I am currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL. I now live in North Sumatra, Indonesia, near the coastal town of Sibolga. There I am finishing my dissertation research, which involves a comparative behavioral study of agile gibbons and siamangs in the western block of the Batang Toru rainforest. My main interests are how these animals, which compete for food resources, are able to live in the same forest together. As a quick note, the Batang Toru rainforest is very unique, in that it is one of the only forests in the world to house gibbons, siamangs, and orangutans.
I am usually living in the forest for most of the month (~3 weeks per month), where I attempt to follow my study subjects for as long as they will allow me. An ideal day would consist of following either a gibbon or siamang group from dawn until they enter their sleeping tree (~5:00 PM), and collect as much behavioral data as I can.
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