Sam Miller ’26, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Sam Miller ’26

Major

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Project Title

Thermoregulation as an Axis of Niche Partitioning in Spiral-horned Antelope

I assisted on research into Tragelaphus or spiral-horned antelopes in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. As numerous Tragelaphus species occur in Gorongosa — such as bushbuck, nyala, kudu and eland — the park serves a useful system for studying niche partitioning. This project aims to investigate how differing thermoregulatory constraints on Tragelaphus species may inform their spatio-temporal usage of the landscape and thus facilitate their coexistence. I assisted with taking pelage samples of bushbuck while the animals were captured and subsequently counted the hairs in those samples, which will serve to parameterize models for the thermoregulatory costs that the animals experience. I also used telemetry to help track collared kudu and conduct behavioral observations to better understand their habitat usage and assisted in the establishment of weather stations throughout the park’s habitats. In addition to the field techniques I learned, this work massively increased my understanding of the logistics of field work and how lab groups achieve productive international relationships with research partners. This opportunity has also greatly increased my interest in pursuing a research-based career and I am very interested in pursuing future work at Gorongosa while I am at Princeton.