Pembroke teacher heading for Brazil Otters’ scat, caiman teeth will be focus of two-week Earthwatch Institute research

PEMBROKE – For two weeks in February, teacher Heather Chambers is going to focus on the scat of otters and the teeth of caiman.

And she’s doing it in Brazil.

Earthwatch Institute, the nonprofit international volunteer organization that supports scientific research, selected Chambers, 31, last year as part of its Conserving the Pantanal.

While in Brazil she will study the biology of giant river otters and caiman – a South American crocodilian reptile that resembles a small alligator. The group also will focus on the ecological effects of declining biodiversity in the Pantanal region.

The Pantanal is one of the largest freshwater wetland areas in the world. It stretches across three countries: Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay.

Chambers will then take everything she learns back to her classroom at the Pembroke Elementary School, where she is a fifth- to eighth-grade science teacher.

Chambers’ research group includes one teacher from Rhode Island and three from Massachusetts.

Earthwatch Institute, according to its Web site, is an international nonprofit organization that brings science to life for people concerned about the earth’s future. “Today, Earthwatch recruits close to 4,000 volunteers every year to collect field data in the areas of rainforest ecology, wildlife conservation, marine science, archaeology and more,” the Web site said. “Through this process, we educate, inspire and involve a diversity of people, who actively contribute to conserving our planet.” Last year, the group sponsored more than 155 research projects in 48 countries.

It all began last year for the Pembroke teacher when she and other teachers worked with a technical consultant on such things as Web design. The consultant suggested the Earthwatch program to Chambers. The school has nine teachers and 118 pupils.

She applied.

Shortly before Christmas Chambers received a letter saying she had been accepted.

Principal Debbie Jamieson said that Chambers’ pupils were excited. “Fifty-plus kids will benefit,” she said. They will be able to read Chambers’ journal of her experiences online while she’s gone.

And Chambers is excited. She rolled her eyes as she talked about having to be outfitted with snake boots as soon as she arrives in Brazil. She also will be armed with a roll of duct tape to tape a caiman’s mouth shut while it’s being examined.

“You have to measure their teeth and pump their stomach,” she said with a laugh. Asked if caiman were excited about having their stomachs pumped, Chambers chuckled and said “he’s probably not excited at all, but what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

Although it sounds like fun, Chambers said that she is mindful that she is there to bring what she learns back to her students. And it’s not a walk on the beach. “We have to get up at 3:30 [every morning]. We hike four to five miles each day. We go into the Pantanal in boats for six hours. We come back and we have a two-hour break and then we go back out into the field,” she explained.

Chambers said they also would be studying otters, which are indicator species. “So if there is any change in their environment they are one of the first it will show up in. So if you can catch something immediately rather than letting it get down the food chain, we’re better off,” she said.

What she learns in Brazil will be useful in Washington County. “We have wetlands around here that have the same type of species, not necessarily the giant otter, but there are indicator species here as well,” she said.

Jamieson said in preparation for Chambers’ trip, her students already have started to study Brazil. “That whole unexpected learning is taking place,” she said. She said she was proud of her teacher. “It’s great to see a teacher take the initiative,” she said.