, quality of photo, how it will look on a poster
 * Miranda J. Beck is the first Marksman Award Winner for her submission of a Chiromantis tree frog!
 * A certificate will be award to her and her submission will be hung in ASH for 2 weeks
 * Thanks to all who submitted, it was a really hard process that took 2 hours
 * All contest photos will be up at our photobucket!
 * Planting the butterfly garden? When? Who can make it? Is it too late in the year?
 * What speakers do we want for next year? Betsy Dumont has agreed already for next semester.
 * Should we try to attract speakers outside of the 5-Colleges?
 * How can we pull more attendance into these talks?
 * Advertise at the 5-Colleges?