from CIFOR web site
A new report published by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in partnership with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), looks at the current use of wild animals for food in tropical forests. Conservation and use of wildlife-based resources: the...
The Atlas of Bird Migration, published by the Natural History Museum in the UK in 2007, traces world migration routes of more than 100 species. The introduction introduction explains flight techniques, feeding, biology and navigation, and talks about the revelations of new satellite tracking techniques. Additional sections describe the current environmental threats to migratory species and...
ELDIS has alerted us to a new training manual from the IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group and the Worldwide Fund for Nature, Human-elephant conflict mitigation: a training course for community-based approaches in Africa . The manual is in two parts -- one for trainers and one for participants -- and consists of five modules each including an introductory presentation, trainer...
Light micrograph of Vorticella parasite in Lake Ngami tadpole
HOORC's Library recently received a copy of the proceedings of the Microscopy Society of Southern Africa Conference held in Gaborone this year. The volume includes two papers about aquatic life in Lake Ngami, Tadpole ciliophorans of Lake Ngami, Botswana by L.L. Van As and J.G. Van As and Succession of zooplankton re-establishment in...
Map courtesy of Hisso Sebina, Conservation International
HOORC tourism specialist Dr Joseph Mbaiwa has just returned from a Conservation International workshop in Kang where this week participants from government, NGOs, local experts, tourism businesses and researchers discussed opportunities for tourism development within the Western Kgalagadi Conservation Corridor. The Corridor runs between...
The weblog of freelance photographer Roger Horrocks recently featured underwater photographs of cocodiles taken in the Okavango Delta, and well as a story about filming lions in Moremi Game Reserve with the Earthtouch...
INTUTE has alerted us to a wildlife radio tracking reference database hosted by the company BlueSky Telemetry, which produces wildlife telemetry GPS collars and accessories to track wild animals or semi domesticated farm animals for research purposes. Registration is required for full text access to the papers in the database but unregistered users can search the database for titles and...
The Worldwide Fund for Wildlife (WWF) report Common Ground - Solutions for reducing the human, economic and conservation costs of human wildlife conflict [pdf, 3.74 MB] assesses cases of Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC), focusing on elephants as a flagship of these conflicts. The report makes the point that often the scale of the damage that can be caused by elephants, and the fact that they can...
Caracal/Thwane from the identification chapter of the guide
Cheetah Conservation Botswana's updated guide to predators for farmers and ranchers, The predator - safe livestock guide : an introduction to protecting livestock and deterring predators , has arrived in HOORC's Library. The booklet explains how to deter predators through use of kraals, fencing and livestock guard animals, and...
From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLVI, no. 35, 6 June 2008
Tender: Republic of Botswana: consultancy services for regional integration of Botswana’s transport sector study
2819
Tender: Tawana Land Board: tourism related sites identification in the Okavango Delta Ramsar Site (ODRS) second publication
2863
From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLVI, no. 36, 13 June 2008
Statutory...
AllAfrica.com has a story about the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism's planned auction of rare and high-demand game species from State-owned game parks towards the end of this month. The auctions, which take place every two years, support the government's conservation programmes. The story reports that game for this year's auction is being captured in Waterberg Plateau Park and...
Photo from the weblog: Dungi and associate with tranquilized lioness
Tshepo ‘Dungi’ Kgokilwe of the Botswana Predator Conservation Program (BPCP) produces a weblog, Okavango Carnivore Conservation, that describes the programme's activities in radio-tracking and following large carnivores in the Okavango area.
The programme aims to use scientific inquiry to acquire essential knowledge about...
Birdlife Botswana photo of the month: rare Denham's bustard by Pete Hancock
The June 2008 issue of Birdlife Botswana's newsletter, Birds and People, has arrived in HOORC's Library. The issue includes a ground-breaking satellite tracking study of Wattled Crane movements, Birdlife Botswana's work with avi-tourism, tagging of Booted eagles, a study of Marbou stork nesting patterns, Botswana...
Savannah lives : animal life and human evolution in Africa , an English translation of the book by Staffan Ulfstrand, explains the geology of the African continent and the climatic changes that have shaped its vegetation, and follows with a description of how the savannah is still being modified by fire, water, wildlife and people. Ulfstrand makes the point that understanding of animal behaviour...
ELDIS has alerted us to a new report from the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), Trading nature: a report, with case studies, on the contribution of wildlife trade management to sustainable livelihoods and the Millennium Development Goals. The report makes the point that the worldwide value of wildlife trade has been estimated at USD300 billion, which excludes the domestic trade that takes place...
The Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre (HOORC) is growing. The University of Botswana is currently advertising the following academic positions for HOORC for both Botswana citizens and international candidates:
Vacancy No. HOORC1/2008 Associate Professor/Senior Research Fellow in Wildlife Ecology and ManagementVacancy No. HOORC2/2008 Associate Professor/Senior Research Fellow in...
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wildlife Without Borders - Africa (WWB-Africa) program has announced a call for proposals. WWB-Africa funds projects designed to strengthen human and institutional capacity to manage and conserve species, habitats, and ecological process for the benefit of the people of Africa and the world. Proposals received before June 15, 2008 will be reviewed prior to...
Dr Kalwij's research team at Chobe water point
HOORC's Library had a visit today from Dr Jesse Kalwij (email kalwij(a)sun.ac.za), postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University, who has recently completed his fieldwork about the long term vegetation dynamics around artificial water points in the Nogatsaa area of Chobe National Park. Monitoring of vegetation in the area began in 1997 with...
Dr Liesl van As, fish parasite specialist from the University of the Free State, has alerted us to Large allozyme variation within populations and isozyme differences between Clarias gariepinus and C. ngamensis from the Okavango Delta, Botswana by University of Johannesburg scientists Herman van der Bank and Nico Smit, published in the African Journal of Aquatic Science in 2007. The authors...
Important bird areas of Botswana : monitoring report 2007, published by Birdlife Botswana in December 2007 as a special supplement to Babbler, is now available in HOORC's Library. The report uses maps and colour illustrations to describe flight routes, nesting site status and territories of birds in three areas: the Linyanti swamps, Lake Ngami and the Makgadikgadi Pans. The report also describes...
The March 2008 issue of the Boteti Diaries has arrived by email in HOORC's Library, with vivid descriptions of the past season's rains and floods on the salt pans, comments about tenders for new private development of lodges in Makgadikgadi Pans and Nxai Pan national parks and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), white rhino relocation plans for the Boteti in Makgadikgadi Pans National...
Bottriell's King Cheetah web site
HOORC's Library received a visit yesterday from wildlife researchers Lena Godsall Bottriell and Paul Bottriell, author and artist of three books about natural history in the southern African region. The team is currently carrying out research for their latest book, a story of survival of a young woman who was lost in the wilderness in Botswana in the period...
Birdlife Botswana Photo of the Month: Greater Painted Snipe by Victor Horatius
The March 2008 issue of the Birdlife Botswana newsletter, now with a new title, Birds and People, has arrived in HOORC's Library. The contents include articles about the new Lesser Flamingo breeding site in South Africa, an investigation of the possible effect on birds of the recent lion trophy hunting ban, alerts...
From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLVI, no. 16, 14 March 2008
Government Notice 133 of 2008: Town and Country Planning Act: Kasane - Kazengula Development Plan (2000-2024)
1339
Tender: Republic of Botswana: Management and operation of 15 public campgrounds / campsites
1346-1347
Tender: North West District Council: Gravelling and re-gravelling of roads
1376-1378
From the Botswana...
Trithemis brydeniFrom November to December 2007 dragonfly expert Jens Kipping of BioCart Environmental Assessments from Germany participated in the Botswana Taxonomic Survey field work in Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe National Park. The project, initiated and coordinated by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) and co-funded by the Government of Botswana and the European Union,...
The 2004 edition of A certain curve of horn : the hundred-year quest for the giant sable antelope of Angola by John Frederick Walker has arrrived in HOORC's Library. Journalist Walker adds to his account of natural and political history of the endangered antelope in Angola an epilogue that describes his participation in a 2002 expedition that recorded sightings of the animals, previously thought...
African skimmer from ARKiv site
Intute has alerted us to several film and image related web sites that focus on wildlife. Wild Film History is a multi-media guide to the history and heritage of wildlife film-making. Wildscreen is a UK-based educational charity promoting the public appreciation of biodiversity and the conservation of nature through wildlife imagery. ARKiv aims to compile...
The Crocodilians : Natural History and Conservation web site, sponsored by the Crocodile Specialist Group and edited by Adam Britton, offers a species list, biology database, recordings of sounds made by crocodiles, video clips, captive care information and links to other web based resources. In HOORC’s Library, you can find Crocodilians : their natural history & captive husbandry by Ludwig...
Sampling aquatic invertebrates
The Botswana Department of Animal Health and Production has released Recovery monitoring after 2006 aerial spraying of deltamethrin for tsetse fly eradication in the Kwando-Linyanti and Caprivi region, edited by HOORC researchers Casper Bonyongo and Dominic Mazvimavi. The conclusion drawn from the 2006 spraying indicated that, in addition to affecting the...
Zebra at Boteti water point, August 2007
HOORC researcher Casper Bonyongo joined Chris Brooks, and Stephen Harris of the University of Bristol, in studying how the weight of radio collars affects behaviour of, and location error for, plains zebra in the Magkadigkadi and Nxai Pans in northern Botswana. The results of their study, which found that small differences in collar weight or fit can...