Jineth Berrío-Martínez (MSc in Biology) is a researcher from Colombia who arrived in April has been travelling around Panama to find additional wild vampire bat colonies. She is working on development of biting ability in young vampire bats.  My research interests include tropical biology, population ecology, reproductive biology, evolution, and conservation. Early in my career … Continue reading Team Vampire, Spring 2017

Julia Vrtilek (Biology, Amherst College, 2015) is studying the development of grooming and food-sharing networks in young-of-the-year vampire bats. What are your interests? I find it fascinating and awe-inspiring that “from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” I’m interested in evolutionary biology, ecology, and animal … Continue reading ‘Team Vampire’ Fall 2016

Our two undergraduate interns Yeli Garcia (Earlham) and Emily Dong (Cornell) just completed their independent projects and finished their seasons in Panama. Yeli's project was entitled "Guano scent as a cue for roost-finding in vampire bats" and Emily's was "Co-feeding and food sharing in vampire bats". They both worked hard, did a terrific job, and I'm … Continue reading Summer 2016 updates

Every season, two volunteer interns will be assisting the vampire bat food-sharing project at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Gamboa, Panama. These are our first two interns for Spring 2016. A month ago, eighteen-year-old whiz kid Jana Nowatzki (left) joined our project from Konstanz, Germany. Jana is a surprisingly self-motivated, bright, positive, and precocious student. Armed … Continue reading Q & A with our new interns