6 months ago Juno was found running through the streets of Johannesburg, when she was finally darted by Johannesburg zoo she was in a state of stress and the pads on her paws had been damaged from running on tar mac. A few weeks later she was brought to Mankwe for rehabilitation to prepare her for a 'soft release' on to the reserve. Juno immediately relaxed in her new enclosure and gained condition. She was fed bones, carcasses, eggs and birds, which is a diet typical to a brown hyena. Human contact was kept to a minimum so that she would not lose her fear of humans. A GPS collar was fitted a few weeks ago but Juno proved to be an unsuitable candidate for a collar as she became extremely stressed and tried to pull the collar off. The following day the collar was removed and a week later she was released on to the reserve. She walked calmly and confidently into the night. Her movements are being monitored by camera traps. Juno stole the hearts of all those that saw her and has created a positive awareness about the plight of brown hyena's.
![]() Mankwe has been a hive of activity over the past 3 months with over a 120 students from 5 different British Universities and Colleges conducting field courses on the reserve. Exciting new projects have been started new equipment has been tested, including thermal imaging camera's,a quad copter and new camera traps. Some of the projects that were conducted were: looking at the tick load on different age burns, parasite levels in our herbivores, utilisation of waterholes by large mammals, grass surveys to monitor the grazing pressure on different age burns, dung preference of dung beetles and various bird behaviour studies. We would like to thank the students and lecturers for their enthusiasm and support in making Mankwe a better place. It has been a pleasure working with all of you and we look forward to your continued visits. |
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January 2020
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