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Our challenge:
Finding answers... For what we should, but don’t know!

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Scientific enquiry has produced amazing quantities of knowledge

We know more about the fascinating workings and the fragility of the natural world than ever before. And we use that information as best we can to conserve the world for all its living constituents and their offspring.

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Yet there are many gaps to fill!

Great numbers of organisms have never been described, countless mysteries of life elude us, and we comprehend little or nothing of many fundamental environmental processes.

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The more gaps are filled, the better we understand natural processes

With a good understanding of natural processes, measures to care for that which must be preserved will improve. And we will be more equipped to restore that which has been broken.

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Everything is possible, but only if we look

Latest Publications

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Crouching lion & coursing hyaenas:

Which one zebras are more afraid of?

Predators differ by their body size, sociality, and hunting mode. Altogether, these characteristics shape how dangerous they are and the nature and strength of their prey responses. 

We compared the antipredator response of plains zebras (Equus quagga) to encounters with two predators of contrasting dangerousness: lions (Panthera leo) and spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta). We expected lions to be more dangerous because of their size and ambush hunting strategies compared to the smaller and cursorial hyaenas.

We found that zebras responded more strongly to lions than to hyaenas. Indeed, zebras were twice more likely to flee after an encounter with a lion than a hyaena, and, immediately after an encounter with a lion, zebras moved on average faster and further than after an encounter with a hyaena.

© O. Evens

Ongava Game Reserve 19.35° S, 15.90° E, Northern Namibia

+264 84 000 9769

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