30 Apr 2020

Wilderness Safaris Supports First Brown Hyaena Density Survey in Skeleton Coast National Park

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Wilderness Safaris is thrilled to be supporting Emsie Verwey and the Skeleton Coast Brown Hyaena Project as she begins the first official density survey for brown hyaenas in Namibia’s Skeleton Coast National Park, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. Wilderness Safaris’ Sustainability Fund has sponsored the funds required to purchase camera traps, memory cards, and batteries, in order for this vital conservation survey to begin in one of the world’s harshest – and most beautiful – wilderness environments.  

Given the limited information available on brown hyaena, Emsie foresees her study entailing some 10 to 15 years of research. Her work is helping to close the gap on the scarcity of studies conducted on the brown hyaena of north-western Namibia, and her research data and observations to date have been added to the Red Data Book on carnivores, as well as to range maps (last updated in 1998) currently being compiled by the IUCN Hyaena Specialist Group for spotted hyaena, aardwolf, brown hyaena and striped hyaena.

In addition to her current findings from over seven years of research, Emsie will also refer to data from the work that Rudi Loutit did in the Park in the 1980s, with his estimate at the time being 40 brown hyaenas in the Park. “Both Rudi and I are now looking forward to the new estimate, and I’m excited to be working on the first official survey in the Park, in order to ultimately help aid the ongoing conservation efforts of this threatened species”, notes Emsie, who is also the Wilderness Safaris Field-Based Research Coordinator at Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp.