Human-wildlife conflicts are complex and require scientific facts as well as trustful collaboration and communication among all the stakeholders involved. At the IZW, the integration of stakeholders into the research process is an important strategy not only to improve the societal relevance of the scientific results, but also to break down barriers between science and society in terms practically applying these newly gained insights. In a new video the CRP and the Leibniz-IZW explain in detail why we think a new quality of our science-to-society interface is necessary and how we use the real-world lab concept in our cheetah research.

In early 2021 our team joined forces with data visualization expert Cédric Scherer vom the Leibniz-IZW to create a map from our recent PNAS study. The intent was to illustrate the key findings of the paper and to submit the map to the MoveMapCompetition from the Special Interest Group “Movement Ecology” of the British Ecological Society. We are very happy for the support of all the voters who made us win the ‘pretty map’ category and runner-up for the RMaps category. In a blog post for the BES’ Journal of Animal Ecology website we wrote about the creation of the map and the research behind it!

A picture is worth a thousand words, goes a popular saying. And although we as scientists are fans of the word, we cannot ignore that sometimes a photograph or a drawing can transport the complex meaning or implication much more elaborately and to the point than long written treatises. With this in mind we thought to complement our pivotal paper “Communication hubs of an asocial cat are the source of a human-carnivore conflict and key to its solution”, published in PNAS on December 7th 2020, with easily accessible and understandible illustrations. Skilled painter Stefanie Gendera and our communication officer Jan Zwilling have compiled these drawings into a short and educative video abstract of this paper.

It is not uncommon that nature and wildlife photographers connect deeply with their subject and engage in conservation through their photos. For Bernd Wasiolka, this connection of conservation and photography is even more profound. Bernd has been a member of the Cheetah Research Project for four and a half years – wildlife research has been the third pillar next to nature and art that connected him to southern Africa and Namibia in particular. He recently published a coffee table book about the place that haunts and fascinates him like no other. Here he shares some memories of the time with the CRP and talks about what being a wildlife photographer with a scientific background means to him.

It has been obvious to us for a long time that our research on the spatial ecology of the cheetah has implications beyond the realms of the scientific community and we therefore approached our research together with many stakeholders. When it came to finalizing and publishing key findings from this research, we decided to continue this path and produce a short film. Here it is, along with a few snaps and tales from behind the scenes.

“Carnet de Conservation” (Conservation Diary) is a travel diary by veterinarian, travel addict and illustrator Emmanuelle Chave. The book that offers insight into the daily life of wildlife research in Namibia. We follow Rubén into the desert to study and capture cheetahs with the Cheetah Research Project, a project of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research. At the crossroads of scientific research, conservation, and travel, this book is a tribute to the people who dedicate their lives to wildlife research. An adventure in watercolor paintings to describe the daily life in the field, the passion of wildlife and the desert beauty.

IZW science communicator Jan Zwilling visited the Cheetah Research Project in November, 2019, in order to visually tell the story of how exactly research into the spatial ecology is helping to solve a long-lasting human-wildlife conflict. Together with South African filmer Sean Viljoen from Conservation Film Company he produced a short film on that subject - and used his rare free time on the set and in the field to create photographs. His passion for photography as a means to bring together science, nature and art made him explore both the aesthetic and the factual aspects of this story.