Africa Predator Project
Your patronage of The Wild Source directly contributes to funding research that could prove to be the vital method for saving countless predators worldwide.
***UPDATE 7/27/09***
This project received mention in the Botswana Tourism Board's official magazine, Discover Botswana in 2009.
Click Here to Read the Article
The Wild Source goes far beyond planning safari travel. Our revolutionary research is critical to conserve predators outside of protected parks, particularly lions and African wild dogs. Rapid expansion of livestock farming throughout Africa is leading to greater conflicts between predators and humans. Predators kill livestock causing large financial losses and in turn humans destroy the predators. The problem is multiplied on the edges of protected areas as predators are often drawn out of parks for the water that is always present for livestock, and then they discover a grocery store full of easy prey items; the good life until their untimely death. Continuous removal of predators leaves the territory open, which serves as a vacuum sucking in new predators all the time and leading to large predator losses. Without a significant breakthrough for mitigating predation on livestock it is likely that the precipitous decline of lions will continue and African wild dogs are already highly endangered.
The Wild Source biologist Bill Given is the Co-Principal Investigator along with Dr. Lowell Nicolaus, on researching the application of Conditioned Taste Aversion (CTA) to mitigate predation on livestock. CTA is a unique and powerful form of learning. It is a natural defensive mechanism evolved to enable predators to survive encounters with prey containing toxic anti-predator defenses. When predators experience nausea after consuming prey with toxic defenses, they form an aversion to the taste and scent of these prey animals. Long after recovering from the effects predators avoid offending prey wherever they are encountered. If you have ever had food poisoning you are probably familiar with this mechanism, as it has been demonstrated to exist in a wide range of species from humans to simplistic invertebrates.
Providing a predator a single bait of beef prepared properly with a hidden dose of an aversion agent can produce very long lasting aversion to the taste and scent of cattle. The aversion agent used in our study is a common veterinary medicine for the treatment of round worms, which results in no visible ill effects to the treated animal. In studies in the USA, when treated free-ranging predators have been observed in close contact with target prey, their responses have been to engage in disgust behavior and usually an attempt to physically avoid target prey. These past results indicate CTA can actually change the behavior of predators to no longer pursue livestock as prey. The CTA process has been demonstrated with a wide range of animals but this is the first attempt to work with African lions. Our phased approach is to first master the process with captive lions and African wild dogs. We will then apply the method in the field on free-ranging predators where we anticipate the CTA method can be used as a cost effective and significant mitigation tool, resulting in the conservation of countless predators lives. If successful the method can than be spread via our training to areas of predator/livestock conflict around the world.
If you wish to learn more details regarding the project please contact Bill Given at
For more information on the fascinating process of Conditioned Taste Aversion please see Lowell’s comprehensive website at www.conditionedtasteaversion.net
How You Can Help!
If you know any potentially interested grantors or sponsors that want to be involved with a high profile research project please let us know.
Use The Wild Source for your safari planning as currently booking profits are paying for all of Bill’s time and expenses to develop this project.
Bill Given is a Research Associate of the Denver Zoo. The Denver Zoo is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and 100% of your donation goes directly to the Predator/Livestock Conflict Project.
Please make donations checks payable to: Denver Zoological Foundation
Mail to Bill Given, The Wild Source, 17921 W. 59th Ave, Golden, CO 80403
Current Support
We want to thank Grassland Bushman Lodge and Footsteps in Africa for their support and contributions to this research project.