There’s no such thing as a free lunch: Eat efficiently while not getting eaten!

February 16, 2017

Eating without getting eaten is a tricky problem and, mindful of the life-dinner principle, David Macdonald reports on a new WildCRU collaboration in China that sheds light on this daily dilemma for two rodent species: a generation of animal behavior studies fruitfully probed optimal foraging theory, of which an important element is how a hungry ... Read full story

Ending double standards in trap welfare

February 9, 2017

You may be shocked to learn that while spring traps used for killing small mammals in the UK are required to meet welfare approval standards, some traps for killing rats, mice and moles are legally exempt. In her new letter to Animal Welfare journal (Baker 2017), Dr Sandra Baker argues that this exemption ... Read full story

Mrs Tiggywinkle may be endearing and popular, but she and her ilk are in trouble. David Macdonald reports how WildCRU researchers, together with colleagues from Aberdeen, have explored the cost of living for a modern farmland hedgehog

February 2, 2017

Our team, led by Dr Carly Pettett, sought to understand the decline in hedgehog numbers, and why it has seemingly been most severe in rural areas. Previously, and working on a grant from the Peoples’ Trust for Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society,, Carly had demonstrated that arable land is typically under-selected by ... Read full story

Animal welfare issues receive varying levels of UK media attention, with some species being more widely reported than others, a new WildCRU study has found

February 13, 2017

Dr Ruth Feber, Dr Eva Raebel, Dr Sandra Baker and Professor David Macdonald, together with Dr Neil D’Cruze from World Animal Protection, have published the first review of how wild animal welfare is reported in the UK media. The team searched through more than 23,000 mainstream media articles published between ... Read full story

Two lionesses speared after livestock killings

February 6, 2017

Lions are amazing animals, but can be extremely hard to live with – and much of their remaining range is on human-dominated land, where they often come into conflict with local people. WildCRU’s Ruaha Carnivore Project in southern Tanzania has been dealing with very intense conflict over the past few weeks: several lions attacked ... Read full story

David Macdonald explains how the WildCRU’s long-term study of lions and the people living alongside them in Hwange NP, and the team led by Andrew Loveridge, has revealed how predator ecology and animal husbandry combine to explain patterns of livestock losses

January 30, 2017

What determines where, when and how lions, or other large carnivores, attack domestic livestock? WildCRU’s newest study in Zimbabwe reveals that cattle with bells fitted were more vulnerable to being attacked than those without (bells help a herd to stick together and herdsman to locate the herd, but it seems they also help the ... Read full story