Week 2: Lemur Training

My lemurs are learning. Some of them are learning fast and some of them are barely getting a hang of it. I have already started testing phase with two lemurs because they have learned to use the apparatus. Any progress is good progress, I guess.

I understand that not all lemurs will have the same performance rate and I accept the fact that some may never learn. My biggest fear is that I will have a small sample size and that all of them are dichromats.

I flew back to NYC for the weekend to see my husband and cats. I have missed them very much. I am grateful that I am about an hour away by plane and I can fly back to see them whenever I want.

Looking forward to work with new individuals next week. It's always interesting to see how they explore a novel object (my apparatus) and how they respond to it.

Raymond Vagell: Current Research

My master’s thesis project is on color vision in ruffed lemurs (Varecia spp.) with Dr. Andrea Baden. My research project will be conducted at the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina, where I will be training and running behavioral trials. Using multi-field approaches, I am trying to answer my research questions by incorporating computer programming, robotics, psychophysics, and animal training. I built a subject-mediated automatic remote testing apparatus (SMARTA) to test the Varecia spp. that I will train subjects to use before running trials to test whether they can perceive and discriminate the color red. I will also take blood samples from my subjects to extract genomic DNA for genetic analyses in the Primate Molecular Ecology Lab (PMEL) at Hunter College. I hope that this research can further elucidate whether color vision genotypes in Varecia spp. are expressed phenotypically.

The Usability Of My Apparatus

You don't really hear about "usability" when talking about animal researcher as well as animal enrichment. Usability is the ease and learnability of human-made objects. Much is known and researched on when it comes to the usability of human-made objects intended for humans. Take for example, the usability of a door. Doors with a handle is instinctually something you pull. Doors without a handle but a flat metal plate is instinctually something you push. But how do we arrive to that conclusion?

Doors with handles. Do you push or pull? Why?

It's all about usability research and a lot of testing on potential subjects. You gather as many relevant info as you can, use those knowledge to build an object and then have your subjects use those objects while you observe them. This is how you would test your prototype. I wasn't lucky enough to test the usability of my apparatus with the ruffed lemurs before I brought the apparatus down to Duke Lemur Center. However, I have enough data to help me designing and execute my apparatus. Information such as their height when sitting on the ground, what height is their eye level, as well as the best way to stop these lemurs from perching on the apparatus so that they do not pee or poo on the apparatus.

SPOILER ALERT: They are still perching on the apparatus but they are considerate enough to not pee or poo on it ... yet.

However, watching these lemurs use my apparatus for the past 2 weeks has given me valuable information. There are some many variables that go into play on how they learn and utilize my apparatus. Differences in ages and amongst individuals are evident. I won't divulge more into this, but I think it is something interesting to look into as well as important for animal enrichments.

Some of you might be wondering. How do I know this? Well, someone very close to my life is a usability researcher so naturally I have inherited some advice and knowledge from him.

Craisin Acceleration: Why Size and Weight Matter

For a few days, the food rewards inside my apparatus was not dispensing properly. I had wondered what the problem was and like a good scientist that I am, I wrote down all my hypotheses and tested them.

The food reward is too sticky thus sticking to the cup: It was definitely not that the food reward is too sticky. Almost all of them would fall out of the cups.

The distance of cup to chute was too far, therefore the food reward is falling outside of the chute: Wasn't the distance of cup to chute either, although I thought initially it was so as this apparatus was designed with small grapes in mind, not craisins. The food reward was falling into the chute most of the time but there are a few times when it would fall after it passes the chute. It's not a significant reason why the food reward is not dispensing properly.

However, I had an Aha! moment when I realized that the food rewards that didn't get dispensed properly are small pieces of craisins. WEIGHT! It was weight. I need to have craisins that have enough mass to fall from the cup as soon as it drops down and accelerate into the chute. I bought some "whole craisins" which are basically craisins from whole large cranberries instead of varying sizes. I'm happy to report that the food rewards have been dispensing properly today.

Size and weight do matter when it comes to being dispensed properly in my apparatus. Have I mentioned how much they LOVE craisins?

Weekend Distraction: Luna

I adopted a Chihuahua x Pomeranian (Pomchi) puppy over the weekend. I am so used to being surrounded by animals (mostly cats) that being in a foreign place and cooped up in the hotel room was starting to take a toll on me.

Meet Luna Vagell, my emotional support animal. She is a ball of energy (when she's awake, after she had finished her meal)!