August 2016
It has been a busy month for research! Our interns Line, Callum and Perry are working hard on their projects.
Since the drought in South Africa is still continuing we want to know the impact it has on our herbivores.
Line from Denmark is working hard every day collecting data on the body condition of herbivores and working out how the herbivore population is doing in Balule.
Callum is looking at the impact of moon phases on rhinos and poaching incidents. There are a lot of camera trap photos to go through to see if there is a difference in behavior for both rhinos and poachers during these moon phases. This way we can adjust our Anti-Poaching patrols if necessary.
Perry is studying the efficiency of camera traps. He camps out in the bush next to a dam with a camera trap up for 72 hour blocks. He observes the amount of animals he can see from his car and how many the camera trap has picked up from that same sighting. This way we can test accuracy and learn how we can best place our camera traps to for example monitor rhinos and get the best data from it. Very tiring as his research needs to be done at day and night 3 days in a row! But luckily the other interns are taking over some shifts so Perry can get some sleep as well! Keep it going guys, you are doing great!
And of course all that research also benefits our Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit. The ladies have been working very hard in the bush as well as speaking at conferences explaining why it is important for conservation and social upliftment to employ women for local communities to protect nature and wildlife. The Black Mambas were recently invited to the Rhino Lab convention to participate in a discussion forum and give a presentation on the work of the Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit. Black Mamba rangers Siphiwe and Nocry did very well and their work was very well received! Thanks ladies for your continual dedication to wildlife conservation!
And not only the adults were speaking out for wildlife but our own BushBaby Environmental Education student, Lehlogonolo (10 years old), is presenting her study on the impact of rodents on seeds and seedlings at the International Science Fare.
She made it through to the second round and will be competing against other students from different provinces on the 4th of October. If she makes it through to the next round she will make it to the international competition where she will be competing against children from the whole world! Good luck Lehlogonolo, you are doing the Bushbaby project and Black Mambas proud!!
Other news from the bush: Shaya is still loving his bucket, Lilly still doesn’t understand how dogs play, Craig is still enjoying his rum and the animals are still seeing our camp as their personal playground!
All and all not much has changed here in the bush! But we wouldn’t want it any other way!
De forsvundne "drenge" er tilbage
Det er vildt - og vi har travlt
Babyer, babyer, babyer - overalt!
Vi har mistet en af vore Black Mamba ambassadører Siphiwe Sithole
Varme og dejlige dage og endelig en smule regn
Craig Spencer og Black Mamba er inviteret til CITES Cop17 for at tale
10 nye Black Mambas er nu færdiguddannet
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