Dr Claudio Sillero-Zubiri

Position: Bill Travers Fellow for Wildlife Conservation - Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University

I was born in Argentina, where I graduated in zoology in 1984 from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, and obtained my DPhil from Oxford University in 1994 on the behavioural ecology of the Ethiopian wolf. This lead to the establishment of the ongoing Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme in 1995.

I joined WildCRU in 1988, and am currently responsible for its overseas projects, with an emphasis on logistics and safety to ensure our graduates and staff deliver good research and conservation practice.

My academic interests are conservation biology and the behavioural ecology of carnivores, particularly the biology and conservation of wild Canids. For the last twenty years I have been involved in the conservation of threatened species, protected areas management, and wildlife surveys - work that has spanned four continents and numerous countries. In 1998 I received the Whitley Award for Animal Conservation from the Royal Geographical Society for my work in Ethiopia.

More recently I have become increasingly involved in the relationships between protected areas and their surrounding rural communities. This has led me to become familiar with biodiversity conservation policies and practices, culminating in my current work on mitigating conflict between wildlife and human interests, and the establishment of the People & Wildlife Initiative - a focused network addressing this worldwide issue.

As part of a long and fruitful partnership with the Born Free Foundation , I am their Head of Conservation, providing advice on conservation policy and managing a large portfolio of field projects. Since 1995 I have managed the IUCN Canid Specialist Group, assisting with various conservation programmes. In 2004 I co-edited the IUCN Canid Action Plan and a book on Wild canids. In 2004 I became the Chair of the Canid Specialist Group 

Current projects I run include the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme, the People & Wildlife Initiative, Andean cats and transfrontier conservation in South America, and the Satpura Landscape Tiger Project in central India.

Selected publications ( for a full list of Claudio's academic publications click here)

Randall, D.A., Williams, S.D., Kuzmin, I.V., Rupprecht, C.E., Tallents, L.A., Tefera, Z., Argaw, K., Shiferaw, F., Knobel, D.L., Sillero-Zubiri, C., and Laurenson, K.M. 2004. Rabies in Endangered Ethiopian Wolves. Emerging Infectious Diseases 10(12) 2214-2217. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no12/04-0080.htm

Randall, D.A., Marino, J., Haydon, D.T., Sillero-Zubiri, C., Knobel, D.L., Tallents, L.A., Macdonald, D.W., Laurenson, M.K. In Press. An integrated disease management strategy for the control of rabies in Ethiopian wolves. Biological Conservation. .

Randall, D.A., Tallents, L.A., Williams, S.D., Tefera, Z., Nelson, A.P.W., Marino, J., Malcolm, J., Laurenson, M.K., Thirgood, S., Macdonald, D.W., and Sillero-Zubiri, C. In Press. Current status and future protocols of the Ethiopian wolf monitoring programme in the Bale Mountains. Walia.

Haydon, D. T., Randall, D. A., Mathews, L., Knobel, D. L., Tallents, L. A., Gravenor, M. B., Williams, S. D., Pollinger, J. P., Sillero-Zubiri, C., Marino, J., and Laurenson, M. K. Submitted. Disease and endangered species: how and when to intervene? Nature.

Macdonald, D.W., Sillero-Zubiri, C., Wang, S.W., and Wilson, D.C. 2006b. Lions and conflict: lessons from a wider context. In: Loveridge, A.J, Lynam, T., and Macdonald, D.W., editor. Lion Conservation Research Workshops 3 and4: From conflict to Socioecology. p 1-16.

Marino, J., Sillero-Zubiri, C. and Macdonald, D.W. 2006. Trends, dynamics and resilience of an Ethiopian wolf population. Animal Conservation 9:49-58.

Sillero-Zubiri, C., M. Hoffmann, and D.W. Macdonald (Eds.). 2004. Canids: foxes, wolves, jackals and dogs: status survey and conservation action plan, second edition. IUCN Canid Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Macdonald, D.W., and C. Sillero-Zubiri (Eds.). 2004. The biology and conservation of wild canids. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Randall, D.A., S.D. Williams, I.V. Kuzmin, C.E. Rupprecht; L.A. Tallents, Z. Tefera, K. Argaw, F. Shiferaw, D.L. Knobel, C. Sillero-Zubiri, and M.K. Laurenson. 2004. Rabies in endangered Ethiopian wolves. Emerging Infectious Diseases 10:2214-2217.

Gottelli, D., J. Marino, C. Sillero-Zubiri, and S.M. Funk. 2004. The effect of the last glacial age on speciation and population genetic structure of the endangered Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis). Molecular Ecology 13:2275-2286.

Haydon, D.T., M.K. Laurenson, and C. Sillero-Zubiri. 2002. Integrating epidemiology into population viability analysis: managing the risk posed by rabies and canine distemper to the Ethiopian wolf. Conservation Biology 16:1372-1385.

Sillero-Zubiri, C., and K. Laurenson. 2001. Interactions between carnivores and local communities: Conflict or co-existence? In: Proceedings of a Carnivore Conservation Symposia, (Gittleman J., R.K, Wayne, J. Fuchs, D.W. Macdonald, Eds.) Zoological Society of London, UK.

Sillero-Zubiri, C., and D.W. Macdonald (Eds.). 1997. The Ethiopian wolf: status survey and conservation action plan. IUCN The World Conservation Union. Gland, Switzerland. 123 p.

Sillero-Zubiri, C., D. Gottelli, and D.W. Macdonald. 1996. Male philopatry, extra-pack copulations and inbreeding avoidance in Ethiopian wolves Canis simensis. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 38:331-340.

Useful links:
Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme
People & Wildlife Initiative
The Born Free foundation
The IUCN Canid Specialist Group