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David Macdonald writes, “It was more than 30 years ago that I was thrilled to become the first Chairman of the newly created IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group, and 20 years later to pass that role to WildCRU’s Claudio Sillero, so imagine our pleasure at co-authoring a study, published today, with an outstanding WildCRU doctoral student on what may turn out to be a new species of wolf.”
June 7, 2017This new study shows that the Himalayan wolf lineage deserves taxonomic recognition at subspecies level (i.e. C. lupus himalayensis). It remains to be seen whether Himalayan wolves are actually a separate species, but discovering this is the mission of Geraldine Werhahn, the remarkable doctoral student who is leading our study. Geraldine, who was awarded the Oxford-Lady Margaret ... Read full story
Oxford University collaboration wins ‘green Oscar’ for conservation
May 18, 2017WildCRU congratulates Ximena Velez-Liendo who, on 18th May, won a prestigious Whitley Award, presented by HRH Princess Anne. Ximena is the first post-doctoral Chester Conservation Fellow at the WildCRU, and her amazing success is a wonderful jewel in the crown of the new partnership between Chester Zoo and WildCRU. Ximena works with Andean bears in Bolivia. ... Read full story
Old Mother Hubbard, and her famously bare cupboard, foresaw a danger that has left the world low on big cats and threatens to finish off those that remain, writes David Macdonald: African lions face same threats as extinct sabre-toothed tigers
May 10, 2017The seven big cats that went extinct towards the end of the last ice age, including several sabre-toothed cats, are those which lost the greatest proportion of their prey, according to our collaboration with scientists from the Universities of Sussex, Aarhus, and Goteborg. It also transpires that Ice Age extinction trends hold ominous warnings for ... Read full story
Since the 1970s Borneo has lost a staggering 30% of its forests. What next?
May 26, 2017The answer comes from a new study that will help conservation planners not only in Borneo, but for forests around the world. This novel approach models the factors associated with deforestation risk to predict the future, and therefore to plan more effectively. The study is relevant to forests everywhere, but the researchers focused on those of ... Read full story
First Madagascan in 800 years of Oxford University’s history to submit a doctoral thesis, writes David Macdonald
May 11, 2017We were proud when, in 2008, Mr Herizo Andrianandrasana came to the WildCRU to study for our Recanti-Kaplan Centre Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice - the first Madagascan ever to do so, and we were even more proud when he completed the course with a distinction. This week, still a member of ... Read full story
Battling to save the Ethiopian wolf – Africa’s rarest carnivore: Claudio Sillero writes in The Conservation
May 10, 2017WildCRU's Professor Claudio Sillero has written in The Conversation website on the battle to save the Ethiopian Wolf, Africa's rarest carnivore. "In the last three years, populations in the Bale Mountains have endured back-to-back rabies and distemper outbreaks. Smaller populations are at even greater risk. At the end of last year disease decimated the ... Read full story
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