Our Associates
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Fred Bercovitch - PhD Research Associate Fred is currently a Professor at Kyoto University with links to the Primate Research Institute and the Wildlife Research Center. He was the Director of Behavioral Biology at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research before moving to Japan. He has been studying a variety of species since his undergraduate days when he conducted an independent student research project on play in captive long-tailed macaques. His primary interest in wildlife research focuses on determining how and why animals vary in their reproductive success. His research is based upon analyzing the life history of animals by examining both mating and rearing tactics, as well as integrating reproductive and foraging strategies. Research species have included lesser galagos, savanna baboons, rhesus macaques, African wild dogs, giraffe, African elephants, koalas, cheetahs, California condors, and Nile lechwe. He has published over 100 scientific papers. His current work involves a close collaboration with Phil Berry to scrutinize and analyze over 35 years of data on the Thornicroft’s giraffe in Zambia, as well as continuing to collect information about herd structure and size, ranging patterns, and genetic variability. When not deeply immersed in his academic world, Fred is often plugged into news or sports, but, unlike many at GCF, he follows American football, baseball, and basketball. His expertise and experience in American sports brings a diversity to GCF that is otherwise lacking because of the focus on soccer, cricket, and rugby. |
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Rachel Brand - PhD Research Associate Rachel first studied giraffe for her PhD with the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. She took her fieldwork to Etosha National Park in Namibia, where she investigated how the movements of giraffe in a semi-arid environment drive the mating system, with a focus on the mating strategies of individual male giraffe. While maintaining a strong interest in how giraffe behaviour affects their conservation, she is at heart an evolutionary ecologist, and enjoys the challenge of explaining how and why giraffe behave the way they do in different environments. Rachel now lives in Namibia with her family, and since completing her PhD has worked as manager of a private nature reserve. She now works in tourism, but still advises and collaborates on giraffe and other conservation-related matters in Namibia. |
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Francois Deacon - BSc (Hons), MSc Research Associate Francois is currently a lecturer in Grassland Science at the University of the Free State and is also undertaking a PhD on the spatial ecology of giraffe in the Kgalagdi Transfrontier Park (KTP) which straddles the South African-Botswana border. Francois has previously worked with SANParks in the Kgalagdi Transfrontier Park and before then worked as a Natural Science Educator. As an ecologist, he is currently project leader of various environmental projects at the University and Woodland Hills Wildlife Estate where he is responsible for the wildlife management including conservation, environmental decisions, educational tours, flora and fauna. |
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John Doherty - MSc Research Associate John Doherty is a member of the Ecology, Evolution, Behaviour and Environmental Economics research cluster in the School of Biological Sciences at Queen's University Belfast, but he is now based full time in Kenya. John is a research affiliate of the Kenya Wildlife Service and a member of the IUCN/SSC International Giraffe Working Group; he has degrees from the Universities of Oxford and Pretoria and a postgraduate certificate of education from the University of Bristol. His research for the Reticulated Giraffe Project will lead to a PhD. John spent more than 20 years managing an internationally important nature reserve in Scotland, where he developed an expertise in agri-environmental conflict resolution, playing a key role in policy development at a national level. He has worked, studied and travelled extensively in eastern and southern Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Iberian peninsula and the High Arctic, focusing especially on species conservation, on the management of protected areas, on wildlife conservation within human-dominated landscapes and on environmental education. |
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Zoe Muller - BSc (Hons), MSc Research Associate A trip to the Giraffe Centre in Nairobi when she was eight years old was to inspire a life-long passion for giraffe in Zoe Muller. Completing her education in England, Zoe studied animal behaviour and conservation at University with the goal of returning to Africa to work in wildlife conservation. During her studies she began to read the scientific literature about giraffe and was astounded by the comparative lack of information and research that had been carried out compared to other large African mammals, which inspired Zoe to dedicate her career to studying and conserving giraffe in the wild. In 2010, Zoe moved to Kenya to start the Rothschild’s Giraffe Project - a research project dedicated to furthering knowledge and conservation of the Endangered Rothschild’s giraffe since there are now less than 670 individuals remaining in the wild. As well as being a Research Associate of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, Zoe is also a student member of the IUCN SSC/ASG International Giraffe Working Group and a member of the National Giraffe Conservation Task Force for Kenya. She is completing her PhD on giraffe behaviour, ecology and conservation at the Mammal Research Unit, University of Bristol. |
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Amy Phelps Zoological Management Associate Amy met her first giraffe at the San Francisco Zoo as a toddler and from that day forward wanted only to be a giraffe keeper, and spend her life with giraffe! She has been a zookeeper at the Oakland Zoo for the past 12 years, and is currently the Senior Keeper on the African Veldt where she is honoured to spend her days surrounded by giraffe and eland. Under Amy’s leadership the Oakland Zoo’s giraffe program has become world renowned for it’s progressive giraffe training program and has been recognised with numerous awards by the American Association of Zookeepers and the International Association of Giraffe Care Professionals (IAGCP). In her capacity as the Outreach Director for the IAGCP Amy connects managers of captive giraffe with experts in various areas of captive management to facilitate improved care for these animals. She also serves on the Association of Zoos and Aquarium’s Antelope and Giraffe Taxon Advisory Group as a member of the steering committee. When she is not immersed in all things giraffe, Amy works as a fitness instructor and is an avid martial artist. |
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Florian Sicks - MSc Zoological Management Associate Florian is the curator of mammals at Tierpark Berlin, Germany, where he is also in charge of the Rothschild’s giraffe exhibit. Before joining Tierpark Berlin in 2010, he worked as the assistant of the director of Dortmund Zoo, which is well-known for its exhibit of Angolan giraffe - a giraffe (sub)species that is rarely found in captivity. He is currently completing his PhD at Goethe-University, Frankfurt/Main, Germany. His PhD research focuses on the sleep and stress behaviour of captive giraffe. With this study, he aims to determine whether changes in the REM-sleep pattern can help to identify stress in giraffe. This could have a significant impact on improving husbandry conditions of giraffe in the future. |
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Jean-Patrick Suraud - PhD Research Associate Jean-Patrick worked as the scientific coordinator of a Niger giraffe NGO for several years, while at the same time pursuing his PhD on the population dynamics, home range and genetics of Niger's giraffe. Jean-Patrick has considerable experience with the people and giraffe of Niger and has coordinated the annual census of giraffe in Niger since 2005 - a multidisciplinary approach to monitoring the population involving teams from both government and non-government sectors. Having undertaken a number of collaborative studies and field missions, Jean-Patrick's experience as an ecologist extends beyond Niger, including: radio collaring ocellated turkeys in Mexico, exploration missions into Central America assessing the Buffon's macaw, as well as studies of howler monkeys in Argentina and chimpanzees in the Congo. Jean-Patrick is currently analysing his vast amount of field data and writing up his PhD thesis at the University of Lyon in France. |