THE PROGRAMME► Research

Objective: We rely on strong science to inform and develop conservation actions, towards the completion of our main objective: to assess, address and counteract threats to the survival of wolves and their Afroalpine home.

Research has been the foundation of EWCP since its inception and has greatly contributed to the success of the programme (See Publications for a comprehensive list of scientific papers).

The first detailed studies in the mid 1980s unveiled to the world the behaviorual ecology of these fascinating wolves, with thier complex mating and social systems. Research continued on aspects of the wolves' ecology, genetics and population ecology, disease prevalence, and the control and ecology of domestic dogs - the main reservoir of diseases that are fatal to wolves. The two newly completed doctoral thesis have expanded our knowledge of resource partitioning among packs and the genetic structure of families and populations.

Ethiopian wolves: impact of livestock grazing on their Afroalpine habitat [Read More]
Flavie Vial, PhD student, University of Glasgow and WildCRU

Oral vaccination of wolves: bait trails [Read More]
Darryn Knobel, PhD student, University of Edinburgh. April 2005

Modelling the feasibility, effectiveness and sustainability of a vaccination scheme to protect Ethiopian wolves [Read More]
Work led by Karen Laurenson. In collaboration with Dan Haydon, University of Glasgow.

Population genetic structure of Ethiopian wolves: effect of last glatiation and guidelines for a restoration process [Read More]
Work led by Dada Gottelli, Zoological Society of London.

Spatial resource partitioning and reproductive success in Ethiopian Wolves [Read More]
Lucy Tallents, PhD student, WildCRU. July 2005.

The genetics of the Ethiopian wolf: implications of their mating system and for their conservation [Read More]
Deborah Randall, PhD student, WildCRU. April 2005.

Disease prevalence and ecology of domestic dogs and small carnivores in the Bale Mountains [Read More]
Work led by Karen Laurenson, FZS.

Intrinsic mechanisms of the recovery of Ethiopian wolves after a rabies epidemic [Read More]
Jorgelina Marino, WildCRU. June 2005.

Trophic interactions of Ethiopian wolves
Are rodent populations in Bale regulated by competition with domestic livestock or by predation by wolves and raptors? Since 2003 in collaboration with Prof. Afework Bekele, Dr Stuart Williams, Dr Simon Thirgood, Dr Zelealem Tefera, Ermias Admassu and Anteneh Shimelis, with funding from The Peregrine Fund, Frankfurt Zoological Society, British Ecological Society.