IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group Bulletin
Volume 28 Issue 2 Pages 62 - 118 (October 2011)
OSG Group Members News
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OSG Members in the News
- 22/09/11: Prestigious scientific award for Vic Simpson-Vic Simpson was announced as the recipient of the British Veterinary Association’s most prestigious scientific award for his immense contributions to increasing the knowledge base of the pathology of wildlife species in Great Britain. The Dalrymple-Champneys Cup and Medal, awarded to mark and recognise work of outstanding merit, which it is considered will encourage the advancement of veterinary science, were presented to Vic Simpson during the Awards Ceremony at the BVA’s Annual Congress in London.
New Members of OSG
Since the last issue, we have welcomed 12 new members to the OSG: you can read more about him on the Members-Only pages.
Vanessa Bachmann, Peru: I am a wildlife veterinarian who has worked for four years with Lontra felina in captivity, and am now part of the marine otter conservation strategy in Peru. I am currently working on establishing baseline data to confirm the marine otter's role as a bioindicator species.
Silvana Campello, Brazil: As President of Instituto Araguaia, I am dedicated to promoting research that will help to preserve the giant otters in the Brazilian Amazon, and fostering stakeholder involvement in the conservation of Cantão State Park and the Araguaia River basin. An approach that emphasizes advancing locally driven initiatives to ensure successful conservation with benefits to local communities.
Leslie Cousins, UK: For the past four years, I have been a field surveyor for the Essex otter monitoring programme. My PhD is in applied ecology, evaluating terrestrial biodiversity. Maintaining links with the Wildlife Trusts, I continue to provide survey data, not only for otters but also water vole (which I have radiotracked) and bat species.
Oldemar Carvalho Junior, Brazil: In the wild, I am looking at regional migration of neotropical otters between hydrographic basins, population size and diet at different altitudes. In captivity, I focus on behaviour, environmental enrichment and physiology. I am also using social mobilisation to find more effective ways to protect otters. I am Projects and Research Coordinator at Insitute Ekko Brasil
Casey Day, USA: I am involved in a river otter reintroduction project in north-central Utah. Along with the reintroduction, I am looking at the feeding ecology and behavioral ecology of this species.
Claudia Elizondo, Uruguay: I am working with Lontra longicaudis, analyzing the genetic variability of Uruguayan population. Currently I am studying with Dr Gonzalo Medina-Vogel, and afterwards when I go back to Uruguay, I will be establishing the status of the Uruguayan populations are, and implement strategies for conservation.
Georgios Georgiadis, Brazil: My otter work is focused on developing a basis for a permanent, long-term population-monitoring program for P. brasiliensis in Cantão State Park. Estimating the size and behavior of the population of giant otters in Cantão, provides indispensable data for the management and conservation of the park, for giant otters are an umbrella species and its protection covers all the park’s biodiversity.
Marco Pavanello, Italy: I’m deeply keen on ethology, ecology and population dynamics of otter which is naturally recolonizing the alpine regions. Moreover I’m interested in the human dimension aspects for the conservation of this species.
Claudio Prigioni, Italy: Claudio Prigioni is a researcher at the Department of Animal Biology, University of Pavia. His main research concerns studies on behavioral ecology of carnivores with special reference to the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra). Claudio is Editor-in-Chief of the Italian Journal of Mammalogy, Hystrix, and, with Anna Loy and Anna Roos, organised the Colloquium in Pavia; he also gave us our OSG song!
Anja Roy, Germany: I have been a field researcher with Lutra lutra for twenty years, working in Norway, Austria and Germany. As the expanding population of otters has now reached my home state of North Rhine-Westphalen, I am currently working for a better understanding of the new arrivals by government, fishermen and hunters. My next projects concentrate on relationships between otter and fish (predator-prey-circle), conflict-management, ecology, population-ecology and expansion-strategies.
Roni Shachal, Israel: I am starting an M.sc. in Ecology about the otter population in north of Israel. The research will be focused on the factors that determine occupancy of the otters in the different habitats.
Graham Watkins, USA: Graham is Guyanese born biologist who has worked with Giant River Otters in the Rupununi, Guyana (see www.rupununi.org). Graham presently works as a senior environmental specialist for the Inter-American Development Bank in the area of environmental and social safeguards. Previously, Graham has worked as the Director of the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Director of the Iwokrama International Centre for Rain forest Conservation and Development.
Laura Venditozzi-Fraser, UK: I am a Zoology student studying at Glasgow University, Scotland and I am currently on work placement at Blair Drummond Safari Park in Stirling for my Msci Degree. I have chosen to work with Asian Short-Clawed otters (Aonyx cinereus) for my Msci thesis, and intend to investigate whether adding Potassium Citrate supplement to their daily food over 6 months helps reduce the presence of renal calculi (kidney stones).