Scientists Share Wins, Epic Fails on Twitter
Studying wild animals may sound exotic and exciting, but #Fieldworkfails shows the gritty—sometimes hilarious—reality of field biology.
It's 1973 and your truck just broke down in the middle of a game reserve nearly the size of Costa Rica. There are only three radios in the entire park—none of which you have—no airstrips or roads, and the spare part you need is a five-hour drive away. What do you do?
If you're Bobbi Jacob, then a 22-year-old game warden in Tanzania's Selous Game Reserve, you make the part you need from a wildebeest's intestines—and you remember to note the gut contents, for science.
Her story is one of many that researchers have been sharing this week on Twitter using the #fieldworkwin hashtag. It's an outgrowth of the previous week's #fieldworkfail stories about embarrassing or hilarious mistakes, all in the
