This year we have helped secure the future of the beautiful and endangered Grevy’s zebra through various projects.

Earlier this year, along with our Kenyan partners, we completed a month long survey interviewing local nomadic herdsmen in northern Kenya about their attitudes towards the zebras, what they think the key threats facing them are and where they think they are within this large area. The herdsmen have very good knowledge about wildlife and interviewing them is a very efficient means of collecting information over this vast and inaccessible area.

Watch Dr Guy Parker explain more about this survey

The far north of Kenya provides a link between northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. This area is also vast and may contain large numbers of wildlife. In addition, there are currently only two conservation areas in the whole of the far north, so there is little protection for the wildlife there.

By improving our insight into herders’ attitudes through the surveys, and combining this with information from aerial surveys, camera traps and radio collars on the zebras, we now have a more detailed understanding of the issues surrounding the zebra and are therefore able to understand the main threats facing the species, which allows limited conservation resources to be focused towards these areas.

For example, one of the main reasons for hunting is to produce traditional medicines from the zebra’s body fat. If herding communities were able to access modern medicines then the need for hunting would be much reduced.

In September 2010, Dr Guy Parker presented our survey work to over 120 global leaders in business, the public sector and academia, at the START IBM Summit. START is a national initiative by The Prince's Charities to promote and celebrate sustainable living. It aims to demonstrate what a more energy efficient, cleaner and healthier future could look like.

Later this year we will be tracking zebras with radio collars to discover ranging patterns, again in this remote area. You can help us purchase these collars, which cost £2000 each.

We have been working with Kenyan conservation partners for 15 years to conserve the Grevy’s zebra. This has involved working with the Kenyan government to get the Grevy’s zebra protected by law, conducting surveys to work out where the Grevy’s zebra occur and in what numbers, and working with local communities in northern Kenya to protect the Grevy’s zebra and other wildlife. 

We work with a number of conservation organisations including: Northern Rangelands Trust, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Grevy’s zebra Trust, Kenya Wildlife Service, Denver Zoo and St Louis Zoo, as well as a number of community conservancies across northern Kenya.

There are believed to be approximately 2,500 Grevy’s zebra left in the wild.However, there is some uncertainty about the numbers because they range over a vast area and are notoriously difficult to count. While Grevy’s zebra used to live across the Horn of Africa, today they are only found in northern Kenya – their stronghold – and small areas of southern Ethiopia. The core of their range is in central northern Kenya where their numbers have stabilised and they appear to be recovering.

Whilst here in the park, three foals were born during the summer. A female was born on 17 June, a male on 10 August and another male just two days later.

 

17 September 2010