Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Ecology and Conservation of the African Wild Dog

African Wild Dog,
Picture used under
GPL Licence

As the title suggests we had a talk about the African Wild Dog, but that simple description barely does justice to the informative and entertaining presenter that is Dr Dan Foreman of Swansea University.

Dan started with an overview of the evolution of mammals and number of carnivorous species of mammals on the planet because those are his field of expertise and his passion.

He explained to us how the dogs differ from other carnivorous groups and how they specialize. The African Wild Dog for instance loving the shrubby wooded areas.

Feeding, Breeding habits and whole social infrastructures came into the mix as we listened intently to tales of matriarchal societies of incredibly wide ranging creatures

Dan's passion for these wonderful animals is clear and he gave an excellent picture on why they need to be conserved properly as part of an extensive and working ecosystem and not in small artificial reserves

With a lively round of discussion and questions at the end our expert managed to deliver a whole load of things to think about and a whole load of entertainment all rolled into one

To read more about Dan and his Work please take a look at his home page at the University of Swansea where you can read how he was given a Distinguished Teaching award. and we're really not surprised.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Your Comment will go to moderation and will be reviewed before it is published

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...