Pygmy Hippo PhD 2017 Summary
The pygmy hippopotamus is endangered in the wild and has been exhibited in zoological collections since the early 1900s; however, it remains one of the most little known and poorly understood large mammal species in the world.
Pygmy Hippopotamus Labwork in Florida at SEZARC
Back in April of 2014, I travelled to 12 zoos around the USA to meet their pygmy hippos and initiate sample collection for a year-long hormone study using dung samples. The last year flew by, and April 2015 came a lot faster than expected! Now it was finally time to gather all my samples and start conducting analysis and determine some exciting new information about stress and reproduction in pygmy hippos.
Pygmy Hippo project interview
PhD student Dr Gabriella Flacke was interviewed by Techly Australia to explain her project with the pigmy hippos. Read the article The Aussie vet doing her part for the pygmy hippo by Joe Frost.
Pygmy Hippo USA Fieldwork Update May & June 2014
In the last six weeks, I have driven over 4500 miles (7000km) through 14 of the 50 states in the USA, all in the name of pygmy hippopotamus conservation research. That’s a lot of time to listen to the radio! I have travelled through some very scenic and beautiful parts of the country, like the rolling green hills of Kentucky and Tennessee.
Pygmy Hippo The First Month of “Fieldwork” in the USA
I left Perth on March 21st, the spring/fall equinox (depending on your hemisphere of choice) to start my second season of “fieldwork” for my PhD studying the Endangered pygmy hippopotamus. I use quotations as working in a developed country with electricity, running water, telephone and internet connections is quite a different experience than working in […]
Pygmy Hippo Research Update – 2013 in Review
Well, 2013 was certainly an eventful year in the world of pygmy hippo PhD research! During the first three months preparations were continually underway for the first IBREAM field expedition to the Taï Forest in Côte d’Ivoire since 2010. I was busy organizing and ordering things and making sure paperwork and documentation was in order […]
Pygmy Hippo Fieldwork begins
In 2013, funding was secured to move on with additional aspects of The Taï Hippo Project, which is a collaborative endeavor between IBREAM and the Abidjan-based Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques (CSRS). There are currently two students involved in the project, an Ivorian (Mr. Bogui Elie) and Dr Gabriella Flacke (a wildlife veterinarian). The work […]
Pygmy hippo awareness activities in Tai Forest: the awareness campaign and local support programme
So far, various tools have been developed for raising awareness with the aim to impact the maximum number of target groups: school children, peasants, women, as well as decision makers. These tools include video sessions,public events (such as football and handball tournaments), drawing competitions, distribution of posters, leaflets as well as T-shirts bearing important conservation […]
Pygmy Hippos Photographed in the Wild
As part of our efforts to gain the knowledge needed to help save the Pygmy hippo, we are studying their behavior in our field project in the Ivory Coast. Since the beginning of this year, two of our students (Mark van Heukelum and Henk Eshuis, also affiliated with the University of Wageningen, Netherlands) have been […]
No More Poo? A New Way to Get Hormone Samples from Pygmy Hippos
One of our primary project goals on our Pygmy Hippo project is to gain an understanding of their reproductive biology to enable us to optimize the breeding management of this species. Up until now our method of measuring the hippos’ hormone levels has been to collect and analyse their poo. This is quite a laborious, […]