Dr Graeme Shannon has been studying elephants and large mammal ecology since he first bumped into them (literally, one of the African Space crew was with him) in a forest in Tanzania in 1998.
In the course of gaining his MSc. from the Durrell Institute of Conservation Ecology at the University of Kent and his Phd. from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, has mapped 500km of densely forested elephants paths in Tembe Elephant Path, South Africa; compared the foraging and movement of male and female elephants in protected areas across Zululand and played a key role in a National Geographic project in Kenya and South Africa.
Most recently, Graeme has been working in the home of elephant conservation, Amboseli National Park in Kenya, and Pilansberg National Park in South Africa, focused upon the role of elephant matriarchs in group decision making and further exploring the acquisition of social and ecological knowledge by African elephants.
Graeme and his team have taken our understanding of elephant behaviour to new levels. Happily, he doesn’t confine his knowledge to the pages of journals; when he can, he also acts as one of our greatly valued expert guides, sharing his passion for the African elephant with African Space travellers.
