1/20/2024 0 Comments Dian fossey gorilla fund shop![]() ![]() ![]() Kristen Lukas, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s director of conservation and science and a Fossey Fund board member, says the zoo has participated in the program since 2014. “It is wonderful to see so many students who have studied at Karisoke now working in scientific and conservation fields throughout Rwanda.” “We can really see this program helping to build conservation capacity in our country,” says Felix Ndagijimana, the Fossey Fund’s director of Rwanda programs and the Karisoke Research Center. ![]() The remaining projects addressed various topics in plant and animal ecology, including socio-economic aspects of conservation and land use around Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. Almost half of the participants (48%) conducted their memoir research on gorillas and golden monkeys. In the past 17 years, we have supported 133 students to conduct their senior thesis researching a whole host of topics. ![]() Winnie Eckardt, lead author of the paper and the Fossey Fund’s research manager. “We found that the program was measurably successful at creating opportunities for young Rwandan conservation scientists to grow and advance in their chosen field and contribute to conservation in Rwanda and the region,” says Dr. We recently analyzed the overall success of this program and published the results of our study in the American Journal of Primatology. Almost 90% of the students who conduct their memoirs with us go on to careers in science and conservation, and one former participant, Deo Tuyisingize, now leads the Fossey Fund’s training programs with UR and other Rwandan universities. Then, during their final year, up to a dozen students receive intense one-on-one training and support as they complete their memoirs. During their second and third years, we provide both course and field work opportunities for students to expand their knowledge base-more than 3,100 undergraduate biology students have participated to date. Since 2003, we have worked with UR to provide instruction for biology students in their second, third and fourth years of university. It is the capstone of our work with the University of Rwanda to help train the next generation of African conservationists. Our support of students during their senior year research is done through a partnership with the University of Rwanda, the Rwanda Development Board and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. In particular, our support of students doing their senior thesis work provides the opportunity for intensive mentorship from the Fossey Fund and our partner institutions with the eventual goal of publishing their work, as Elie did. Training future conservationists is one of the Fossey Fund’s four main pillars and aims to address this inequity. Currently, Africans are highly underrepresented in studies of their own biodiversity-by some analyses, only about 2% of published studies on African wildlife are led by Africans. His hard work paid off recently when his senior thesis research-called a “memoir” in Rwanda-was published in the journal Primates.Įlie’s success is just the kind of outcome the Fossey Fund and its partners hope to see from our investment in supporting early career African scientists. “Combined, the 604 gorillas of the Virungas are estimated to expel about 1.35 tons of poop per day, and some days it felt like I weighed it all! But I learned so much about the process of data collection and analysis, and how disease can be transmitted between gorillas that share habitat.” “I tracked gorilla groups and weighed nearly 400 poop samples dropped on gorilla trails and night nests for six straight weeks,” says Elie. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |