The Cecil Beanie: David Macdonald explains how this gorgeous plush toy is helping conservation

October 16, 2015

When the Vice President of the Ty Company that makes Beany Babies arrived at WildCRU’s headquarters in Oxfordshire, I did not fully appreciate the fame of these soft, cuddly toys, but within minutes I learnt that almost everybody had delighted in them as children. How wonderful, therefore, to be told that the company’s enthusiasm for ... Read full story

David Macdonald reports that Cecil’s cubs are fat and well, gorging on a zebra kill

September 29, 2015

I reported recently that while our field team had seen the spoor of the lionesses and cubs from Cecil’s pride, and thus believed all was well, the lions had evaded sighting in the thick bush. Now we have a message from Brent Stapelkamp in the field that he found the cubs and their mothers, replete ... Read full story

David Macdonald up-dates followers of Cecil’s lion community who are asking us for news of his cubs and pride

September 24, 2015

I have heard from people who are concerned at yet another spate of unfounded rumours that the cubs have been killed (it is a mystery to us where the Press gets these unfounded reports). Happily we can report that all is well, and the private lives of these lions continue to unfold, and we at ... Read full story

David Macdonald reports on how British mammals are under the weather

October 1, 2015

History, so Arnold Toynbee had it, was "just one damn thing after another", and that’s a bit how conservation feels – as if the Evil Quartet wasn’t bad enough (Jarad Diamond’s list of habitat loss, persecution, invasive species and ecological cascades) most are mostly worsened by climate change. Climate change, or at least stresses caused ... Read full story

Blog post discussing Jaguar-human conflict

September 28, 2015

There is more to jaguar-human conflict than biology – human sociology is high relevant, as Silvio Marchini and David Macdonald reported in an article in 2012 (Marchini, S. and Macdonald, D. W. (2012), "Predicting ranchers' intention to kill jaguars: Case studies in Amazonia and Pantanal", Biological Conservation, 147:1, 213-221). Their study is the basis of ... Read full story

Wonderful accolades for WildCRU stars

September 21, 2015

Last week, at a major meeting in Abu Dhabi, the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN recognized the achievements of two acclaimed members of the WildCRU team. Dr Mark Stanley Price, a senior research fellow in the Unit was awarded the highly prestigious Peter Scott award “In recognition of his dedication to the SSC ... Read full story