Dr Andrew Loveridge

Kaplan Research Fellow Lady Margaret Hall

I'm a wildlife biologist and the Kaplan Research Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University. I completed my D.Phil. at Oxford University in 1999, and have been a member of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit since 1994.

I spent the last ten years running a research and conservation project on African lions in north-western Zimbabwe giving me extensive field experience working on African carnivores. I am co-editor of The Biology and Conservation of Wild Felids and I have written a number of peer reviewed papers and book chapters on the behavioural ecology and conservation of African jackals and lions (including co-authoring one of the case study chapters in The Biology and Conservation of Wild Canids).

I am a member of the IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group and African Lion Working Group and recently contributed to the IUCN working paper on the impact of trophy hunting of African lions. In addition I co-edited three volumes of proceedings from a series of Lion Conservation Research workshops (2001, 2002, 2005).

I am a career wildlife biologist and conservationist. My current research includes a study of lion ecology, behaviour and conservation management in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe and the surrounding safari hunting concessions and a GIS based meta-analysis which aims to model lion population dynamics and spatial distribution in sub-Saharan Africa.

Recent work, funded by the Panthera Foundation, has focused on understanding the human-lion conflict along the boundary of Hwange National Park to establish the nature and extent of the problem and to help develop practical solutions for those communities that co-exist with wild carnivores.  

Since 2008, research in Zimbabwe has been extended to include an investigation into the behavioural ecology of leopards in Hwange National Park.  This work, undertaken as part of the Zimbabwe National Leopard Conservation Programme, will work towards an understanding of the distribution and conservation status of leopards in the country and whether current levels of trophy hunting are sustainable.

SATIB Award

In December 2011, Dr Loveridge was awarded the SATIB Trust Award in recognition of his contribution to lion biology research and African wildlife conservation.

This award was created by prominent South African businessman Mr Brian Courtenay, Founder and Chairman of SATIB Insurance Brokers and the Ivory Group, to mark the launch of the SATIB Trust. The Trust's aims are to support, preserve and protect our natural heritage and conservation initiatives for the future generations. Dr Loveridge's award is in recognition for the dedication of the Hwange Lion Research team working in Zimbabwe under difficult conditions.

The award was announced in December 2011 by the board of Directors of Ivory Group at their head quarters in Durban – the award ceremony is to be in May 2012 to coincide with Indaba, the annual, world famous African tourism convention. This year's award takes the form of a specially fitted new Land Rover Defender LWB.

For more information about the SATIB Trust visit: http://www.satib.co.za/SATIB_Trust.aspx

For a blog with Andy Loveridge discussing the award, visit: http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/science_blog/120223.html

Behavioral ecology of carnivores