Jessy Patterson
sDNA Metabarcoding: Opening the Doors to Understanding Carnivore Diets
Understanding carnivore diets, especially in Namibia where multiple large carnivores have overlapping niches, is important for...
top of page
Blog & News
Update from the field
Josephine Amwaalwa
- Jan 9
- 2 min
Big birds with even bigger personalities
The Kori bustard, Ardeotis kori, and the Secretarybird, Sagittarius serpentarius, are the world’s heaviest flying bird and the world’s...
Dipanjan Naha
- Dec 20, 2022
- 2 min
Animal husbandry, herding & livestock movements in the northern periphery of Etosha National Park
Villages in rural Africa are multifunctional and play important ecosystem services in providing space for grazing, crop cultivation,...
John Mendelsohn
- Dec 6, 2022
- 2 min
Ongava’s social spiders and Gabar goshawks
Although Gabar Goshawks are the commonest birds of prey (or raptor) on Ongava, finding their nests is not that easy. And each time we...
John Mendelsohn
- Nov 21, 2022
- 2 min
Waterholes in a semi-arid environment
Sources of water and hubs for interaction between pathogens, hosts, vectors, predators, prey, plants and people Aside from perennial...
ORC Student
- Nov 21, 2022
- 1 min
Identifying potential corridors and conservation areas for lions and elephants in northern Namibia
Hello, I am Corsa Liu, a recent graduate of the Technical University of Munich. In 2021 and 2022, I had the opportunity to work on my...
John Mendelsohn
- Nov 7, 2022
- 4 min
Seeds for a new generation of conservationists and scientists
Environmental science and conservation are life-long pursuits to understand and conserve the living world. Both vocations are built on...
ORC Team
- Oct 24, 2022
- 1 min
What we have been missing but the cameras haven’t! Annual camera trap waterhole monitoring
September was that time of the year again… What time?? Well, annual waterhole monitoring of course!! As those who have been following us...
ORC Intern
- Oct 11, 2022
- 2 min
The Elephants Versus The Bush: Photopoints help to reveal forgotten landscapes
The Okaukuejo Waterhole is arguably Etosha’s most famous landmark. Its desolate landscape and memorable bare white rocks have been the...
ORC collaborator
- Sep 26, 2022
- 2 min
Mammals and their microbes: Unraveling the gut microbiome of Etosha's herbivores
Working with animal scat may not be the most glamorous way of studying African mammals, but thanks to advancements in molecular...
Dipanjan Naha
- Sep 8, 2022
- 2 min
Carnivore, livestock and humans- Living along the edge of Etosha National Park
Human-wildlife conflicts at the interface of protected areas and farmlands are a common problem worldwide. The conflicts are severe when...
Stéphanie Périquet
- Aug 22, 2022
- 2 min
Life & death on a roll: dung beetles and honey badgers
Sometimes we come upon curious things while working in the field. It happened a few weeks ago when we noticed strange looking spherical...
John Mendelsohn
- Jul 21, 2022
- 3 min
The Cuando (aka Kwando): a river in its own right!
International convention holds that a river should have one name along its entire course, which is normally the name given at its source....
John Mendelsohn
- Jun 30, 2022
- 1 min
Feasts of Grasses
ORC has enjoyed visits from several eminent scientists and conservationists in the past year: Paul Maritz (conservationist and software...
ORC Student
- Jun 15, 2022
- 3 min
A noisy business: listening to rock hyraxes on Ongava
Wildlife produces a lot of sound. From insects to mammals, including fish and birds, auditory communication –signals emitted through the...
ORC collaborator
- May 27, 2022
- 2 min
The early bird gets the worm, but the early termite gets the freezer…
It’s high biomass season here at Ongava which means ORC’s Bio-Indicator Project, funded by Nedbank’s Go-Green Fund, is in full swing. The...
William Versfeld
- May 12, 2022
- 2 min
The only Empress moth in the bush...
All living organisms go through stages of growth and reproduction. The emperor moth does its growing and reproducing in remarkable ways....
ORC Intern
- May 4, 2022
- 2 min
Sunday shopping done differently
The mopane worm (Gonimbrasia belina) is an unusual edible little critter found in parts of southern Africa. Its life cycle is...
Stéphanie Périquet
- Apr 22, 2022
- 2 min
From the field to the lab: there is a (smelly) story written in scats…
Anyone who has ever worked with carnivores knows that this can be a rather smelly business. Whether it involves carcasses or fresh...
ORC Intern
- Apr 6, 2022
- 2 min
Curiosity, big and small...
Hello! I´m Tomás Azevedo, a veterinary student from Portugal. As of late I have been learning more about wildlife veterinary care, as...
bottom of page