Elephant Research
Support independent research Anne Pandraud with your donation to WildSoul
Elephant Research
Support independent research Anne Pandraud with your donation to WildSoul
Wild Soul Supports Independent Elephant Reseacher Anne Pandraud
Thank you for checking out Anne’s Elephant Research Information.
Wild Soul Conservation is manifestation of my commitment, passion, and calling to make a immediate contribution to Wildlife Conservation in Africa. Working alongside a wildlife conservation team at Phinda Reserve in South Africa for two months over of the last 4 years ( and onward) gives me an up- close experience and awareness of immediate needs on the ground to support wildlife conservation. Many immediate needs have no funding source unless attached to a non-profit. This is where Wild Soul comes in.
Wild Soul’s mission:
- Support boots- on -the ground conservation needs: equipment such as telemetry sets for tracking injured animals in recovery with a VHS temporary collar; purchase of collars in conservation activity of translocating wildlife to other reserves; laptop for ID kit access in the field; vet expenses and supplies for treatment of wildlife and for rhino-de-horning; Boots and forensic equipment to anti-poaching teams protecting rhino from poachers.
- Support Independents Researchers ~~~ in this particular case: Anne Pandraud.
- Wildlife Researchers in the field may get support for equipment from sponsor University or Nat Geo, however, living expenses; food, gas; visas; vehicle, and publication costs must be funded by the researcher herself.
Please consider a donation to Anne’s Elephant Research.
Meet Researcher Anne Pandraud | Read Latest Updates
My name is Anne Pandraud, I am a French PhD student at the university of Pretoria since January 2019. I am currently studying elephants and especially their movement and biology. I live at Phinda Private Game Reserve, in South Africa, where most of my studies are conducted.
My fieldwork has been approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of the University of Pretoria.
I have always been passionate about nature, animals, insects, plants and I had so many questions but no answer. So, at 18 years old, I decided to go to an university of Biology where I would be able to obtain the answers I was waiting for. The first two years, I studied many subjects: genetics, embryology, zoology, evolution, history of sciences, etc. After exploring this big panel of subjects, I was really interested about mammal evolution, adaptation and behavior. This is what I studied for the next 3 years. During these years I read many books about wildlife, watched hundred of documentary and read scientific articles about very divers subjects. Thanks to that, I started to realize how bad the current situation is, how bad human species is for all the other animal and insect species. When you are facing this situation you cannot stay at home and pretend that nothing is happening. Consequently, at the end of my master, I decided to look for a PhD project focused on animal behavior and use my findings to improve our work on wildlife conservation. African elephants are very good subjects, symbol of Africa but mis-understood species and sometimes hated by local populations. This is why I chose elephants. But, I think that every animals, insects or plants deserve to be protected and this is why I choose to dedicate my life to research.
Elephants at Phinda Reserve: Gallery
Research article: Factors driving the discovery and utilization of a newly available area by African elephants
For large mammals, area expansion is a key conservation measure to prevent species’ decline and extinction. Yet, its success depends on whether animals discover and later use these areas. Here, using GPS data, we investigated how herds of elephants detected and used an area made available to them after the removal of a fence. We studied the elephants’ behaviour before and after the fence removal, accounting for seasonal changes in movement patterns. In contrast to previous studies, herds visited the newly available area within a month of the fence removal, and the maximum distance they moved into the new area was reached between 5 and 9 months after the fence removal. Yet, elephants did not preferentially visit the new area at night. By the second year, all herds had shifted their seasonal home ranges and incorporated the new area, in contrast to a previous range expansion event. Our analyses show that the regular proximity of elephants to the original fence, and the fact that the new area was generally composed of preferred habitats of the elephants, probably explained the rapid discovery and use of the area. Our study improves our understanding of animal exploration and the role of habitat quality, and thus may improve range expansion and corridor programmes.
View or request article on the Journal of Tropical Ecology website