Boise State University Raptor Research Center Director and Department of Biological Sciences Professor Julie Heath, Raptor Research Center and biology Professor Stephanie Galla, and Ecology, Evolution and Behavior doctoral students and raptor researchers Carolina Granthon and Michael Henderson, along with other U.S. raptor researchers including some from Boise State collaborator The Peregrine Fund, were invited to visit the United Arab Emirates in January 2025 for a collaborative exchange.
“When a team of Boise State’s raptor researchers arrived in the United Arab Emirates, they stepped into a place where birds of prey were not just studied – they were deeply woven into the culture. Falcons covered billboards and perched on gloved hands in the streets, representing a long-standing connection between the people and their environment. Over the next eight days, the delegation immersed themselves in a landscape where conservation and tradition were inseparable…”