A Trunk of Love: WVU Doctoral Student Finds Her Calling Researching Elephants

The story of Tina Dow’s love for elephants began in another story, tucked away in the pages of her first Little Golden Book. Never could she predict that someday she’d work with the same creatures that fascinated her as a little girl. It was the mighty elephant that steered her back onto an academic path. Dow, who grew up in Cumberland, Md., earned her bachelor’s degree in Animal and Veterinary Sciences at West Virginia University in 2002. After graduating, she didn’t know quite what to do. She enrolled in some courses at the University of Connecticut and took an internship at Roger Williams Park …

Continue Reading

Ph.D. Student Conducting Research on African Elephants

By: Brooke Boening The Daily Athenaeum Shortly upon completing her undergraduate studies in animal and nutritional sciences, West Virginia University Ph.D. student, Tina Dow, discovered a passion that would take her beyond the ordinary work environment – elephants. When Dow landed an internship at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, R.I., in 2002, she quickly developed a fascination with the park’s African elephants. “I had an appreciation of standing beside something that is living and breathing and weighs over 10,000 pounds,” Dow said. “Then to see how intelligent and caring they are – I fell in love.” Today, Dow is …

Continue Reading

WVU Helps Grad Student Follow Dream

Tina Dow is passionate about a variety of things – traveling, scuba diving, rock climbing – but her one true love will always be elephants. After earning her bachelor’s degree in animal and nutritional sciences from West Virginia University in 2002, Dow spent the next four years trying to find her true career calling. “I interned with several zoos and became a licensed wildlife rehabilitator,” she said. “But I didn’t have any direction of what I wanted to do. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to vet school, but I knew I wanted to continue to work with animals. I just didn’t …

Continue Reading

For The Love Of Elephants: WVU Davis College Helps Grad Student Find, Follow Research Dreams

Tina Dow is passionate about a variety of things – traveling, scuba diving, rock climbing – but her one true love will always be elephants. After earning her bachelor’s degree in animal and nutritional sciences from West Virginia University in 2002, Dow spent the next four years trying to find her true career calling. “I interned with several zoos and became a licensed wildlife rehabilitator,” she said. “But I didn’t have any direction of what I wanted to do. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to vet school, but I knew I wanted to continue to work with …

Continue Reading

Elephants Know How To Co-Operate

By Victoria Gill Science and nature reporter, BBC News In the test, two animals had to work together – each pulling on a rope in order to tug a platform towards them. Elephants’ apparent grasp of the need to co-operate shows, scientists say, that they belong in an “elite group” of intelligent, socially complex animals. Researchers from the University of Cambridge built the apparatus, which was originally designed for chimps. The team published their findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  Researchers have documented elephants in the wild helping each other Study leader Dr Joshua Plotnik from the University …

Continue Reading