Mount Katahdin, Maine, USA, 2021. My friends and I hiked Mount Katahdin last summer, one of the tallest mountains on the east coast of the US! I was very tired and hungry during this picture, and my feet hurt a lot, but it was worth it for a beautiful view and spending time with my friends.

Hello! Welcome to my Skype a Scientist page!

Hiya! My name is Margaret Swift, but you can call me Maggie. I'm studying to be an ecologist at Duke University, located in beautiful Durham, North Carolina. Ecology is the study of how all the plants, animals, microbes, and creepy-crawlies all around us work together with rocks, water, sunshine, and soils to create the world we live in.

I study African savannas---yes, just like in The Lion King ! I'm lucky enough to get to travel for my job, which involves watching elephants eat, measuring savanna trees, and asking questions about where animals go, and how they decide to do it. Elephant, zebra, buffalo, and other big mammals get thirsty just like we do, and they often have to travel a long way to reach water. My research focuses on how animals decide where to go to get a drink. Turns out it's much more complicated than carrying a water bottle or reaching for the tap! 

Some things about me: 

• I grew up in a town called Warrenton in northern Virginia.
• I spent a lot of my childhood running around the woods behind my house, so I loved nature from an early age.
• I have a cat, named Izzy, and am currently snake-sitting two beautiful snakes for my cousin. If you ask about them when we Skype, I'll show them to you!
• My hobbies include hiking, guitar, sewing, baking, and reading.

​To get you started, you can ask me:

• Where have you traveled for field work?
• What is your favorite animal?
• Do you get dirty doing field work?
• Have you ever been scared when working?
• What books do you like to read?
• What were you doing when you were my age?
• What was your favorite subject in school?

Kruger National Park, South Africa, 2021. My field class put together this rhinoceros skeleton from bones that we found scattered around the savanna. You will notice this rhino does not have a horn---this is probably because rangers cut it off at some point so that poachers wouldn't steal it.