The Okavango Lion Conservation Project

The OLCP was established in 1996 in northern Botswana. The study area includes the southeastern part of the Moremi Game Reserve and surrounding wildlife management areas.
Principal researchers of the OLCP are Pieter Kat and Kate Nicholls. Pieter was educated in the United States and received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in ecology and evolutionary biology. He worked at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi as senior research scientist, and studied among other things the genetics of ungulate species, diseases in carnivores, and populations of African Wild Dogs and jackals.
Kate Nicholls was raised and educated in England. Born into a classical acting family her grounding was initially literary. Her passion for evolutionary biology was ignited in 1980 when she first read Richard Dawkins’ books. After several years of self-study at the Bodleian library in Oxford she approached Richard for help as a tutor. Kate is now pursuing a doctorate in reproductive biology.
The main areas of research of the OLCP are the effects of diseases like lion lentivirus on longevity and cub survival, reproductive biology of the lions, and ecology, behavior, and population genetics of the Okavango lions.
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