Posted by: Nakedi, Leopard Researcher

After eight months of writing and re-writing the proposal, I am pleased to say that the study was finally given the green light by the South African National Parks (SANParks) Scientific Services.

This will allow the project to go in to the next stage, which involves collaring (using GPS collars) twelve leopards, preferably six males and six females, to see and learn about their space use and what they eat in the process.

Next will be the collection of scat to study what leopards eat. Leopards tend to leave their droppings in the middle of the road or in high places so as to mark their territory. To make sure that I am not picking up cheetah scat, I consult with the very experienced trackers. Tracks also help if it is fresh scat. This will later help us establish the level of diet overlap with lions and hyenas. I will explain later what we do with the scat to determine the prey that had been eaten.

Continue reading at http://awf.org/blog/green-light-for-project-leopard-scat-and-camera-traps/

AWF blogs bring you news and stories directly from the people leading the charge for Africa's wildlife conservation.

Follow Paul Thomson's blog as he reports on AWF's projects across Africa. Right now he's blogging with the mountain gorilla rangers in Rwanda.
www.awf.org/running-wild

Love leopards? Read about Nakedi Maputla's research on leopards in South Africa's Kruger National Park. See his camera trap photos and what it's like to live with leopards.
www.awf.org/leopardblog

More blogs will be added soon. Keep your eye on www.awf.org/blogs

The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has just learned that former former AWF Charlotte Conservation Fellow Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka has received a Conservation-In-Action Award from the Zoological Society of San Diego.

Dr. Kalema-Zikusoka is the founder of the Ugandan nonprofit Conservation through Public Health (CTPH), an organization that works to promote conservation and public health by improving primary health care to people and animals in and around protected areas in Africa. CTPH monitors wildlife health, educates local communities about the risk of disease being transmitted between people and animals, and provides communications resources to students and others working to advance conservation.

Located in Uganda, home to about half of the world's 720 remaining mountain gorillas, CTPH devotes special attention to the plight of the highly endangered great ape. “Human encroachment, poaching, political unrest, and diseases transmitted by humans and livestock continue to diminish the populations,” say Dr. Kalema-Zikusoka.

Dr. Kalema-Zikusoka earlier served as the first veterinary officer for the Ugandan Wildlife Authority, where she collaborated with AWF and the International Gorilla Conservation Program on mountain gorilla conservation and gorilla medical issues. Her Fellowship supported her work toward a master's degree in specialized veterinary medicine at the University of North Carolina.

Introduced in 1996, AWF's Charlotte Conservation Fellowship Program grants scholarships to African nationals pursuing masters' degrees or doctoral research. Since its inception, the program has helped more than 40 students from across Africa pursue graduate degrees in fields ranging from biology and conservation economics to enterprise development and community conservation.

To learn more about AWF's Charlotte Conservation Fellowship Program, click here.

To learn more about CTPH, click here or visit www.ctph.org.

Let's pop some bubbly and celebrate! For the seventh year in a row, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, the largest independent evaluator of charities in the United States. The four-out-of-four-star rating indicates that AWF excels in how it manages its finances.

Since 2001, Charity Navigator has rated the financial performance of thousands of large charities. AWF has consistently received a four-star rating, prompting discerning charitable givers to donate to us with confidence year after year. Thanks to their support, and our success in making the most of every dollar we receive, AWF has made substantial conservation strides throughout its eight African Heartlands.

To view our rating page on Charity Navigator, click here.

Donate to AWF online at www.awf.org/donate or call toll free +1-888-464-5354.

> Sign up for free newsletters from AWF

> Adopt an African animal

The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is pleased to announce the opening of Satao Elerai Camp, a luxury lodge set on 5,000 acres of communally conserved lands in southern Kenya. The camp is owned by the Entonet/Elerai Maasai community, which planned and created the enterprise with strategic support from AWF.

ike AWF’s other enterprise initiatives, Satao Elerai Camp celebrates the unique lands and community that are its anchor. The lodge itself resembles a traditional Maasai boma, and is built almost entirely of dried, naturally felled yellow fever acacia trees—called "elerai" in the Maasai language. Many of the trees were collected from the lands now designated a conservancy, which elephants routinely cross as they move south from Amboseli National Park to the forests of Tanzania.

Besides these free-ranging elephants, the 5,000-acre conservancy gives refuge to lions, cheetah, buffalo, giraffes, serval cats, dikdik, gerenuk, and leopards. As the conservancy’s place in the larger landscape matures, new conservation initiatives will be designed and introduced for the benefit of people.

> Learn more about this project

> Sign up for free newsletters from AWF

> Adopt an African animal

The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) welcomes the recent agreement between Kenya’s leaders to resolve the political crisis that broke out after closely contested national elections late last year. Under the agreement, President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga will share power, with Mr. Odinga serving as executive prime minister.

In regards to the impact on conservation work – an area in which Kenya has shown long leadership – it will take time before the full impact of the crisis is known. The economic toll, however, looms large. As tourists canceled plans and chose other destinations, parks were forced to lay off staff and cut critical programs. To revive Kenya’s world-renowned tourism sector, it is thus essential that national parks and other conservation programs get the support they need. So we can ensure that key lands and wildlife are protected, AWF urges our friends and partners to continue supporting our work in Kenya.

>Learn more at www.awf.org

>Sign up for free e-newsletters

Pollution, unchecked development, and uncontrolled fishing are endangering the ecological health of the Chobe River, experts recently told the Daily News, a Botswana daily. The Chobe River marks the boundaries of Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, and Zimbabwe and flows along the northeastern border of Botswana's Chobe National Park.

According to experts, many lodges and other buildings are too close to the riverbank, increasing the risk that sewage and other man-made chemicals will end up in the water.

Recently, fish in the Chobe River were attacked by a disease caused by human waste that likely leaked from the sewage system of area lodges.

Oil from the motor boats used by many fishermen also pollute the river, says Gosiame Neo-Mahupeleng, a senior AWF researcher working in the Kazungula Heartland. "The boat drips oil in the river and can harm the wildlife living there," he said.

Continue reading at www.awf.org