PROGRAMME: AFRICAN WILD DOGS UNITED 2026

BEHAVIOUR I

Jessica Watermeyer – Exploring the complexities of cooperative breeding: insights from African wild dog packs

Dr Whitney Hansen – To Peruse or Patrol? Sociality and territoriality inform behavioral trade-off strategies in a large carnivore

Vincent Nachi – A comparative analysis of activity lebels and behavioural patterns of painted dog (Lycaon pictus) pups and adults in disturbed and undisturbed dens in Mana Pools area, Zimbabwe

Pia Riddell – A case for Dr. Dolittle: Can African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) vocalisations help monitor social cohesion?

Dr James Redcliffe – Too Close for Comfort: Lion Risk Signals in African Wild Dog

Rebecca Roodt – Sleeping for success: How do African wild dogs select rest sites?

SPECIAL SESSION:

Collaborative Conservation in Action: Insights from the Wild Dog Advisory Group

(Cole du Plessis)

CONSERVATION I

Dr Anna Bedenk-Smith – “How do I defend my organisation against my mother?” The embodied experiences of local conservationists

Joseph Hlako – The combined use of livestock guardian dogs (LGDs), spay and vaccination campaigns as methods to support African wild dog (AWD) conservation.**

Thierry Aebischer – African Wild Dogs in the Eastern Central African Republic – Options for Long-Term Conservation and Research

RESTORATION

Cole du Plessis – African Wild Dog restoration efforts in Southern Africa

Eugene Greyling – Challenges facing the conservation of African wild dogs in a managed metapopulation framework

Matilde Sant’Ana – Post-release analysis of reintroduced African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus)

SPECIAL SESSION:

Hot Dogs part 2: progress untangling climate change impacts on African wild dogs

(Jenny Linden)

POPULATIONS

Dr Dominik Behr – Demographic drivers of African wild dog population dynamics: Conservation insights from 35 years of monitoring in Botswana

Lukas Bierhoff – Presenting the ongoing PhD project: Interspecific Effects on African Wild Dog Demography

Dylan Feldmeier – African Wild Dogs in the Greater Liuwa Ecosystem

Prof. Claudio Sillero – Distribution status and knowledge gaps of African wild dogs in Ethiopia

Dr Paolo Strampelli – African Wild Dogs in Western Tanzania – Status, Threats, and Conservation Recommendations Update**

BEHAVIOUR II

John Neelo – Does the shape of African wild dog scent-marks affect communication?**

Dr Peter Apps – Reactions of African wild dogs to components of their social odours

Philip Spitz – Analyzing Shifts in African Wild Dog Social Networks: Demographic Drivers and Oscillating Pack Dynamics**

SPECIAL SESSION:

Anti-Snaring Work to Protect Wild Dog Populations

(Dr Michelo Mungolo)

GENETICS

Dr Amelia Ramage – Looking to the Past for the Future of African Wild Dogs

Tresia Shihepo – Assessing relatedness of African wild dogs in Namibia’s Eastern Communal Conservancies.

Karen Vieira – Using SNPs to non-invasively monitor African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique

Dr Laura Tensen – Genome-wide signatures of drift in African wild dogs overcome within 10 generations following reintroduction

SPECIAL SESSION:

The Painted Wolf Foundation: Advancing Painted Wolf Conservation Through Strategy, Partnership, and Leadership Development

(Painted Wolf Foundation)

DISPERSAL

Dr David Hofman – A Decade of Dispersal in African Wild Dogs: Insights, Challenges, and Opportunities

Johane Njobvu – Long-distance Dispersals and Evaluating Corridors in the Greater Kafue Ecosystem, Zambia

Ella Bradford – Wild dog dispersal: challenges and opportunities for advancing understanding**

Yasmin Leigh Markides – Assessing habitat suitability and dispersal corridors for African wild dog across a multi-use landscape.

SURVEYS & MONITORING I

Dr Megan Claase – Latrine-based surveys are a cost-effective tool to detect and characterize African wild dog populations

Bruce Crossey – Tales Told in Fur and Faeces: Non-Invasive Insights into the life of a Wild Dog

Dr Tim Hoffman – – Using Scat Detection Dogs to Survey African Wild Dogs

SPECIAL SESSION:

Towards inclusive conservation: strengthening indigenous leadership in African wild dog conservation

(Dr Dedan Ngatiaand and Dr Mmadi Reuben)

MONITORING & ADDRESSING THREATS

Talbot de St Aubin – Snare removal as a tool for increasing endangered African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) population resilience in Zimbabwe’s Save Valley Conservancy

Ronja Haring– African wild dog conservation outside of protected areas

Singira Ngoishiye Parsais – Reduction of growing threats and informing Conservation of wild dog in Selous-Nyerere Landscape through systematic long-term monitoring program.

Michael Tagwira – Comparing the factors influencing the mortality rate of Painted dog pups (Lycaon pictus) between Main Camp and Sinamatella in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.

Norman Chibhememe – Perspectives and lessons learnt from the frontline of human-wild dog conflict mitigation**

Mari-Su de Villiers – Successful Conservation, But At What Cost?

SPECIAL SESSION:

How to enhance the Joint CITES-CMS African Carnivores Initiative

(Clara Nobbe)

CONSERVATION II

Dr Robin Gieling – Managing the Ark: how do we preserve and revive genetic diversity of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in a changing world?

Christina Gorsuch – AZA’s African Painted Dog SAFE

Assoc. Prof. Damien Paris – Stress Management: trials of novel pharmacophore analogue decrease some prosocial behaviours in African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) compared to original dog appeasing pheromone.

SPECIAL SESSION:

Exploring Wildlife Detection Dogs as a novel tool for African wild dog research

(Dr Tim Hofmann)

PITCH SESSION

Pitches by emerging African wild dog scientists
and conservation practitioners

PITCH SESSION

Pitches by emerging African wild dog scientists
and conservation practitioners

ECOLOGY

Dr Ben Goodheart – More Work, Less Pay: Investigating impacts of prey depletion on the hunting costs for African wild dogs

Bridget Mayani – Prey depletion and the effect of group size on cooperative hunting in African wild dogs

Reilley Mooney – Intrinsic drivers of ranging behaviours of free-roaming African wild dogs in the Waterberg

Kachama Banda – The smallest recorded home range in free-ranging wild dogs in Zambia: A description and potential explanations.

Lucy Novovitch – PhD project presentation: Dynamics of Carnivore Interactions and Habitat Use in the Okavango Delta

Dr Elisa Sandoval Serés – Impact of interspecific competition on African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in an ecosystem with artificial perennial water provision

Micaela Venter – The Diet of the Free-Roaming Waterberg Wild Dogs

SPECIAL SESSION:

Piecing the genetic puzzle for painted dog management

(Amelia Ramage)

CONSERVATION II

Wilton Nsimango – Connecting People to Conservation

Patience Shito – A layered model for African wild dog conservation: Insights and experience from the African Wildlife Conservation Fund

Dr Anna Bedenk-Smith – Call Me by Which Name? Conservation, Charisma, and the Politics of Naming

Dr Megan Claase – Anecdotal reports of wild dogs in the Great Nile Migration Landscape, South Sudan

SURVEYS & MONITORING II

Dr Kasim Rafiq – Revealing the hidden lives of African wild dogs with animal-worn sensors and AI

Daniela Abegg – ArgusWild AI and the BPC ‘Wanted’ Campaign: Harnessing AI for Individual Identification of African Wild Dogs

Adreena Kurdziel – Camera trap monitoring of free-roaming African wild dog populations in Ondjou Conservancy, Namibia

Francis Kamau – Camera Trapping Survey in Tsavo West National Park

SPECIAL SESSION:

How to reduce disease threats to your African wild dog population: introduction to the IUCN guidelines

(Prof Rosie Woodroffe)

HEALTH

Dr Dedan Ngatia – Downward dog, upward dog: evidence-based carnivore conservation through One Health and co-existence approaches in a human-dominated landscape

Dr Kendall Deans – Serosurvey of domestic dogs in NE Communal Conservancies; Potential implications for Namibian African wild dogs

Dr Robin Gieling – Effective antibody response of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) to canine distemper vaccination with a live attenuated vaccine

SPECIAL SESSION:

Spotlight on Projet Lycaon: saving West Africa’s last wild dogs

(Angelo Poupard)

Dr Jim Bond – One Health in practice: Applying evidence & experience from human rabies vaccination to protect African wild dogs (and hard-to-reach/feral dogs)

CLIMATE

Prof. Briana Abrahms – Climate and Competition: Contrasting Drivers of Space Use and Human-Wildlife Interactions within a Large Carnivore Guild