had the privilege of being one of seven
students chosen from a year 10 cohort to
be mentored by PhD student on one of
seven animal health care projects
offered at the University of the
Sunshine Coast an opportunity I as with
many others have not encountered in the
past as enthusiastic to be given this
offer not only have our projects given
us valuable insight into the field of
science but the opportunity to
contribute to authentic scientific
problem solving and inquiry my project
in particular does into the
understanding of animal personality the
social personality of individual Eastern
water dragons to be specific
interestingly enough others involved in
the project got to work with the cute
and cuddly creatures of the world I on
the other hand had what I could say was
the privilege of working with the
Eastern water dragons at this stage some
of you may wonder what it is what
Eastern water dragons are this is what
they look like they’re our tree drilling
lizards that are part of the Iguana
family and are native to eastern
Australia they’re 80 to 90 centimeters
long majority which is their tail that
is flat on either side to assist the
swimming this one in particular caught
my eye as he is rather peculiar from
duty to Francine looky and Delilah you
name it we had it one may also wonder
why use lizards there’s a common notions
that lizards would not display
distinctive behavior but it is much the
opposite in eastern water dragons are
highly gregarious creatures and display
great amount of variation in their
behavior who would have thought that an
Eastern water dragon would be so
behaviorally diverse exhibit in baby
behaviors such as submissiveness and
aggression testing these behaviors
requires a variety of data
election methods that help us understand
why animals are social and why we see so
much variation in their social behavior
this is exactly what I did during the
course of my project and over the
guidance of my wonderful mentor Carter
Strickland this is a prime example of
knowledge is power some of the greatest
scientific discoveries throughout
history have been derived from a
question driven by the power of
curiosity for instance child star win
series on natural selection came from
asking questions questions that have the
capacity to change signs as we know
today and to inspire generations on
Webb’s knowledge provides us with
understanding that gives us the capacity
to do more I initially went on this
endeavor through my interest in behavior
and come out of this with this
understanding and much more this project
has given me the incentive to ask these
kinds of questions every proactive on
finding an answer as well as showing me
my capacity as an adolescent as my
winter once said science is everything
science is medicine is technology is
understanding how things function in a
society where the science industry is
booming and today’s youth is tomorrow’s
future there is a lack of opportunities
given to experience the power of science
I would highly suggest programs much
like this to be implemented in schools
as the opportunity was a priceless thank you