Kalahari Meerkat Project
Encyclopedia
The Kalahari Meerkat Project, or KMP, is a long term research project focused on studying the evolutionary causes and ecological consequences of cooperative behaviors in meerkat
Meerkat
The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan"...

s. The secondary aims of the project are to determine what factors affect the reproductive success of the meerkats and what behavioral and physiological mechanisms control both reproduction and cooperative behavior. The project is also working on monitoring overall plant and animal populations within the reserve and work with the nearby community of Van Zylsrus in the areas of conservation
Conservation ethic
Conservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to...

 and sustainable use of resources.

Situated at the Kuruman River Reserve in Northern Cape
Northern Cape
The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of an international park shared with Botswana...

, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, close to the border to Botswana
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...

, the project is jointly funded by Cambridge University and the Kalahari Research Trust.

History

The project was founded in the early nineties by researchers at Cambridge University. It was originally based on the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a large wildlife preserve and conservation area in southern Africa. The park straddles the border between South Africa and Botswana and comprises two adjoining national parks: Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa and Gemsbok National Park in Botswana. The...

, but in 1993 moved to the Kuruman River Reserve, an area spanning approximately twenty square miles of semi-arid area of the Kalahari Desert
Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savannah in Southern Africa extending , covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa, as semi-desert, with huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains. The Kalahari supports more animals and plants than a true desert...

 on either side of the mostly dry Kuruman River. The reserve consists primarily of sparsely vegetated fossil dunes that flatten out near the river, which is usually dry. The project is now part of the university's "Large Animal Research Group" headed by Tim Clutton-Brock
Tim Clutton-Brock
Timothy Hugh Clutton-Brock, MA PhD ScD FRS is a British zoologist known for his comparative studies of the behavioural ecology of mammals, particularly red deer and meerkats.-Career:...

, FRS, who has headed the Meerkat project since 1993.

Staff

The project usually has 10-15 volunteers who form the main meerkat project staff. They are supervised by Field Coordinator Helene Brettschneider and Field Manager James Samson. In addition to the core researchers, Earthwatch volunteers aid in collecting research data after being partnered with a staff researcher. There is also usually a South African technician responsible for project logistics, 6-8 post-graduate interns from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 or South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, and a number of doctorate and independent researchers carrying out their own research in the area. There are rarely fewer than 10 people working in the project area at any given time.

The principal investigators of the project are Professor Tim Clutton-Brock
Tim Clutton-Brock
Timothy Hugh Clutton-Brock, MA PhD ScD FRS is a British zoologist known for his comparative studies of the behavioural ecology of mammals, particularly red deer and meerkats.-Career:...

, Professor of Animal Ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

 at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, and Dr. Marta Manser, an Associate Professor in Animal Behavior at Zurich University.

Subjects

The KMP study encompasses 16 groups of meerkats, with six living exclusively on the reserve and the rest having ranges that extend into the surrounding farmland. Most members of the groups are familiar enough with the human researchers that they are undisturbed by their presence and are relatively easy to touch and collect samples from. Extremely accurate life history records are kept for each meerkat in the study populations, for each animal in the population including the recording of births, deaths, pregnancies, lactation
Lactation
Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process occurs in all female mammals, however it predates mammals. In humans the process of feeding milk is called breastfeeding or nursing...

 and oestrus cycles, changes in social status and group affiliation, and any abnormal behaviors or activities.

The project team offers film crews and wildlife photographers the chance to film the habituated groups of meerkats at the reserve. The KMP meerkats have been the subjects of several documentary programs, including:
  • Meerkat Manor
    Meerkat Manor
    Meerkat Manor is a British television programme produced by Oxford Scientific Films for Animal Planet International that premiered in September 2005 and ran for four series until its cancellation in August 2008...

    , a popular Animal Planet
    Animal Planet
    Animal Planet is an American cable tv specialty channel that launched on October 1, 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications. A high-definition simulcast of the channel launched on September 1, 2007.-History:...

     docu-drama series focused mostly on The Whiskers, one of the long-term study groups
  • Ella, A Meerkat's Tale, a 2005 one hour special from Oxford Scientific Films
    Oxford Scientific Films
    Oxford Scientific Films is a British company that produces natural history and documentary programmes. Founded on 8 July 1968 by noted documentary filmmaker Gerald Thompson, the independent film company broke new ground in the world of documentaries, using new filming techniques and capturing...

     that follows the life of one young female that breaks the rules and has pups despite being a submissive female
  • Meerkats, a 2003 Nigel Marven
    Nigel Marven
    Nigel Marven is a British wildlife presenter, television producer, author, and ornithologist.-Career:Marven studied botany at Bristol University until the age of 22 when he left to begin his career at the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol...

     film
  • "Life of Mammals", a 2002 episode for Sir David Attenborough
    David Attenborough
    Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...

    's series on BBC
    BBC
    The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

  • "Walking with Meerkats: Meerkat Madness", a 2001 30 minute National Geographic special produced by Big Wave TV that focuses on the Lazuli research group The title may refer to the BBC production Walking with Dinosaurs
    Walking with Dinosaurs
    Walking with Dinosaurs is a six-part documentary television miniseries that was produced by BBC, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and first aired in the United Kingdom, in 1999. The series was subsequently aired in North America on the Discovery Channel in 2000, with Branagh's voice replaced with that...

     and its sister shows Walking with Beasts
    Walking with Beasts
    Walking with Beasts is a 2001 six-part television documentary miniseries, produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom, narrated by Kenneth Branagh. In North America it has been retitled Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, and the original Discovery Channel broadcast was narrated by Stockard Channing...

     and Walking with Monsters
    Walking with Monsters
    Walking with Monsters is a three-part British documentary film series about life in the Paleozoic, bringing to life extinct arthropods, fish, amphibians, synapsids, and reptiles...

    .


In May 2010, Lapland Studio announced it was releasing a video game entitled Lead the Meerkats for the Nintendo Wii and would be donating proceeds from copies sold on the first day to the project. Clutton-Brock and Evi Bauer, president of the Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project, expressed excitement over the games release as a way to educate people about meerkats through a fairly realistic game.

Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project

"Friends of the Kalahari Meerkat Project" is a legally independent, but functionally integrated, sponsoring organization of the project that was founded in Switzerland in 23 November 2007. Through this website, the Kalahari Meerkat Project releases information about the meerkats, including life history updates for all of the individual meerkats and the meerkat groups being studied, updates on the current groups, historical information on lost groups, and basic information about meerkats. The project uploads its own photographs and video footage of the meerkats, available for viewing for free.

In April 2008, the site began selling "Friends" packages to offer a way to support the project. The Friends package includes additional project information not published on the site, as well as detailed information comparing the actual project meerkats to their counterparts in Meerkat Manor
Meerkat Manor
Meerkat Manor is a British television programme produced by Oxford Scientific Films for Animal Planet International that premiered in September 2005 and ran for four series until its cancellation in August 2008...

. On 8 June 2008, the site was expanded to include a virtual store, powered by Zazzle
Zazzle
Zazzle is an online retailer that allows users to upload images and create their own merchandise , or buy merchandise created by other users, as well as use images from participating companies...

, through which the project offers a variety of custom meerkat items. Proceeds from the items go to support the project and the Friends program.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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