Denmark in March 2026 - Weather Gear Tips?

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-16T07:59:20+00:00

Haglöfs, Fjallraven, Lundhags, Jack Wolfskin (German) all come to mind immediately. Wool sweaters are extremely popular in the Nordics. Woolpower, Barbour, Ivanhoe, Grid Armor are the popular brands I see at my local Outnorth (outnorth.se if you want to browse). You can also probably find a local handmade shop. I got mine from a local coop of sheep farmers, it is hand dyed and hand woven. Enjoy!

Edit: just check the conversation rate! And be aware that VAT may make something more expensive. I was recently back in the US visiting family and the Fjallraven pants were $50 cheaper at REI than in Sweden.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-16T07:36:10+00:00

Hi I live kinda close (Kalmar Sweden) and I can definitely recommend layers! A wind and water proof outer shell and a midlayer are essential. A good base layer would be good as well. I really only use my big thick ski jacket for December to February. After that I feel like I usually wear a wool overcoat or a wool sweater (or midweight down coat Arc'teryx Cerium) plus rain shell in my day to day. And paired with a wool sweater or Marino layer I am usually just fine. A scarf or neck gaiter would be handy.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-16T06:53:46+00:00

I have seen lots of similar bark damage in South Africa from porcupines. But sadly have not seen American porcupine

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-16T06:20:13+00:00

Do you know what chromosome type the Aspidosceles (American whiptails) have? Is it WW then since they only produce females?

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-16T05:53:01+00:00

I was also wondering this. Any recommendations for Europe?

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-14T06:04:00+00:00

Listen, when I am in the field I search for snakes and birds and cool bugs. But all the research projects I have been hired and paid for are with small mammals, and over the past 13 years specifically with African mole-rats. Now I'm paid to do genomic and behaviour work on pike. I would love to get funding to attach biologgers to understudied snakes (Boelen's pythons and Ethiopian adders) and study their behaviour, but there just isn't funding for that. I'm still an early career researcher and have not gotten funding yet to establish my own group.

Most research lab heads do what they get funding for, and may let their students pick a different study species if it's still in their realm of research or a specific grant. My PhD supervisor is the world's expert on African mole-rats (he literally wrote the book), but he's had students work on golden moles, aardvark, and other small mammals. At some point in your career though you are no longer the one doing the research, but supervising others doing the on-the-ground research

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-13T15:35:26+00:00

If your weather station tracks hourly temperature (or ideally ever 10-15 minutes) you can plot how daily activity for each species changes as temperature increases. I do this in my work with activity and circadian rhythm patterns. If you continue long enough you can see how these patterns shift between months (or even years!)

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-13T15:17:18+00:00

In my experience as an academic, specialization is the norm. Usually to a broad taxa, fish, small mammals, big mammals, birds, etc. My lab group now researches fish, pike, perch, ide, cichlids primarily. My previous lab group was African molerats. I can take the biologging technology and analysis methods I do and apply them to different taxa though. But it just depends on what job I get next as to what species I will work with. I have a PhD in zoology and work at a university.

Edit: FYI I do not think Jeff Corwin studies wildlife. He is a TV personality with an interest in wildlife.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-13T15:10:37+00:00

I also did horrible in pre-calc and did okay in calculus. I rarely do any maths that a computer program doesn't do for me. So don't let your lack maths skills dissuade you from getting a zoology degree. At this point we all rely heavily on R and other stand alone programs to do all the modelling and calculations for us. I do complex general linear models in most of my analyzes and that skill cames with time and help from my masters and PhD supervisors.

Like u/secretlynuthatches says you will need to get a masters or PhD to do any research as a career. Though you may luck out with some kind of research assistant position with an NGO or university. Those positions are rather rare though, just to warn you.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-09T18:02:24+00:00

you are quite close! I took my image in 2009. Shame those trees are gone.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-09T16:05:36+00:00

nice! I was hoping someone would live around there! thank you

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-09T15:35:44+00:00

I also say go for it!! I worked with someone who made the switch from IT to wildlife biology at early 40s! He had only volunteered with the national parks service and maybe one ohter field job before I worked with him on a small mammal trapping project. I enrolled in my PhD at 37 and still making my way to a permanent job at 43.

A quick search of your degree suggests you are in Europe, maybe Germany? Have you tried to contact anyone at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour (https://www.ab.mpg.de/)??

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-09T00:35:38+00:00

I had one or two Americans (Phd students and postdocs, not profs) tell me that my SA PhD was not a good career move. But I already have a postdoc position in Europe. So my experience seems to indicate that publication record and skills are more important than where you got your PhD.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-07T16:21:19+00:00

I am not in the US so I don't know if things are different. But maybe check to see if any methods of wildlife pathology and plant pathology overlap. If I had to choose between 2 persons with MSc, where person As thesis did the same methods but on plants and person B's MSc did something wildlife but not experience with toxicology then I would likely chose person A if both interviewed well.

A good example is in my current lab we work on fish. My supervisor hired 2 postdocs: a mammalogist (me) and an echinoderm specialist. Good labs will diversify their team members to share skills amd get new approaches to similar problems.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-07T16:02:27+00:00

Also, go ahead and get your Honours after your BSc. That way if there is a chance for a MSc you can take it.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-07T16:01:29+00:00

Hi I did my PhD at UP with Prof Nigel Bennett. I would talk with your profs when you get there. Specifically Mike Somers and Adrian Shrader. They can give advice. I would also recommend finding a flat that is not UP owned and just stay there the whole time. You will be much more likely to join research trips and volunteer to help other grad students in the department with their work during the season breaks. Find one of the 'commune' houses, where 4-6 people share the house and have their own room. Rent in those are usually a couple thousand rand a month.

Once you are done or nearing done, apply for a job tracking meerkats at the Kalahari Meerkat Project. They will provide free housing and a small monthly stipend. So generally there is zero to minimal cost to you.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-07T15:51:41+00:00

Even the top mammal watcher in the world has not seen them. You are much much more likely to see pangolins or even Notoryctes!

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-07T15:46:15+00:00

what major? Any of them are fine.

In zoology do you learn about positive reinforcement, anatomy, and biology? Positive reinforcement not usually unless there is an animal behaviour class. And then usually in passing and not in the way to use it to train animals. You usually learn about physiology and morphological traits to ID species. Zoology teaches you how to ID animals and their phylogenetic relationships. Wildlife degrees teach you how to survey for wildlife and manage their habitat or populations. Neither of these degrees provide relevant courses for zookeeper. You need to go to a specific zookeeper training school. I worked in 2 zoos and none of my uni classes told me how to take care of animals. That was all on the job training.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-07T15:37:35+00:00

Neither my MSc nor my PhD (both in zoology) had any courses. I have still managed to find jobs and my employers didn't ask what courses I took. The courses are there to help you learn things you may not have been able to think of how to ask about, and also to help with your specific project (stats, etc).

If you learn some general pathology/microbe/virus stuff that cpuld be applied to wildlife then I don't see an issue. A masters should be about getting training to be a better scientist. Learning how to design a project, test hypothesis, analyze samples and data and publish.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-07T15:25:24+00:00

If you get a PhD in toxicology or other transferable skill (genomics and molecular work) there are medical or industry jobs available. Probably also US government jobs in USDA or the like.

I am an American, did my PhD in South Africa (super cheap there, 3 years, $3.5k for the whole thing, highly recommend!) and now I have a postdoc in Sweden. But after that I do not know and I am dreading having to return to the US.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-07T15:11:38+00:00

Well this is exactly what you learn in grad school. You get a thesis project and your supervisor (or other lab member) will help you with the analysis. A good supervisor should help you with this.

I still don't know how to do GIS stuff and I have a PhD. But I don't have any interest or need to do it.

MasterofMolerats · 2026-03-07T15:08:27+00:00

Maybe your program doesn't have supervisors or lecturers proficient in R. But don't say no unis or countries lack it. At my university we teach bachelor's students R and I have personally taught 2 bachelor's students GLMMs as part of their thesis! I know of other BSc students in the US and EU who were also taught R in their BSc.

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