{"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&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

During the \u00datila Island Experiential Learning Course, I was able to take a deep dive into field research and conservation biology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. 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. My project was focused on studying the population dynamics of the critically endangered \u00datila spiny-tailed iguana (Ctenosaura bakeri<\/em>) and analyzing the impacts that humans have had on the species over the past decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, I analyzed the sex ratio of the species, which has been altered by human hunting patterns in recent years. Humans like to hunt gravid, or egg-bearing females, skewing the population male and increasing aggressive male competition or mating behaviors. This female-biased harvesting additionally decreases genetic diversity, which is crucially important for this endangered species. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 C. bakeri<\/em>. 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

\"\" — Ctenosaura bakeri<\/strong><\/em>, also known as the Utila spiny-tailed iguana<\/strong>, Baker’s spinytail iguana<\/strong>, swamper<\/strong> , or wishiwilly del suampo<\/strong><\/em>, is a critically endangered species of spinytail iguana endemic to the island of Utila, one of the Islas de la Bah\u00eda off the coast of Honduras in the Caribbean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
During the \u00datila Island Experiential Learning Course, I was able to take a deep dive into field research and conservation biology. As an avid birdwatcher and wildlife photographer, being immersed […]<\/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}]}}