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Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Randy showing us his Flehman response after getting some water in his nose. Throughout my time working as an undergraduate researcher, I have been hard at work creating an experimental design regarding the psychological effects of therapeutic horses (and now donkeys!) on humans. While it has been a long process of reading, writing, rereading, rewriting, creating presentations and discussions, and did I mention more rereading and rewriting, it seems that the direction I had been headed was a bit too complicated. While I could sense this as I was creating it, I struggled to either completely start over, or edit it in a way that results in the changing of a significant portion. Both options seemed daunting, so I trucked along with my own idea and tried to simplify it the best that I could, but after a presentation and discussion with Becca and the fellow researchers, it seems the design is a bit too complicated.
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Nora Bahr UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology  Dalia and Elizabeth bonding with the pigs Over the weekend, I brought my roommate to Pine Trails Ranch to meet the piglets. I had wanted to have her meet them for quite some time, but our schedules never quite seemed to line up. Finally, we found an evening that worked.
Dalia Carbajal-Robles UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Landscape Architecture  Elizabeth and I created a sitting area with wooden pallets at the site, helping us to better brainstorm our ideas! The ability to communicate effectively with others and myself is something I strive to improve all the time. Having good communication skills can help one build strong relationships; it can help both parties learn and grow. During my freshman year at the University of California, Davis, I attended a dialogue seminar. It helped me develop confidence in my communication, as well as understand other people's viewpoints. This week I realized how much dialogue I have been practicing with people of different ages at Pine Trails Ranch.
Elizabeth Shin UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Landscape Architecture  New seeds and fresh soil from the garden I never liked plants when I was younger. To me, they were obstacles on hiking paths,
homes for bugs, and potential for skin rashes. I’m brought back to one memory as a child, when my brother accidentally touched poison ivy. He was practically unrecognizable by the time our hike was finished, his skin bumpy and red and his eyes swollen shut, a gross red monster in my eyes. I was so frightened by the sight of him that I even refused to sit next to him on the drive home. Nora Bahr UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology  Jelly Bean, Romeo and I posing for a photoshoot Romeo has been a bit of a menace this week. In our first few training sessions, myself and my fellow Pig Whisperer, Claire, had been rewarding the piglets with treats straight from our hands. We quickly discovered, however, that this leads to the pigs associating food with our fingers and therefore encourages biting. So, we changed things up and placed their food rewards on the ground instead of a sensitive body part. For a while, this seemed to greatly deter biting! Until this week…
Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Nora, sweet and silly Memphis, and me Since the beginning of this program, Becca has been quietly honing her plan on what specific investigations her historically stress and reproductive physiology lab would center on. Today, she finally let us all in on that plan. The study of Green Care, or using natural experiences for therapeutic benefits, has recently been gaining momentum in the scientific community. Studies published thus far have been tailored mainly towards investigating the effects of Green Care on individuals with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and autism. While any of these groups would (and most likely will) benefit highly from our program, Becca had something more unique in mind - something more personal, and I couldn’t be more excited about it.
Nora Bahr UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology  My mom walking Care Bear For the past two weeks, my fellow undergrad research intern partner, Claire, and I have been working on a presentation together reviewing pig therapy/animal-assisted therapy research and how we can use these findings to shape our own mini pig therapy programs. In scrolling through Google Scholar, we found close to zero articles in which pigs were utilized as a therapeutic resource for human health. Most of the research done on animal-assisted therapy focuses on dogs, though we also found studies that investigated the therapeutic effects of farm animal (cow, goat, horse, etc.) interactions on human participants. It was frustrating to not have a clear model on which to base the development of our own work, but it was also exciting because it meant that we were entering a novel field and paving the way for future studies on the effects of using mini pigs in therapy. Now, we had to present our findings, and that was a whole other story for me…
Claire Short UC Davis graduate, Spring 2022 Major: Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology  Jelly Bean biting a ring of ice with frozen strawberries. Nora gasped as I slammed the knife through the frozen strawberry, nicking my fingernail and narrowly missing my flesh. We were anxiously awaiting our presentation on animal-assisted therapy at the weekly lab meeting, and preparing treats for the piglets had turned out to be an effective (but dangerous) way to relieve tension. Although the atmosphere at lab meetings is laid back and I felt well prepared, I always feel stressed before presenting. During our presentation, while we were discussing the meaning of elevated cortisol levels in a study on therapy dogs, Becca pointed out that in some cases, acute stress is a healthy response that helps prepare us to handle challenges. This was a good reminder that sometimes the goal of our work with therapy animals may not be to eliminate stress, but rather to change people’s perceptions of it.
Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Daisy and I practicing our camera and media skills with a photoshoot for the website This week, our lab meeting consisted of discussing social media, where we can further showcase our respective projects and encourage community interest and involvement. Nora and I decided we would like to take on the challenge of creating a TikTok account, uploading funny and educational videos of the many wonderful animals in our program. Though neither of us have a ton of experience making videos on the platform, we both find our animals in the lab silly and entertaining, and felt like we could work together to make some quality content.
Dalia Carbajal-Robles UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Landscape Architecture  Jose and Enrique in the ranch garden Enrique has worked at the Pine Trails Ranch for a long time, so he is very familiar with the site.
He was always surprised by our early morning presence, exclaiming "Oh, you girls are up early!" It wasn't until later that we had our first full conversation with Enrique regarding the garden beds. As we layered the stones for the garden beds, he came over to us and said we were incorrectly placing them down. He explained that the bottom of the brick contains an interlock that allows the brick to fit into the bottom layer brick. The sound of the stone locking had me and Elizebeth expressing our understanding with an "Ooooooh! That makes sense." |
