Animals: College Gets $15,000 for Study
The National Park Service has awarded Santa Monica College a $15,000 contract to conduct an inventory of small mammals, birds and reptiles in the Joshua Tree National Monument, the first such study in the monument in over 30 years.
About 20 students supervised by biology professors Norm Hogg and Walt Sakai will study the quantity and location of animals in the monument and also the animals’ movement, longevity, juvenile-to-adult ratios and male-to-female ratios.
The effort is believed to be the first inventory of Joshua Tree fauna to be conducted since the period 1945 to 1960, according to Hogg.
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