rebeccmeister | "What kind of sharks are those?"

"...those are Halictine sharks!"

This little gem of a witticism (if you don't know what a Halictine is, look it up, silly) quite nicely summarizes several different facets of our research adventures.

Facet #1: Dangers of sharks. Apparently the last time they were in Australia, P kept warning R to be careful of the great white sharks whenever he went swimming. R always scoffed and swam anyway, but eventually this led to some internet research/propaganda-hunting and we determined that sharks aren't actually a big danger even here, where great white sharks are pretty common. Oh, this whole piece also involves viewing Jaws and a lot of needling. P likes to get worked up over possible animal dangers, while R thinks said animal dangers are exciting and amusing.

Facet #2: Sticky Beaks. Most Australians go on holiday during the 6 weeks right after Christmas--children get out of school, and people rush off to the sea-shore in mad droves. Overnight, the quiet caravan park where we have been staying has turned into a realm of chaos. Every possible square foot of grass is covered by an RV, a car, or a tent (aside: I don't understand WHY people like to come to places like this, that are full of other people, just to sit in a tent and watch teevee!). People are bursting from the seams! We used to be in a 3-bedroom beach cabin that even had a nice view of the ocean from the quiet front porch, but because of some problems with our reservations, we are now living out of 2 tents and a wee trailer and have no porch or ocean view. In addition to all of this, the building that houses our lab space and bee room has been turned into a recreation center for all of the guests (or, mainly, for their bored children). I like kids, but I'm not so sure I like kids on vacation, especially when I am trying to get work done. We have signs posted on the doors to our lab space and bee room that say, in effect, KEEP OUT, but this has served to make the vacationers even MORE curious (another aside: a nosy neighbor is known as a "sticky beak" here). And they always manage to stick their noses in right when we're in the middle of some delicate task that requires full concentration. Basically, it sucks to have to work when everybody around you is on vacation. Don't ever try it. I'm not joking.

This is one of the worst places to have to do research, ever, because everybody else is in party mode and there are no quiet places to escape. Lots and lots of people want to know what kinds of bees we are studying and what we are doing, exactly. We humored the workmen who were fixing up the building, because there were only a couple of them and they were in the building all of the time, working. I am NOT humoring the children who want to know if we work there and want to know if we know where such-and-such a toy is located or if there's really paintball (I don't think so, rude little misbehaving children!). And I am getting quite tired of kids running and stomping through our rickety building, shaking all of the floors and shouting and screaming. Fortunately, the bees are not as sensitive to vibrations as ants, or else the pounding feet of romping kids would ruin everything entirely, instead of just ruining my good mood.

Facet #3: Discussions of charismatic megafauna. The other day, we had a conversation about the fact that the bees are "uncharismatic microfauna," not as attractive a study organism as "charismatic megafauna," like sharks and koalas and emus and echidnas. People like to hear about the curios behaviors of the charismatic megafauna, but find the uncharismatic microfauna uninteresting.

Putting two and one together (more or less), we have decided that we are NOT really studying bees after all, we are studying the division of labor in fierce, burrowing land-sharks. So when the people come to the door and ask, "What kind of sharks are those?" we will reply, "Those are HALICTINE sharks!"

That wasn't really so funny to you, now was it? I laughed so hard I cried. The ocean fumes must be getting to me.

In other news, I have grown tired of discussions of group identity and stereotypes and prejudices. We could talk ad nauseum et infinitum on the matter, but I don't feel like it. So there. Sorry to disappoint.