Research volunteers

Interested in learning who’s working at the field site – who the people are you’ll spend your volunteer year with?

Meerkatters

Present field site staff & volunteers

  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: August 2020
  • Starting as Meerkat Manager: June 2021
  • Country of origin: India
  • Starting date: January 2022
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: December 2021

  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: December 2021

Country of Origin: Netherlands

Starting date: June 2022

Country of origin: Tanzania

Starting date (as meerkat volunteer): June 2022

Starting date (as Zurich manager): March 2023

  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: October 2022

 

Molerats & Squirrels people

Non-meerkat people

  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: July 2019

  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: January 2021

  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: February 2021
  • Starting date Molerat Manager: September 2021
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: March 2021

Country of origin: France

Starting date: May 2021

Country of origin: France

Starting date: May 2021

Country of origin: South Africa

Starting date: July 2021

  • Country of origin: Germany
  • Starting date: November 2021

 

Past research volunteers

Past staff & volunteers

inesWebsite: http://www.ieu.uzh.ch/en/staff/postdocs/goncalves.html

Contact: ines.goncalves@ieu.uzh.ch

 

Activational and maternal effects on meerkat vocal communication

 

In social species like meerkats, animals form complex relationships and social structures that require sustained communication between group members in order to be maintained. Animal vocalisations, like human voices, can provide a plethora of information regarding an individual’s sex, age, size, social rank, motivation and hormonal status. Hormones, such as cortisol and testosterone, are powerful chemicals that mediate many behaviours and social interactions, but the extent to which they affect vocal communication is still not very well understood. Vocal communication is crucial to meerkats as they use different calls to coordinate group movement, alert others to the presence of predators and conspecifics, and also to elicit and respond to social stimuli. Thus, the main aim of my research is to understand how cortisol, a stress hormone, and testosterone, a sex hormone, affect the vocal behaviour of meerkats across multiple contexts like foraging, social and agonistic interactions. Additionally, I am interested in understanding how maternal hormones may affect the vocal and behavioural development of their offspring and the implications these effects may have regarding their social rank, longevity and reproductive success.

gabriellaWebsite: http://www.ieu.uzh.ch/en/staff/phd/gall-gabriella.html

Contact: gabriella.gall@yahoo.de

 

Group coordination during foraging in meerkats (Suricata suricatta)

 

Animals living in cohesive groups need to coordinate their activities, for example when making decisions about their foraging destination or timing of travel. Thereby individual group members need to compromise to overcome potential conflicts of interest. This decision making process can be facilitated by the use of vocal communication, with different signals potentially being used in different contexts. Meerkats are group-living mammals foraging as a cohesive group and use vocal signals to maintain spatial cohesion. As they live in stable social groups, with a high reproductive skew, we expect differences in leadership and signalling, i.e. between dominants and subordinates. Furthermore, the spatial pattern of the group as well as the association pattern between group members will have a strong influence on the decision making process. Therefore, in this study we investigate how meerkats use different vocalisations to coordinate group movement during foraging, focusing also on the spatial organization of the group.

ChrisBSc Hons Biological Sciences (University of Birmingham)

Senior Project Manager KMP – Technical Manager (2015 – 2017)

I have always been interested in biological research; during and prior to my BSc in Biological Sciences at the University of Birmingham I had various short term field and lab based research stints. These involved coral reef surveying in the Bahamas, studying alpine ecology in Norway and observing Chimpanzee social networks in a captive zoo setting. After finishing my degree I was looking to be involved in a longer term field project so came to Kalahari Meerkat Project to be a volunteer field worker for a year. After my year as a volunteer I then transitioned into the Technical Manager position for the project and am now responsible for implementing experiments, planning data collection and maintaining the storage of the long term data. I am looking to stay in this line of work in the future either through post-graduate study or continuing to be involved with field research on the ground.

Senior Project Manager KMP – Personnel Manager (2015 – 2017)

  • MSc Wild Animal Biology (Royal Veterinary College)
  • BSc Hons Biological Sciences (Zoology) (University of Edinburgh)

During my four years spent doing my BSc in Biological Sciences with Honours in Zoology at Edinburgh University I volunteered twice at animal rehabilitation centres in South Africa and Zimbabwe for a month each time. This, courses on the evolution of parental care and social behaviour and my project on maternal choice increased my interest in animal behaviour. After graduating, to gain some field experience and more wild animal experience for a Masters application, I joined the Kalahari Meerkat Project as a volunteer in October 2013. Following my volunteer year I completed a MSc in Wild Animal Biology at the Royal Veterinary College which involved a project on olfactory enrichment of zoo meerkats before returning to the KMP as the Personnel Manager. I am responsible for the training and well-being of the volunteers and maintaining data quality. I look forward to continuing in a career investigating animal behaviour in the future.

Cambridge Research Assistant (2015-2016)

  • BSc Hons Natural Sciences (Zoology) – University of Cambridge

After a brief stint of camera-trapping fieldwork in Mongolia after I graduated, I came to the project as a volunteer for a year in Sept 2014. I’ve stayed on for another year to work as the research assistant for the Cambridge postdocs. Mostly my job involves a mix of fieldwork (particularly habitation and leading captures), lab work & sample management, and database-mining for the postdocs. The specialist skills I’ve developed in extraction and analysis of data from our database are also useful in my other role as support for volunteers working on their own analysis projects. The best part of my job is the variety: performing x-ray and ultrasound scans in the field, chipping samples out of freezers with a chisel, writing queries to calculate meerkat matrilines… it’s all in a day’s work!

PaulineResearch assistant for Zurich June 2014-June 2016

  • Meerkat volly April 2013-April 2014

After graduating from a MSc in Animal and Human behaviour in 2009, I did a lot of volunteering: in a National Park in North Cameroon where I spent most of my time tracking leopards through the bush; in RD Congo where I was following and collecting data on bonobos for the Max Planck Institute; in France where I was a scientific consultant for a departmental hunting federation; then at the KMP, where I spent a year working as a volunteer, before being hired as the Zurich research assistant. My main research interests go towards animal conservation, particularly human-animal conflicts, involving large carnivores. On a more personal point of view, I really enjoy hiking, nature and animal photography, reading and traveling.

ColineResearch assistant for Zurich (Jan. 16 – )

On-site field manager representing the Zurich lab.

 

Meerkat Volunteer

June 2016 to June 2017

Meerkat Volunteer

March 2016 to March 2017

PearlMeerkat Volunteer

February 2016 to February 2017

RichardMeerkat Volunteer

February 2016 to February 2017

SimonMeerkat Volunteer

  • January 2016 to January 2017

Meerkat Volunteer

  • January 2016 to January 2017

 

Meerkat volunteer

  • January 2016 to January 2017

 

AmyMeerkat Volunteer

  • October 2015 to October 2016

DanaMeerkat Volunteer

  • October 2015 to October 2016

Meerkat Volunteer

  • September 2015 to August 2016

Special Role: Life History Volunteer

Meerkat Volunteer

  • August 2015 to August 2016

YoungMeerkat Volunteer

  • March 2015 to March 2016

SamMeerkat Volunteer

  • March 2015 to March 2016

Meerkat Volunteer

  • March 2015 to March 2016

JessicaSquirrel Project On-site Manager

  • November 2015 to September 2016
  • Cape Ground Squirrel Project Volunteer Nov ’14 to Nov ’15

 

I have always had an interest in the natural world, having completed my undergraduate degree studying Geography at the University of Glasgow. For my dissertation I studied the patterns of migration of Maasai into Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, which was a great learning experience, and my first visit to Africa. Since then I have had various jobs, including assistant manager of a safari camp in Zambia. My aim has been to move my work more towards wildlife with the hope to one day be involved in conservation. I started volunteering on the Cape ground squirrel project in November 2014, and a year later I am on-site manager of the project. I hope to start a masters course in the UK in Sept 2016 in Conservation Biology.

KatyMolerat Project on-site Manager

  • Molerat Project Manager October 2015 – December2016
  • Molerat Research Assistant March 2015 – September 2015
  • Meerkat Volunteer November 2013 – November 2014

FrancescoMolerats Volunteer

 

NatashaMolerats volunteer

 

HollyMolerats volunteer

 

NathanMolerats volunteer

 

JacobKMP Project Manager (2017 – )

  • BSc in Zoology (Cardiff University)

The natural world captivated me from a young age, this led me on a path to gain a BSc in Zoology from Cardiff University (2013-2016). I have undertaken several short term positions in field biology, most notably surveying fish species on Northern Tobago’s coral reefs. I intended to spend longer in the field, specifically working on animals living in social groups, this led me to the Kalahari Meerkat Project; where I joined as a field assistant in late 2016. I have now joined the management team, where I oversee a number of volunteers in addition to communicating back to Zurich and Cambridge University. I intend to remain in biology in the future and I  hope to continue to work on the knowledge I have gained thus far.

ginaTerritory defence in Meerkats: The influence of group size on investments

 

Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies

University of Zurich

 

Contact: gina.moergeli@uzh.ch

 

To see how group size can influence the defensive behaviour, meerkats (Suricata suricatta) provide a unique opportunity. In this species, beside the intensity of scent marking, inspection of scent and the amount and duration of recruitment calls, as well as the change in post-inspectional movement and behavioural patterns are an indication for the degree of investment. In my MSc research I am assessing how group size influences the reaction to intruders.

During a six month period I collect data on natural occuring marking behaviour on dominant and subordinate individuals in different sized groups at the Kalahari Meerkat Project. In addition, I conduct scent mark presentations, comparing the reaction to scent at the periphery against the centre of the territory, and check for the impact of the opponents group composition (groups vs. roving males). Furthermore, I analyse longterm adlib data of the KMP on marking behaviour (location and frequency) and how this relates to group size and other social and ecological factors.

I grew up in London a very far stretch from where I have always wanted to work and live… in the African bush. I have always been drawn to African wildlife and have previous experience working with them in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia. But after completing my masters it now includes South Africa working with meerkats.

Starting Date: February 2018

 

I’ve developed a keen interest in researching group-living species throughout my years at Exeter, culminating in my masters thesis on group conflict in ants, and i’ve also had the opportunity to gain a wide range of field experience from field courses in Iceland, Mongolia and Costa Rica, a 2 month research assistant position in North Cyprus helping to conserve turtles, and planning and carrying out my own 5 week expedition assessing change in biodiversity of a rich area of threatened coastal forest in Madagascar.  This project is the perfect opportunity to focus this experience towards the dynamics of group-living species, like meerkats – the area of research I want to work in for the foreseeable future.

  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting Date: September 2018

 

  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date (Meerkat volunteer): November 2017
  • Starting date Zurich Manager: May 2018
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: September 2017
  • Country of origin: Australia
  • Starting date: December 2017

I graduated with a Zoology BSc from the University of Sheffield (2017) and have previously volunteered for the Ascension Island Conservation Department and worked in North Cyprus as Base Leader for the Marine Turtle Conservation Project. I came to the KMP to immerse myself in the field of behavioural ecology before I went onto further study, and have made such incredible progress in both my professional and personal journey here. I now intend to direct my career towards behavioural research that can serve conservation purposes.

  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: December 2017

  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • University: University of KwaZulu-Natal
  • Starting date: January 2018

 

  • Country of Origin: Netherlands
  • Starting date: March 2018
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: February 2018

  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: February 2018
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: March 2018
  • Country of origin: Canada
  • Starting date: March 2018

 

  • Country of origin: USA
  • Starting date: April 2018
  • Country of origin: Australia
  • Starting date: May 2018
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date volunteer: May 2018
  • Starting Date KMP Manager: August 2019
  • Ending Date: July 2021

In 2017 I graduated from The University of Liverpool with a BSc in Bioveterinary Science. I took a strong interest in animal behaviour and in particular I remember choosing the meerkats at Chester Zoo to observe as part of a mini project, little did I know that I would end up working with wild meerkats in the Kalahari just over a year later! I was keen to gain more field work experience where I could apply my degree, as well as taking on the challenge of living in a remote environment. I enjoyed my first year as a research volunteer so much that I continued on to join the management team. Meerkats are an excellent study species to answer so many questions and I am so happy to be able to study them alongside so many wonderful people.

  • Country of origin: Australia
  • Starting date: October 2018
  • Country of origin: France / England
  • Starting Date volunteer: September 2018
  • Starting Date KMP Manager: March 2019
  • Country of origin: France
  • Starting date volunteer: December 2018
  • Starting date Zurich Manager: September 2019
  • Country of origin: Australia
  • Starting date: February 2019

Narelle graduated from the University of Queensland with an Ecology Honours. While studying, she has explored research on the topics of protected areas that overlap with tidal flats across the globe, brain morphology of leporids and marsupials, health benefits of greenspaces, and breeding program impacts on whitefish. She has also been a presenter for the Australian Marine Conservation Society and an executive for a Society for Conservation Biology Chapter. Narelle joined the Kalahari Meerkat Project to brush up on her field skills before venturing back into academia to focus on conservation.

  • Country of origin: Ireland
  • Starting date: March 2019

I graduated from University College Dublin with a BSc. (Honours) majoring in Zoology in 2016. While in UCD I conducted a project on two species of wild mouse lemur in rural Madagascar. Since finishing my degree, I have worked with birds of prey in a sanctuary/zoo. I joined the Kalahari Meerkat Project in March 2019, both to improve my field skills after working with captive animals and also because I love meerkats. At the KMP I have gained valuable experience both in and outside the field. During my time here I have taken on the Life History job where I manage all the life history details recorded by other field assistants, generate monthly reports and have a general overview of the entire meerkat population. The experience I have gained here has inspired me to return to academia and peruse a masters where I hope to utilise some of the data collected here to complete my masters project.

  • Country of origin: France
  • Starting date: March 2019
  • Country of origin: USA
  • Starting date: July 2019
  • Ending date: June 2020
  • Country of origin: France
  • Starting date: August 2019
  • Ending date: June 2020
  • Country of origin: USA and Israel
  • Starting date: September 2019
  • Ending date: February 2021
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: November 2019
  • Starting date Zurich manager: July 2020
  • Starting date Meerkat manager: 2021

Before joining the KMP I had just finished my BSc (Hons) Zoology Degree at Aberystwyth University (Wales, UK). I have been interested in animal behavioural studies since I first focused my education on animals studying for an Animal Management Extended Diploma at 16. Since then, I completed my final year university dissertation study on primate communication looking at the use of signaling pelage and different visual systems. I am hoping to use my experience at the KMP to be a part of further behavioural studies in the future, with hopes to link into conservation work as well.

  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: December 2019
  • Country of origin: Australia
  • Starting date: December 2019
  • Starting date Life History volunteer: July 2020
  • Ending date: April 2021

I joined the KMP in December 2019 after undertaking a Bachelor of Animal Science degree at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Prior to coming to Africa, I worked with meerkats in captivity for 8 years. I joined the KMP to build upon my knowledge on meerkats and to gain field experience. I hope to utilize what I learn out here to improve the lives of meerkats in human care.

  • Country of origin: Australia
  • Starting date: January 2020
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: April 2019
  • Ending date: September 2021
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date molerat volunteer: February 2019
  • Starting date molerat manager: September 2019
  • Country of origin: France
  • Starting date meerkat volunteer: May 2019
  • Starting date molerat volunteer: September 2019
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: August 2019
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: September 2019
  • Starting date Lab Technician: June 2020
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: January 2020
  • Country of origin: USA
  • Starting date: November 2019
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: August 2019
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: October 2019
  • Country of origin: USA
  • Starting date: January 2020
  • Country of origin: USA
  • Starting date: May 2019
  • Country of origin: France
  • Starting date: January 2019
  • Ending date: January 2020
  • Country of origin: France
  • Starting date: January 2019
  • Ending date: January 2020
  • Starting date: September 2019
  • Ending date: January 2020
  • Starting date: June 2019
  • Ending date: October 2019
  • Starting date: June 2019
  • Ending date: November 2019
  • Starting date: March 2019
  • Ending date: August 2019
  • Starting date: March 2019
  • Ending date: August 2019
  • Country of origin: USA
  • Starting date: August 2018
  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: September 2019
  • Country of origin: SA
  • Starting date: February 2020
  • Starting date KMP Manager: July 2020
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: March 2020
  • Starting date PostDoc: July 2020
  • Ending date: March 2021

  • Country of origin: Australia
  • Starting date: November 2019

Maggie majored in Ecology at La Trobe University and continued her studies with an honours project focusing on recovery of arboreal mammals post fire. After interning at the Conservation Ecology Centre in Cape Otway, Maggie came to the KMP for the opportunity to immerse herself in studying a single species and landscape. Maggie hopes to use the research and fieldwork skills learned at the KMP for further studies and work based in conservation.

  • Country of origin: Australia
  • Starting date: March 2020
  • Ending date: March 2021

My passion for wildlife and conservation has led me to complete a Bachelor of Science (Animal Behavior) at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia and an Honours degree in Zoology at the University of Tasmania, focusing on the endangered Forty-spotted pardalote. While my interests are in conservation, volunteering at the Kalahari Meerkat Project was too good to turn down as has and will continue to provide me with valuable knowledge in scientific research, general desert living and making life-long relationships with people from all over the world.  

  • Country of origin: Zimbabwe
  • Starting date: August 2020
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: July 2020
  • Ending date: June 2021
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: July 2020
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: July 2020
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: July 2020
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: September 2020
  • Ending date: January 2022
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: September 2020
  • Ending date: January 2022

  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: September 2020
  • Ending date: March 2021
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: September 2020
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: September 2020
  • Ending date: February 2021

  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: December 2020
  • Ending date: June 2021

  • Country of origin: India
  • Starting date: December 2020
  • Ending date: December 2021
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: November 2020
  • Ending date: April 2021
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: November 2020
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: January 2021
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: January 2021
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: February 2021
  • Ending date: December 2021
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: February 2021
  • Ending date: August 2021
  • Country of origin: Belgium
  • Starting date: March 2021
  • Starting date Life History volunteer: May 2021
  • Starting date Zurich Manager: December 2021
  • Ending date Zurich Manager: March 2023

  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: March 2021
  • Ending date: September 2021
  • Country of origin:  Bulgaria
  • Starting date: March 2021
  • End date: October 2021
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: March 2021
  • Ending date: September 2021

Country of origin: France

Starting date: May 2021

Ending date: May 2022

Country of origin: South Africa

Starting date: June 2021

Ending date: June 2022

Country of origin: UK

Starting date: June 2021

Ending date: July 2022

Country of origin: India

Starting date: July 2021

Starting date Meerkat Manager: December 2021

Ending date Meerkat Manager: February 2023

Country of origin: Italy

Starting date: July 2021

Ending date: June 2022

  • Country of origin: USA
  • Starting date: September 2021
  • Ending date: August 2022

I studied Biology and Environmental Studies at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. I then went on to Intern at the Bimini Biological Field Station for six months in 2019. Though I plan to study conservation biology in a Master’s program, my time with the KMP has grown my interest in behavioral ecology.

  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: November 2021
  • Ending date: October 2022

  • Country of origin: UK
  • Starting date: August 2021
  • Ending date: July 2022

  • Country of origin: France
  • Starting date: December 2021
  • Ending date: April 2022
  • Country of origin: South Africa
  • Starting date: March 2022

 

 

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