David Macdonald celebrates a coalition of conservationists that has drawn attention to the urgency of saving the world¹s mega-fauna

January 26, 2017

A group of us, many of whom have been working together over our professional lifetimes, was led by Professor Bill Ripple in writing an article entitled 'Saving the World's Terrestrial Megafauna'. Mega-fauna are carnivores weighing over 15 kilograms, and herbivores weighing over 100 kilograms, whose numbers include some of the world's most iconic species, including gorillas, ... Read full story

Clouded leopards are as mysterious as they are beautiful, living secret lives in the forests of SE Asia. David Macdonald is directing research on their biology and conservation from Nepal in the west to Kalimantan in the east, and reports here on a trail-blazing new publication to emerge from this programme

January 6, 2017

Our team, led by WildCRU’s Dr Cedric Tan, supported by our ex-Panther, Daniel Rocha, respectively from Singapore and Brazil, coordinated a remarkable collaboration that had deployed over 900 camera traps spread out across 8 sites in Peninsula Malaysia. The project was conceived because we were conducting fieldwork in the remote forest of Ulu ... Read full story

Two new WildCRU papers reveal extent of human threat to lion populations

December 12, 2016

Two new studies led by WildCRU's Dr Andrew Loveridge, and co-authored by Professor David Macdonald, have highlighted the threat posed to lions by human activity – including trophy hunting. The first paper, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, analysed the deaths of 206 lions in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe – Cecil’s home – ... Read full story

Egyptian lions, manes and climate change – David Macdonald presents a podcast from Oxford Ashmolean Museum

January 23, 2017

In a brilliant initiative from Director of the Ashmolean Museum, Xa Sturgis, ten of Oxford University’s top academics were invited to prepare podcasts based on their perspective of a favourite item in the collection. The items, and the experts, are fascinating. For example, Professor Sarah Harper chose a mummified child, Professor Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly chose the ... Read full story

Poaching is a serious threat to wildlife, and it can be helpful to know how species respond to it. David Macdonald explains how WildCRU researchers have helped develop a new tool to test how rare and cryptic wildlife respond to cues of poaching and other threats to conservation, and how this breakthrough stemmed from bringing together Canadian experts with WildCRU’s Ugandan Panther

January 5, 2017

I first met Professor Liana Zanette and Dr Mike Clinchy at a conference in California where this awesomely inventive Canadian couple took the audience by storm in a riveting account of their work on fear. Inviting them to Oxford I hoped for a fruitful collaboration, but couldn’t have guessed the convoluted route that ... Read full story

David Macdonald addresses questions arising from the new Report on Lion Conservation

December 6, 2016

Lions, the iconic symbol of the African wilderness, are in grave trouble – they have disappeared from over 90% of their range and there are now fewer lions left than rhinos. Global interest in lion conservation – and particularly the role of trophy hunting in their decline – peaked in July 2016 with the killing ... Read full story