Sypherd first worked on Project CETI, an initiative co-led by Wood to study sperm whale communication in Dominica. As part of the Hecht Lab, they study communication in wolves and chimpanzees in the wild. Sypherd’s interest in animal communication began as an undergraduate at Arizona State, where they studied the alarm signals used by ants. “The opportunity to go to the Amazon rainforest is kind of a once in a lifetime thing,” they said. “I really wanted to get a book or flashcards or something to quiz myself on,” they said.