Splitting Hairs: Shedding light on the diet of Kruger’s wild dogs

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Splitting Hairs: Shedding light on the diet of Kruger’s wild dogs

African wild dogs are South Africa’s most endangered carnivores. Now loved for their unique personalities, playful nature, and reliance on pack dynamics for social support, wild dogs have had a chequered past filled with persecution and human conflict. This is largely due to the way wild dogs kill and consume their prey. Unable to deliver a killing bite, and reliant on assistance from pack members to hunt species much larger than themselves.

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Press Release: 2022 Annual Aerial Survey for Southern Right Whales

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Press Release: 2022 Annual Aerial Survey for Southern Right Whales

The University of Pretoria’s Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit recently completed the 43rd annual aerial survey to monitor the South African population of southern right whales. These surveys are a vital tool for monitoring the recovery of this population, which has been increasing at a rate of 6.5% per year since international protection of the population against whaling.

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Conservation Genetics, Photo-ID and Foraging Ecology of Bryde’s whales

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Conservation Genetics, Photo-ID and Foraging Ecology of Bryde’s whales

The Mammal Research Institute’s Whale Unit is currently conducting boat-based fieldwork in Walker Bay in the Western Cape. The main species of interest is the Bryde’s whale, a sleek rorqual with three ridges on its rostrum and an upright, curved dorsal fin towards the back of its body. Usually shy, elusive and fast-moving, they travel long distances in search of their prey, meaning that data collection on Bryde’s whales is both exciting and challenging!

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International Credit Mobility: cooperation between Czech Republic and South Africa

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The International Credit Mobility Project supports the mobilities of students and teaching staff amongst the project partners in the Czech Republic and South Africa, between the period of 2020 to 2023. The main project partners being the Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU) and Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria (UP). The objective of these mobilities is focused on the exchange of teaching staff and Ph.D. students between these two partner institutions.

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Coping with Climate Change: The 'Right' Way?

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Coping with Climate Change: The 'Right' Way?

The southern right whale, South Africa’s charismatic poster child for conservation, has been well on the road to recovery since commercial whaling finally ceased in the 1960s. Sadly, this conservation success story now hangs in the balance as they face a new and deeply concerning threat to their recovery.

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From bat-eared foxes to bats - a trip down memory lane

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From bat-eared foxes to bats - a trip down memory lane

Meet Low de Vries – friendly, enthusiastic, adventurous and absolutely loves fieldwork! He is passionate about bats and has broad interests and experience in several different fields of zoology. Low is a great example of how hard work, commitment and enthusiasm pays off with great opportunities.

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PRESS RELEASE 41st Annual Aerial Photographic ID Survey for Southern Right Whales

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PRESS RELEASE 41st Annual Aerial Photographic ID Survey for Southern Right Whales

The Whale Unit of the University of Pretoria’s Mammal Research Institute (MRI) will be conducting their annual aerial survey of southern right whales from 27 September through to mid-October. This is the 41st annual southern right whale photo-identification aerial survey, making this one of the longest running datasets on any marine mammal worldwide.

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Call for global action to protect whales and dolphins from the threat of extinction

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Call for global action to protect whales and dolphins from the threat of extinction

Two hundred and seventy cetacean experts worldwide have signed an open statement to global leaders calling for action to urgently address the precarious situation of many populations of whales, dolphins and porpoises (collectively known as ‘cetaceans’). Threats of extinction due to harmful human activity, such as incidental bycatch by fisheries, chemical and noise pollution, global warming and ship strikes, are faced by many species.

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Attempts to figure out why so many elephants are dying in Botswana

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PHOTO CREDIT: PROF. RUDI VAN AARDE

PHOTO CREDIT: PROF. RUDI VAN AARDE

There is world-wide concern about the recent death of 350 elephants in Botswana. Many theories have been put forward and research is currently underway to determine the cause/s. Conditions on the ground, difficulty in accessing laboratories and the sheer size of the problem, for example sampling hundreds of animals before they decompose, are all confounding factors.

Have a look here to see a video presentation by Dr Niall McCann, Conservation Director of National Park Rescue that was hosted by Whale Coast Conservation earlier this month.

Click here to read about a collaborative commentary by University of Pretoria academics and Dr Shahan Azeem of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Lahore.

Measuring man’s impact on the ability of animals to rest in disturbed areas

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Measuring man’s impact on the ability of animals to rest in disturbed areas

Lightweight biologgers with multiple sensors (acoustic, camera, locality, accelerometer etc.) will be developed and deployed initially on domestic animals in order to test their efficacy and collect test data before field deployments in France and southern Africa go ahead.

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Celebrating World Oceans Day 2020

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Celebrating World Oceans Day 2020

With only about 5% of the ocean having been properly explored scientists estimate that more than 90% of ocean species are yet to be discovered, let alone described, and sadly many of these species are almost certainly being driven to extinction. At the Mammal Research Institute we are particularly keen on one specific group of ocean inhabitants – the marine mammals.

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Official opening of shared research lab’s new home supports interdisciplinary research at UP

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Official opening of shared research lab’s new home supports interdisciplinary research at UP

“Interdisciplinary research is a key competency for research-intensive universities such as the University of Pretoria (UP), and we need to enable and amplify interdisciplinary research programmes so that we develop the capacity to respond meaningfully to global change challenges.” These were the words of UP Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Tawana Kupe at the recent official opening of the new home of the Endocrine Research Laboratory (ERL) at UP’s Mammal Research Institute.

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Results of 2019 annual aerial survey for southern right whales

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Results of 2019 annual aerial survey for southern right whales

Between the 30th of September and 5th of October 2019, the University of Pretoria’s Mammal Research Institute, Whale Unit conducted the 40th annual aerial survey of southern right whales. This survey was flown between Nature’s Valley and Muizenberg, using and Airbus EC120B under charter from Silvercoss Helicopters. All encountered whale and dolphin species were recorded, with a special focus on southern right whales. All southern right whales observed along this stretch of coastline were counted, and photographs were taken of the unique callosity pattern on the heads of all individual females with calves as well as all individuals of a brindle grey colouration or white blaze.

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Mammal movements in human-modified landscapes

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Mammal movements in human-modified landscapes

On average, mammals move distances two to three times shorter in human-modified landscapes than they do in the wild. These findings are published in the prestigious journal Science by a large international team lead by researchers at the Senckenberg Nature Research Society and Goethe University Frankfurt. It is the first time this topic has been examined at a global scale and for many different species at once. The authors highlight that these results may have far reaching consequences for ecosystems and in turn, for society.

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