Cheryl Patel
JoinedNovember 21, 2014
Articles9
I am a senior majoring in Ecology, Behavior and Evolution. I love to be outside and always take every chance that I get to enjoy activities like snowboarding, hiking and beach volleyball. All my life, animals have held a soft spot in my heart, and now I hope to become a wildlife biologist who works in conservation, population genetics, evolutionary biology and community ecology. Traveling the world and studying different organisms would be a dream come true, but until then, writing out possible adventures will keep me satisfied.

Looking for a Buzz

3 min read
I was covered from head to toe, with every possible opening shut tight by zippers or elastic. This was my first time in a bee suit, and it was making me slightly claustrophobic. Professor John Neeves at UC San Diego had offered to give me a tour of the beehives he keeps in the biological field station on campus. Read More

Shark’s Day Out

3 min read
Dozens of pregnant leopard sharks gather in the warm, shallow waters off the coast of La Jolla in the late summer / early autumn. That’s why I was sitting on my paddleboard for a whole two hours, using it as a boat while I continually reapplied sunscreen to my exposed skin. Read More

Reindeer are in Our Hands

2 min read
Reindeer are critically endangered, and I couldn’t believe it when I first read about it in articles. These creatures are also referred to as woodland caribou, but that name probably doesn’t garner the type of nostalgic and mystical image that the general public responds to. Read More

Pack Dynamic

3 min read
About two years ago I worked with National Geographic on a project about the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and a lot of that work was associated with gray wolves Read More

Welcome to the Polar World

4 min read
There wasn’t any wind whipping around to bite at the exposed skin on my face, but the chill that rose from the packed snow was enough to keep my cheeks and nose red. Patrick and I waited outside the known den of a mother polar bear for about two days. Read More

Stars Wasting Away

4 min read
I had been wading through the surf on the beach at the Scripps Coastal Reserve in La Jolla, California for almost half an hour when I found a cluster of sea stars in a tide pool. Large, smooth rocks slick... Read More

Little Brown Bat

2 min read
Anyone who loves animals knows that it is next to impossible to choose a favorite creature, and although that stands true with me as well, bats are my default favorite. Read More

Puffins Family Time

4 min read
I set up my tripod, took my stance behind the camera and began invading the puffins’ lives through my lens. Read More

A Good Old-Fashioned Wallow

3 min read
If habitat loss and poaching – the two main causes of the northern white rhino population’s decline – continue to increase, the same fate of extinction could befall these southern white rhinos wallowing in front of me. Read More