Join us for a live Q&A with Dr. Guy Balme of Panthera.org on Latest Sightings YouTube Channel
Dr. Guy Balme, Deputy Executive Director of Conservation Science at Panthera.org, will be answering your questions via live stream on Latest Sightings YouTube channel this Thursday, the 11th of June, 2020.
The Session will start at 15:15 (UTC+02:00/CAT) and will be hosted by Ranger Gareth van Rooyen & Ranger Gareth Nuttall-Smith at MalaMala Game Reserve. Conservation of large carnivores and Dr. Balme’s current research on MalaMala will be the central topic of conversation.
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Dr. Balme’s work has had him overseeing numerous community programs to alleviate human-lion conflict, notably in Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. In addition to his work in Africa, Dr. Balme has transferred his skills to country nationals working in Iran on Asiatic cheetahs and Persian leopards, in Brazil on jaguars, and in Mongolia on snow leopards. He has trained personnel in advanced capture and immobilization techniques used on large carnivores, and the different sampling methods used to estimate carnivore abundance. He has contributed to more than 30 scientific papers and numerous popular articles on large carnivore ecology and conservation, and supervises several graduate students working on cats.
MalaMala is renowned for its abundance of predators and Dr. Balme’s research has focused on some of the following:
- The leopard, known for its incredible adaptability, has the largest range of all the big cats. Despite this, it is likely the most persecuted large cat in the world.
- The lion is synonymous with wild Africa. Yet few realize the species has undergone catastrophic declines, from as many as 200,000 wild lions in Africa a century ago to about 20,000 today.
- The cheetah is widely known as the planet’s fastest land animal, but unknown to many, it is also Africa’s most threatened big cat. Today, there are estimated to be only 7,100 cheetahs left in the wild.
- Hyenas, like many carnivores, come into conflict with humans when they prey on livestock. They are often seen as a pest species, which often results in retaliatory killings by farmers — especially by poisoning.
Panthera is the only organization in the world that is devoted exclusively to the conservation of the world’s 40 wild cat species and their ecosystems. MalaMala Game Reserve is the safari industry’s blueprint for the luxury photographic safari. Latest Sightings is an online platform that strives to educate its followers about wildlife, its behaviour and nature.