|
|
|
Meet the people behind the project
Dr. Luke Hunter, Project Leader |
 Luke Hunter has been working on large cats in KwaZulu-Natal since 1992 and is the Project Leader of the MunYaWana Leopard Project. He completed his PhD at the Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria in 1998, researching the behaviour and ecology of reintroduced lions and cheetahs at Phinda. He has written four books on wildlife and is now working on his fifth, covering all 10 species of cats in Africa. He has also produced over 50 popular and scientific articles on carnivores. He is the Carnivore Section Chair of the IUCN Reintroduction Specialist Group, serves on the steering committee of the African Lion Working Group and is a member of the IUCN Cat and Hyaena Specialist Groups. Hunter now heads the Global Carnivore Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society, New York where, in addition to his African projects, he works on conserving species ranging from the last Asiatic cheetahs in Iran to jaguars throughout Latin America.
|
Guy Balme, Field Coordinator |
| Guy Balme is a South African zoologist who has worked from a young age at game lodges in the renowned Sabi-Sands Reserve, and at the Londolozi Game Reserve where the extraordinarily viewable leopards cemented his love for the species. Guy completed his B.Sc. at the University of Cape Town, majoring in Zoology and Botany, which he followed with an Honours degree specializing in ornithology. In 2002, he worked as a ranger at Phinda before joining the leopard project at the start of 2003 as the senior research assistant. Guy is trained in the capture, handling and observation of the leopards and he has already co-authored four articles about his work on the species. Starting 2005, he will begin a Masters degree on the ranging and dispersal patterns of the MunYaWana leopards. |
 |
Tristan Dickerson |
Tristan is a South African zoologist who has had a keen interest in predators for several years. He completed his B.Sc at the University of KwaZulu Natal, majoring in Biological Sciences, which he followed up with a Honours degree (Cum laude) in behavioural ecology. He has worked as an assistant on the Pilanesburg National Park elephant project and on the Phinda Black Rhino Project. Tristan is in the process of publishing two papers, one the introduction of larger elephant bulls into Pilanesburg and the second on the Pilanesburg white rhino population. Tristan is trained in the capture, handling and observation of leopards and will continue to work for the project for years to come. |
 |
|
