Sex, symbiosis, and serenity

Chitengo Camp, Gorongosa, Mozambique

Today was a big production day.  I knew Ed Wilson was an amazing naturalist and science teacher, seeing him deliver educational content on camera, in the field, is truly remarkable.  His 42 years of teaching biology at Harvard show through every day here.  Each 2 to 5 minute sequence has been a single take.  It is remarkable.  I am sure a director’s dream.  Award-winning director Jessica Wu has been very happy and it has been quite amazing to watch them work together along with Nat Geo film master Bob Poole.  Bob will be with us next week as well and it should allow us to continue to build rich, informative and beautiful content for Life on Earth.  As good as it gets really.  The team here is amazing.

The other powerful dynamic is the people of Chitengo.  The collection of scientists from various parts of the world pursuing many different scientific endeavors is incredible.   Ecologists, hydrologists, veterinary scientists, zoologists, vegetation specialists… the list goes on.  It is a thriving field station with wonderful conditions for eco-tourists as well. Additionally we have a mix of media professionals documenting Ed’s visit and components of this place.  Very stimulating. 

Took a short walk to the river just 2 km from camp.  Nice forest growth along the way but not much wildlife.  The soccer match on the return was quite eventful.  One camp vs another.  Greg Carr told us of an annual game between the local village and the Chitengo Camp crew.  The spoils of victory?  Two chickens to the victor.  Greg said one year the village team had a one-legged soccer player.  Evidently he lost one to a crocodile.

Rob Pringle has also been inspiring.  He is a young professor from Princeton who was one of Paul Ehrlich’s last graduate students.  Rob has been doing a variety of successful ecology projects in  Kenya and Greg has asked him to bring his expertise to Chitengo.  He now serves on the board of the Gorongosa restoration project.

After making the butterfly nets from collected poacher’s materials, I discovered a new story that we are just developing.  Talking to Carlos, the resident vet and Matteus, the district official in charge of the Park I found out that these donated mosquito nets have some serious ecological issues surrounding them.  Carlos mentioned that recently 200,000 nets were donate to Mozambique via USaid.  These bed nets are treated with an insecticide which is safe for humans but toxic for insects and aquatic wildlife.   The fact that local residents are using the nets for poaching fish is bad enough, but Carlos believes the release of the chemical into the water is incredibly devastating.  He has found local ponds that appear to be sterile.   This relief program needs to be complete rethought. Additionally, the fishing with mosquito nets appears to be widespread issue as it also is happening in far away Uganda.   Unforeseen consequences of massive humanitarian aid.  

Ed’s stories today for the Life on Earth project were on the structure and function of the flower with an emphasis on the evolution of the design and the co-evolution of the animal pollinators.  The scene was symbolic as Ed presented in front of an impala lily in front of a portion of a wall that stood as a memorial to the war of independence in 1973.  He charismatically discussed the different aspects of sexual reproduction and nature of life from the perspective of the flower.

The following shots were out on the edge of Lake Urema in an iconic savannah setting.  The continuation of the termite mound ecological succession was told and a termite colony was excavated.  Much of this was for the description of symbiosis, known as “living together.”  The Macrotermes termites that construct the massive mounds also garden a particular species of fungus which they feed off of.  The design is elaborate and the benefits of this community show a clear mutualistic form of symbiosis.  

Ed also discussed some of the social structure of the local yellow baboons and the parallel complex social organization with the termite colony.  It was simple, beautiful and will be a great contribution to the upcoming online textbook.   The place was also ideal for the discussion of the savannah and its role in the evolution of hominids.   Another perfect day.

Just to top it all off our Life on Earth team headed to Explorer Gorongosa Camp within the Park.  We arrived to a scene from safari life from Out of Africa.  Large manyara tents were set up along trails lit by iconic hurricane lamps. The soft glow of the flame in the lamps took us back to another time.  What a beautiful place.  We will be here for two nights. 

Our hosts here are warm, friendly, and very knowledgeable of local flora and fauna.  More coming on the wonders of this place.