Current Research
Timothy's current research focuses on adult female spotted hyenas' (Crocuta crocuta) diurnal movement and space use patterns at the Masai Mara Game Reserve and their implications to management in Kenya. He is utilizing Global Positioning System (GPS) collars fixed on 22 hyenas belonging to three clans within the Masai Mara i.e Talek West (TW) clan located in the eastern side of the Mara, Serena South (SS) and Serena North (SN) clans both located in the western side of the Mara. The TW clan is located in an area that experiences very high human activities such as livestock grazing, urbanization, poaching etc while both SS and SN clans are located in a pristine area with only tourism activities allowed hence these different levels of human activities (disturbance) give Timothy a good measure of how different these hyenas could be varying their diurnal distances traveled as well as their habitat use . Timothy will also be investigating the amounts of energy expedited by the hyenas while moving as a follow up on a preliminary study conducted in 2013 which showed that the TW hyenas were moving four times more than the SS and SN clan hyenas between 10am to 4pm. It's ideal to study adult female hyenas since their male counterparts leave their natal dens at an average of two and half years old and join new clans thus making them quite difficult to monitor. Timothy is also using prey density numbers already counted under the Mara Hyena Project (MHP) to determine their effect on spotted hyena movement and space use patterns
Past Research Experience
Timothy is from Kenya and prior to his graduate school at MSU he worked as a Research Assistant (RA) in the Zoology Department at the Ornithology section of the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) and took part in numerous research projects on mammals and birds conservation. After working at NMK for one year, he joined Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) as an Assistant Research Scientist (ARS) at Mombasa Marine National Park and Reserve located in the Kenya's coast. At the coast, he was engaged in marine research that included marine fish, coral reef, sea weeds, sea grass, mangrove forests, sea turtles, sea birds, sea mammals, etc . After two years of marine research, he was transferred to Western Kenya based at Kisumu Impala Sanctuary but as well oversee research activities at Ndere Island National Park and lake Kanyaboli National Reserve whose research involved fresh water and terrestrial environments. It's from Kisumu that Timothy joined Michigan State University (MSU) in August 2014 as a graduate student in zoology department.
Interests
Timothy loves reading scientific articles, Global Information Systems (GIS), and conserving earth's biodiversity is his day-day activities, as he is motivated by the saying that 'it is never too early or too late to make the world a better place'. He enjoys watching soccer though he is a poor soccer player. Teamwork is his spirit and giving back to the community has been his personal drive
Timothy's current research focuses on adult female spotted hyenas' (Crocuta crocuta) diurnal movement and space use patterns at the Masai Mara Game Reserve and their implications to management in Kenya. He is utilizing Global Positioning System (GPS) collars fixed on 22 hyenas belonging to three clans within the Masai Mara i.e Talek West (TW) clan located in the eastern side of the Mara, Serena South (SS) and Serena North (SN) clans both located in the western side of the Mara. The TW clan is located in an area that experiences very high human activities such as livestock grazing, urbanization, poaching etc while both SS and SN clans are located in a pristine area with only tourism activities allowed hence these different levels of human activities (disturbance) give Timothy a good measure of how different these hyenas could be varying their diurnal distances traveled as well as their habitat use . Timothy will also be investigating the amounts of energy expedited by the hyenas while moving as a follow up on a preliminary study conducted in 2013 which showed that the TW hyenas were moving four times more than the SS and SN clan hyenas between 10am to 4pm. It's ideal to study adult female hyenas since their male counterparts leave their natal dens at an average of two and half years old and join new clans thus making them quite difficult to monitor. Timothy is also using prey density numbers already counted under the Mara Hyena Project (MHP) to determine their effect on spotted hyena movement and space use patterns
Past Research Experience
Timothy is from Kenya and prior to his graduate school at MSU he worked as a Research Assistant (RA) in the Zoology Department at the Ornithology section of the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) and took part in numerous research projects on mammals and birds conservation. After working at NMK for one year, he joined Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) as an Assistant Research Scientist (ARS) at Mombasa Marine National Park and Reserve located in the Kenya's coast. At the coast, he was engaged in marine research that included marine fish, coral reef, sea weeds, sea grass, mangrove forests, sea turtles, sea birds, sea mammals, etc . After two years of marine research, he was transferred to Western Kenya based at Kisumu Impala Sanctuary but as well oversee research activities at Ndere Island National Park and lake Kanyaboli National Reserve whose research involved fresh water and terrestrial environments. It's from Kisumu that Timothy joined Michigan State University (MSU) in August 2014 as a graduate student in zoology department.
Interests
Timothy loves reading scientific articles, Global Information Systems (GIS), and conserving earth's biodiversity is his day-day activities, as he is motivated by the saying that 'it is never too early or too late to make the world a better place'. He enjoys watching soccer though he is a poor soccer player. Teamwork is his spirit and giving back to the community has been his personal drive