It’s been a looong time since I’ve posted, but hey, life is busy. Anyway, I want to tell you about my new project: Forecast-based Action for Conservation (I’m going with ForCon for short). Today, just a bit of background… … More Forecast-based action for conservation
On World Elephant Day 2019, elephants face an uncertain future. What is the cause and why should we care in the first place? … More World Elephant Day 2019!
‘Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do just to stay in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast!’ … More Don’t look back in anger
Control measures have been widely employed to limit the growth of elephant populations in South Africa. Whilst the efficacy of these measures has been monitored closely, there has been little investigation into the behavioural implications of control measures for elephants. In a study published today, Heike Zitzer and I summarised 5 years of observations to understand how vasectomies affect male elephant behaviour. … More The behavioural implications of elephant vasectomies
Human-elephant conflict refers to negative interactions between humans and elephants – commonplace across Africa and Asia – where people and elephants share space and resources. Climate change is expected to alter the distribution and frequency of human-elephant conflict. This review outlines the current state of understanding regarding the impacts of climate change on human-elephant conflict across eastern and southern Africa. … More The Impacts of Climate Change on Human-Elephant Conflict
Did you catch Attenborough and the Giant Elephant recently? In the BBC documentary, David Attenborough looked back on the life of Jumbo the elephant through zoo records, public press releases, photography, artwork, his skeleton and the journal of his keeper Matthew Scott. And all of the evidence pointed to a pretty troubled existence. I won’t … More The life of Jumbo and what the BBC forgot to mention
I was recently invited to talk to the Berkshire Mammal Group and given the very vague brief: “talk about elephants”. Well, I don’t need to be asked twice. I decided to focus on the future of elephants in an increasingly human-dominated Africa, and the talk proceeded somewhat along these lines… human population growth, conversion of … More If you needed another reason… Why I work to help elephants…
For anyone that knows me, you’ll know I’m elephant mad. For anyone that doesn’t, I’m elephant mad! Now we’re all on the same page, let’s begin… Right, I don’t know if you heard, because often this sort of news goes completely untouched by some of the big ‘news’ reporters (basically because it’s way more exciting … More Where’s the logic gone?
I’ve touched on the issue of predation in my earlier lapwing posts – remember Problem 1a? Well all my chickadees are getting eaten! And in terms of improving the conservation status of lapwings, that just ain’t a winning formula! So obviously, that needs tackling somehow. As part of the EU Life + funding for the … More That Problem 1a thing…
I think perhaps my ‘lapwing-taster-post’ may have made this radio-tracking malarkey sound pretty straightforward? Well think again… It is not quite as simple as finding a chick, gluing on a tag and going out to the place you left it every other day, to find it is patiently sat in full view, awaiting your return. … More The riddles of radio-tracking…
