{"id":3782,"date":"2024-02-21T06:47:32","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T06:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfs.local\/program\/endangered-species\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T19:19:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T19:19:32","slug":"endangered-species","status":"publish","type":"program","link":"https:\/\/fieldstudies.org\/center\/kenya\/program\/endangered-species\/","title":{"rendered":"Endangered Species"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Beneath Mount Kilimanjaro, students track elephants moving through Amboseli\u2019s wetlands, where papyrus rings open pools and giraffes drift along the acacia edges. At nightfall, lions skirt Maasai bomas, underscoring the tension of shared space. That theme of coexistence continues northward, as students journey to Rwanda\u2019s volcanic highlands. Here, in the cloud forests, they kneel to observe mountain gorilla families feeding, playing, and resting. Research on wildlife corridors often takes place alongside farmlands and settlements, where lions and other species overlap with human activity. Between camera traps, migration maps, and conversations with herders about predator conflict, students learn how people and wildlife persist together across two of Africa\u2019s most iconic landscapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Track and age Amboseli\u2019s savanna elephants using scan sampling to construct detailed behavioral ethograms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Observe endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda\u2019s volcanic highlands under strict conservation guidelines, recording social interactions, feeding patterns, and family structures.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Analyze wildlife corridors against newly farmed parcels, comparing shifts in animal movement patterns with land-use records.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Deploy and monitor camera traps to identify lions, rhinos, and cheetahs, integrating findings into long-term datasets.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Conduct Directed Research: frame a stakeholder-driven question, collect and analyze field data with faculty guidance, and present actionable findings to local partners.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here, in the heart of the Great Rift Valley, climate change and land use adjustments are negatively affecting Kenya\u2019s ecosystems and those living in them. Spend a semester here, researching root causes of these changes and how different conservation strategies can benefit both humans and wildlife.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23177,"template":"","location":[96],"class_list":["post-3782","program","type-program","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-kenya"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstudies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program\/3782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstudies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstudies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/program"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstudies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstudies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstudies.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=3782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}