Spotted hyaena population density: new insight from Tanzania

October 25, 2023

Spotted hyaenas are often thought to be resilient to human disturbance, but many of their populations are now in decline. Population density estimates are invaluable for conservation planning, yet very few have been produced to date. A new study led by WildCRU’s Charlotte Searle, using camera trap data from Tanzania’s Ruaha-Rungwa landscape, ... Read full story

How much do we really know about public perceptions of contentious issues in wildlife conservation?

October 5, 2023

Earlier today, Yolanda Mutinhima and Lovemore Sibanda WildCRU's Morally Contested Conservation (MCC) research team asked this provocative question to several hundred participants at the 12th Annual Oppenheimer Research Conference in South Africa. In their talk, Yolanda (a graduate student at Chinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe) and Lovemore (a WildCRU postdoctoral researcher) presented ... Read full story

Exploring factors influencing the home range size of African Leopards

September 27, 2023

Large carnivores provide important ecosystem and economic services that help maintain healthy and diverse natural environments. Yet these species face numerous threats across the world from habitat loss and fragmentation to prey reduction and direct persecution. Understanding large carnivore behaviour and use of space is often important to inform conservation - which ultimately benefits a wide array ... Read full story

The role of flagship individuals in biodiversity conservation

October 16, 2023

“Flagship individuals can be drivers for conservation support and action, but it is also clear from examples like Cecil the Lion, that they can be hijacked for purposes unrelated to biodiversity conservation. As such it is key that we better understand how we can harness these stories while minimizing the risk for the wildlife involved ... Read full story

Congratulations to the Diploma class of 2023

October 3, 2023

Established in 2008, the Recanati-Kaplan Centre Post-Graduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice teaches cutting-edge techniques for monitoring and management of wildlife and their habitats. The course is delivered by Oxford University’s WildCRU (the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, part of Department of Biology) in collaboration with the Department Continuing Education, primarily funded by Panthera. Modules in wildlife ... Read full story

WildCRU Research Fellow Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen honoured at Science Festival in Denmark

September 20, 2023

Celebrating the upcoming Nobel Prize announcements of 2023, Politiken, the largest national newspaper in Denmark, has arranged a Science Festival in Copenhagen taking place on the 23rd of September. Four academics have been invited to communicate their research at this event, representing the elite of Danish research, two highly esteemed professors and two ... Read full story