Professor in wildlife conservation ecology. @WildEcoLabNMU Also likes history and politics. My views are not my employer's. #Academic
George, South Africa
Joined January 2015
- Tweets993
- Following1.2K
- Followers1.1K
- Likes299
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
Two postgrad positions up for grabs in @WildEcoLabNMU
wildecolabdotcom.wordpress.c… – at South Africa
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
Does lion pride behaviour change between fenced & open systems? Researchers monitoring lions in Kruger, Pilanesberg & more aim to find out
⬇️Read more here⬇️
africageographic.com/stories…
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
Tomorrow, SA goes to the ballot box. My latest in @Nature about what this means for research.
“We are increasingly relying on international collaborations. If one was to cut that lifeline, we probably would be in a very dire situation.”
Tomorrow, South Africans go to the ballot box go.nature.com/3UZeeCX
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
🚨 New paper led by @HoniballT in @WileyEcolEvol using camera traps 📸 to investigate carnivore dynamics 🦁🐆🐾 around elephant carcasses 🐘
Elephant carcasses provide high volumes of carrion biomass, which may influence coexistence dynamics between the carnivore guild 🦁🐾
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
Some great images here of @WildEcoLabNMU PhD student, Elizabeth Overton, who is studying the cheetah population in @Tswalu
Elizabeth's study uses camera traps 📸, DNA metabarcoding 🧬, movement data and direct observations to understand cheetah ecology & predator-prey dynamics
Curious about the link between research and conservation? Elizabeth Koverton is studying the ecological role of #cheetahs and their impact on prey populations. Access to researchers working in the field adds to Tswalu's X factor. Read more: l8r.it/wskb
#Tswalu
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
⬆️ foraging & activity under high heat loads 🌡️☀️ highlights the need to meet nutritional requirements while avoiding nocturnal activity in areas of increased 🦁 pressure
Such a trade-off may become increasingly costly under predicted climate shifts in sub-Saharan Africa ☀️🦓
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
Great piece by @HayleySClements & @ForceCT on S. Africa's controversial National Biodiversity Economy Strategy. Helped me understand it better and how it tries to enhance the relevance of biodiversity conservation to the average South African. theconversation.com/south-af…
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
New in @ESAEcology: Applying the multivariate Hawkes process (originally developed to study earthquakes!) to #CameraTrap data reveals interspecific interactions among savanna predators & prey
doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4237
W/ #OpenData on @figshare
@lisanicvert @JanBuffel @UPWildlife
ALT Inference of interactions from real data using the multivariate Hawkes model. The top plot shows the auto-interaction functions (between occurrences of the same species). The bottom plot shows cross-species interactions, where the intensity of species in rows is affected by species in columns. The horizontal dashed line represents zero. Note that the y-axis scale is different between autointeractions and cross-species interactions
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
🚨 New @WildEcoLabNMU paper in #FoodWebs
We report on trophic interactions between #cheetah & #baboon and suggest baboons could be an underreported source of food loss & kleptoparasitism!
Thanks to @wildlifeact in Hluhluwe–iMfolozi for some great 📸!
sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
Smithsonian scientists Arlo Hinckley and Melissa Hawkins and colleagues have identified five new species of soft-furred hedgehogs. Two are entirely new to science and three have been elevated from subspecies to the level of species using DNA analysis and physical characteristics.
ALT Hylomys dorsalis seen in the wild on Mount Murud, Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia. Credit: Quentin Martinez, www.quentinmartinez.fr, all rights reserved.
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
Congratulations to our Honours cohort who presented their final research projects this week! 🥳
All had fantastic projects & great to see their hard work pay off! 🤩
From carnivore carcass interactions & rhino body conditioning to pop. densities of spotted hyaena & 🐆! 🦁🦏🇿🇦🇱🇰
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
Researchers discover the first snake trace in the fossil record in South Africa 🐍
They estimate the marks were made between 83,000 - 93,000 years ago ⬇
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…
@ichno_assoc @markthesandman @hayley_cawthra @JanBuffel
ALT The quote by Charles Helm and Hayley Cawthra reads, "Until now, there hasn’t been a single description of a surface fossilised snake trace."
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
🔔 Ukraine news update🔔
Wondering who attacked Moscow? What were those sudden ‘fireworks’ in Crimea, and how Putin playing savior of Africa are related? Catch the plot twist in my new video with some ‘explosive’ thoughts⬇️
youtu.be/ztukM8JIa5k
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
My lion survey is well underway here at Marakele National Park! We have identified +-23 individuals in just 3 weeks! Great start! – at South Africa
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
Our @WildEcoLabNMU postgrad team at Pilanesberg NP @DayaJoti working on 🦁🦁 and Cleo Ferreira on 🦏🦏. Good luck ladies for the journey ahead.
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
📸🦁 Yesterday was the last day of the #AFSCTS2023 run by @WildEcoLabNMU! Made some amazing memories and friends here, I'll miss this bunch a lot!! A great opportunity to develop practical and statistical camera trap skills held @SANParksKNP 🐗📸
Videos coming soon(ish) 😉
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
Had the best time taking part in @WildEcoLabNMU #AFSCTS2023! I've gone from feeling overwhelmed with my PhD and statistics, to genuinely feeling confident and on the right path! Thanks to all the amazing lecturers and course-mates - you've made these 2 weeks so much fun! 🐆🐘🦒
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
If you've been keeping up with @WildEcoLabNMU tweets from the course, or have seen mine and think it looks great, I'd wholeheartedly recommend going if you're doing or looking at doing camera trapping research. Incredibly grateful to have been able to come! 📸 #AFSCTS2023
Jan A Venter 🇿🇦 retweeted
Yesterday was the last day of the first African Field School in Camera Trap Studies in Kruger NP, SA. It has been a very inspiring 12 days. Today everyone's going home. Hope we can do it again next year! 📸A spotted hyaena trapped by the students.
#AFSCTS2023 #CameraTrapTuesday
