{"id":5124,"date":"2025-01-29T12:33:03","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T17:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/?post_type=profile&#038;p=5124"},"modified":"2025-02-24T15:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T20:08:11","slug":"aarushi-pant","status":"publish","type":"profile","link":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/profiles\/aarushi-pant\/","title":{"rendered":"Aarushi Pant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>During the \u00datila Island Experiential Learning Course, I was able to take a deep dive into field research and conservation biology.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"> As an avid birdwatcher and wildlife photographer, being immersed in a field biology study really gave me a deep perspective into what I truly enjoy about being surrounded by nature.&nbsp; It was amazing to be able to develop a research project from start to finish, producing a paper and a presentation by the end of the trip.&nbsp; My project was focused on studying the population dynamics of the critically endangered \u00datila spiny-tailed iguana (<em>Ctenosaura bakeri<\/em>) and analyzing the impacts that humans have had on the species over the past decade.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Specifically, I analyzed the sex ratio of the species, which has been altered by human hunting patterns in recent years.&nbsp; Humans like to hunt gravid, or egg-bearing females, skewing the population male and increasing aggressive male competition or mating behaviors.&nbsp; This female-biased harvesting additionally decreases genetic diversity, which is crucially important for this endangered species.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During my time on the island, I was able to find a positive trend in the sex ratio over the past few years, pointing to potential success of conservation attempts that seek to reduce poaching of&nbsp;<em>C. bakeri<\/em>.&nbsp; This really exciting discovery brought to a close a truly rewarding experience, and I would love to engage with opportunities like this again in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2025\/01\/image-11-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5130\" srcset=\"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2025\/01\/image-11-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2025\/01\/image-11-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2025\/01\/image-11-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2025\/01\/image-11-240x180.jpg 240w, https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2025\/01\/image-11.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em><strong>Ctenosaura bakeri<\/strong><\/em>, also known as the&nbsp;<strong>Utila spiny-tailed iguana<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Baker&#8217;s spinytail iguana<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>swamper<\/strong>&nbsp;, or&nbsp;<em><strong>wishiwilly del suampo<\/strong><\/em>, is a&nbsp;critically endangered&nbsp;species&nbsp;of&nbsp;spinytail iguana&nbsp;endemic&nbsp;to the island of&nbsp;Utila, one of the&nbsp;Islas de la Bah\u00eda&nbsp;off the coast of&nbsp;Honduras&nbsp;in the&nbsp;Caribbean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During the \u00datila Island Experiential Learning Course, I was able to take a deep dive into field research and conservation biology.&nbsp; As an avid birdwatcher and wildlife photographer, being immersed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5125,"template":"","profiletype":[85],"class_list":["post-5124","profile","type-profile","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","profiletype-spotlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/5124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/5124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5138,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/5124\/revisions\/5138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profiletype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/behavioralbiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiletype?post=5124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}