Day 2 photos and notes:  KITTENS!
Today was a much easier day to hike.  We were incredibly lucky to find fresh tracks near where we caught the cat yesterday.  These tracks were a bit different, though...because there were 4 sets of them!  They were from a mother cat and her 3 baby kittens.  We hadn't been on the trail for more than an hour before we caught the first little kitten - then the other 2 weren't long after that.  Although you'll look at the photos and see how cute they are they are DEFINITELY wild animals.  These little guys (yes, they're all boys) were not very happy to be caught...and they mean business.  The photos holding them were when they were tranquilized - otherwise the only way we could hold them was by holding the skin on the back of their neck and also by their tails.
We caught them by hand, then tranquilized them with a needle rather than using the dart gun since they are too young.  At only 2 months old they aren't even eating food on their own yet - but they DO have teeth and claws.  The claws on their front paws were about 2-3 times the length of the nail on your little  finger.  We collected all the same data and tattooed their ears. I forgot to tell you yesterday that they are also studying their DNA to see which cats are related to one another.  They take a small clip of skin from the cats ear for that database.   Why do you think this is important to the study of animal populations?
We didn't collar the kittens because they grow too quickly.  If we had captured the mom, which we didn't, they might have put temporary collars on the kittens.  Can you guess why?  Moms, by the way, don't stay with their kittens if they are frightened.  They will eventually go back for them, but not until danger is gone.  Why do you think this might be so?
Once we finished collecting all the data we wanted to be sure they would be safe.  We spent nearly 4 hours trying to keep the kittens under and near a tree to be sure the tranquilizer had worn off and they would be able to climb for safety.  They are VERY fast and VERY feisty.  We had to catch them many times and it was not easy.  They spit and hiss and do NOT want to be stopped - great instinct and learning for survival, don't you think?
Here are some photos of the kittens and some of the procedures we used to collect data on them.
Hi to everyone - more tomorrow!
 
 
We couldn't help holding them all - they are awfully cute!
It took a lot of hands to hold this one for the shot!
It was messy tattooing their ears. The green dye stays in their skin as they grow, so the number will still show if he is caught and collared when he's older. 
The tranquilizer relaxes their muscles so they can't blink. Eye drops are put into their eyes to keep them from drying out while we collected data.
Weighing the kittens.  They were close in weight - averaging approximately 15 lbs  each. (Of COURSE we measured everything in metric.)  
Measuring head to tail! These measurements help to determine the age of the animals more closely.  These kittens are about 2 1/2 months old. 

We're measuring their ears. We also measured each pad on their front paws.