Meet our new intern-Martin!
Hello! My name is Martin Jacquet. I am working on my Master’s in BIology in Belgium and am very excited to have recently joined Felidae as an intern. My internship is 4 months and it's the final requirement of my Master's. The purpose of the internship is to gain direct experience in the professional field of Biology. It was a long journey to get to CA from Europe! After a flight of about 10 hours, I finally set foot in the US for the first time. I live in a very nice neighborhood (Glen Park) in San Francisco. The first thing that surprised me about San Francisco was the many hills and steep streets.Coming to California to be part of the The Bay Area Puma Project was a dream project for me. I have been fascinated by wildlife since I was a kid and I love being in nature. Wild felids are incredible animals that need protection, and therefore the second aspect that interested me is conservation. The puma (AKA mountain lion), and the lynx are among my favorite wild cats, along with the snow leopard, the Amur leopard and the clouded leopard.
This internship will allow me to learn about the research and conservation of felids and their ecosystems at the urban-wildland interface. This is especially important given habitat loss and fragmentation, both of which impact species survival. I have already seen a lot of interesting things in my first 3 weeks here. I have joined Felidae team members Katie McPherson (biologist) and Alys Granados (ecologist) for field work to set up and check camera traps and this has allowed me to experience lesser known parts of the Bay Area and local nature. I have been able to experience Marin County trails by, for example, hiking on trails at Mount Burdell and Samuel P Taylor State Parks. In the South Bay we have visited Filoli Historic House and Garden, and San Carlos Canyon. I was even able to visit the John Muir Historical site (NPS property) in the East Bay.So far, I have seen some interesting wildlife as part of our work, such as turkey vultures, hummingbirds, coyotes, acorn woodpeckers, squirrels and salamanders.In addition to this field work, I have started helping to process the images captured by Felidae’s remotely-triggered wildlife cameras using their cloud-based system, WildePod.Finally, while I am here, I hope to help raise awareness about mountain lion conservation with communities in the Bay Area by attending outreach events and making educational social media posts to Felidae’s various platforms.I am looking forward to the next four months here! Reach out if you have any questions or want to connect with me!