Leslie Lyons

Geneticist

Our arrival into Egypt is uneventful. This is a small miracle as little does the Nat Geo production team know that one of us is afraid to fly, one of us broke down in tears when we learned about all the vaccinations we needed, two of us have never left the western United States, and I am more used to traveling alone than taking care of others on a fairly complicated expedition. I am deathly afraid of someone getting a bad scratch or bite and having to seek medical care.

Photo: Dana Kemp

It is not until the morning that I steal away to the roof of the hotel to see my first glimpses of the pyramids, through the morning hazy and fog. I am really here, a lifelong goal, to see Egypt! Coming from a small south western town in Pennsylvania, Uniontown, I never thought I would have these opportunities, I never knew scientists got to do things like this. And, all over cats! The first encounter with the cats is on the back streets of Giza, the pyramids are in the background, how totally awesome. Ha, I was a bit worried that we would not find the cats, perhaps we would have to wait until dawn or dusk, but no, they are everywhere! Look any directions and there they are, part of the background, and important part of the ecosystem as well. We are dressed in black, little scientist ninjas. We start our first approach of the cats. The children of Giza have surrounded us, we have a big camera and a big stick with a big club attached to it (the boom), 2 producers and 4 cat catchers. The cats see us stealthily approaching like a herd of elephants, they hunch-up, hiss, and run, kicking up dirt as they go. The flight instinct of the cats is strong here, we need cats that are used to people. This is not going to work, panic! How are we going to film, but really collect the samples we need for the study? Let’s start easy, let’s go to the tourist market area to start. Tune in to the premiere of Explorer: Science of Cats on June 10 at 10p to find out exactly what Leslie found while searching in Egypt.