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Ecological Research
Our research activities allow us to gather information on animals and how they interact with their surroundings. This information feeds into evidence-based conservation by helping us understand how large carnivore populations are doing, which areas they are using, how they interact with people, and what threats they face. All this information helps us understand how best we can protect these populations while promoting coexistence with the communities that live alongside them.
In addition to informing conservation action, our findings also feed into national & international wildlife policy. For instance, our research in Tanzania has contributed to the updated Tanzania National Action Plan for Lion & Leopard and Eastern Africa Regional Conservation Strategy for Cheetah & Wild Dog.
Our on-the-ground research includes population monitoring, understanding wildlife presence & distributions, guide sightings programmes, conflict monitoring, collaring, and training & capacity building. Alongside this, we are also involved in research that explores big picture questions about conservation in a changing world.
All our research is carried out in close collaboration with the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and local academic institutions.
Population monitoring
Camera traps are cameras that automatically take photos when they detect movement and body heat. We use camera trap surveys – which involve putting out a large number of camera traps in an area and leaving them there for multiple months to collect data – to monitor whether populations of carnivores are decreasing, increasing, or stable in the landscapes where we work.
By working closely with protected area management authorities, this information can be used to proactively identify threats and set sustainable quotas in trophy hunting areas. In Kenya and Zambia, this monitoring is a key component of the Lion Friendly Livestock and Lion Carbon certification schemes.
As our camera traps take photos of any animal that passes in front of them, these surveys also allow us to gather information on wider animal communities.
Understanding wildlife presence and distribution
We carry out surveys of animal tracks (spoor surveys) to gather information on wildlife presence over large areas. In village lands, these data are collected through walked transects by Lion Defenders.
This information helps us monitor species diversity and distributions, and understand the factors influencing where large carnivores are found. It can also be a valuable way to get to know a landscape, including identifying hotspots for illegal activities.
Guide sightings programmes
We run guide sightings programmes in partnership with tourist camps and lodges in Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park and Nyerere National Park.
We give participating guides at tourism camps and lodges a camera and a data collection device. During game drives, the guides record information on any large carnivores they see, including the species, the number of individuals, and the age and sex of those individuals, as well as noting any interesting behaviour. They also take photos of all animals at the sighting so we can individually identify them.
The data collected helps us monitor carnivore demographics and survival in the parks’ main tourism areas.
Conflict monitoring
We collect data on human-carnivore conflict in village lands in partnership with Conflict Officers, who map household locations, monitor depredation events and livestock losses, and collect information on carnivore mortality events. These data help us understand levels of conflict, identify patterns and hotspots, and inform our conflict mitigation activities.
Collaring
We use GPS collars to understand movement patterns and behaviour of lions and other carnivores in human-impacted areas. Our collars send alerts when lions enter unprotected village lands, which we use to alert livestock owners when lions are in the area so they can watch their herds more closely or secure them inside an enclosure. The GPS data can also be used to locate collared individuals, allowing management authorities to more easily respond to threats.
Training & capacity building
Throughout all our research activities, we strive to build local capacity by delivering training to local researchers and conservation practitioners. We also support students to lead their own projects as part of our wider research programme.
Although capacity building underpins all of our work, we have placed a particular emphasis on this through our surveys in Tanzania’s Selous-Nyerere landscape.
Between 2020 and 2023, we delivered field skills training in spoor surveys, camera trapping, and GPS collaring to more than 45 Tanzanian conservationists, and have delivered a series of workshops on analytical techniques to monitor large carnivores. We have also supported five training participants to present the findings of our collaborative research at the TAWIRI scientific conference.
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