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Yesterday CHES held another “Featured Research Evening”, this time showcasing the work of CHES Graduate Affiliate Tim Bransford. For the research that forms the basis of the PhD dissertation he is currently writing, Tim investigated how wild orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) mothers modulate their diet and activity to meet their energetic demands while lactating as well as to buffer their infants from uncertain and variable energy availability. To do this, he had to collect data on orangutan behavior and physiology (from urine samples) as well as phenological data on forest productivity. Tim also talked at length about what it's like doing field research in the peat swamp forests of Borneo.