Neil R Jordan

I'm a large carnivore conservation biologist currently engrossed with lions, African wild dogs and dingoes (formerly with meerkats, mongooses and martens). I apply animal behavior research, particularly animal communication, to conservation management. In the past, I've lived and worked in the Kalahari desert with meerkats (four years), managing Cambridge University's Meerkat Project and completing my MSc through Stellenbosch University. I followed that up with my PhD through Cambridge University, studying scent communication in banded mongooses in Uganda. I worked for two years for the Vincent Wildlife Trust, writing a pine marten recovery plan which ultimately paved the way for an ongoing reintroduction of the species to parts of the UK. Missing Africa and its challenges and rewards, I returned to the bush and have spent the past four years under canvas in the Okavango delta working with the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust, where I am a research associate. My previous research there has focused on all aspects of large carnivore conservation (including Land Rover repair), but particularly developing a scent-based management tool for African wild dogs. I recently joined the University of New South Wales in a joint position between their Centre for Ecosystem Science and Taronga Conservation Society Australia. My i-cow idea was motivated by the killing of two lionesses in our local village. Villagers felt they were helpless to prevent attacks, and I too was short of solutions and feeling useless. Later, watching a lion abandon a hunt the moment the impala saw it, my "i-cow" idea was 'born'. To date, I've published approximately 30 scientific articles, mostly on carnivore biology, and aim to have a positive impact in conservation in everything I do. I'm currently focusing my efforts in Australia and Botswana, but I hope for my research to have global reach. For more information consider visiting my own website, academic website or Twitter account.

April 2016