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Acknowledgements
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ix How can I possibly acknowledge all the people who deserve thanks for their encouragement, support, friendship, and hospitality over the 50+ years since I began research in Africa? Going over progress reports and papers written as long ago as the sixties, I realized that I had forgotten some friends and colleagues who helped in one way or another. My review served to fill most of the gaps, but, considering that my memory continues to diminish with age, inevitably I’ll fail to include everyone. For which I can only ask indulgence. As most of the years I’ve studied the wildebeest have been spent in the Serengeti ecosystem and involved the western white-bearded subspecies , the lion’s share of governmental and nongovernmental organizations , research grants, collaborators, supporters, and friends who need to be acknowledged will be from that region of Tanzania. Times and places are given in the introduction. All told, I spent less than a year in the Masai Mara part of the ecosystem, between 1963 and 2007. Research I did on all the other wildebeest populations, in Kenya, Tanzania, and the other range states of eastern and southern Africa, was carried out during visits to parks and reserves lasting from a few days to a week or two. I shall acknowledge the organizations and individuals who enabled the research to take place. Acknowledgments Research Grants, Institutional, Corporate, and Private Support The National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration has been most supportive, with grants for research on the wildebeest and other antelopes in the Serengeti ecosystem in 1963–65, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1982, and 1996–98. I am grateful to the following for their support: Tanzania Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Wildlife (1963–64); New York Explorers Club (1962); National Science Foundation and Academy of Natural Sciences (research on Serengeti ungulates, 1979–81). International Union for Conservation of Nature (sponsorship, vehicle loaned by Nairobi HQ, 1996). World Wildlife Fund–US, British Airways Assisting Conservation, Environment Branch (three complimentary tickets, Boston-Nairobi, 1988, 1989); Safari Club International (Massachusetts Chapter, 1999). World Wildlife Fund–US. Smithsonian Institution Conservation and Research Center (reproductive physiology of the wildebeest, fieldwork , 2001–3); Paul Tudor Jones and the Grumeti Reserves (financial and logistical support of the captive wildebeest maintained there during the reproductive study, 2002–4). A University of Cape Town Fellowship enabled me to carry out research on wildebeest in southern African parks and reserves in 1986. Paul Khurana, Rupert Ingram, Gerry Mann, Lisa Gemmill, David Van Vleck, and Roger Wood made generous contributions to my research. Tanzania For permission to conduct research in Tanzania, I thank the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute and the Commission for Science and Technology . The Tanzania Game Department (Bruce Kinloch), chief conservators , from Henry Fosbrooke and Ole Saibull (1963–65) to Emmanuel Chausi (1995–2002), permitted and facilitated the research I carried out in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The directors general of Tanzania National Parks enabled me to collect data on wildebeest and other wildlife in Serengeti, Tarangire, and Manyara National Parks, wherein park wardens and rangers provided much-needed assistance. The College of African Wildlife Management (Mweka) carried out semiannual game counts in Ngorongoro. I thank the Wildlife Division for permission to stay in the Grumeti Reserves. x | Acknowledgments [44.204.204.14] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 01:16 GMT) Acknowledgments | xi Collaboration and Cooperation with Researchers and Wildlife Managers The following individuals and organizations helped my research by providing assistance, guidance, and/or information. Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA). A capture-marking operation of yearling Crater wildebeest by warden David Orr and wildebeest researcher Murray Watson enlarged my sample of known individuals (1963–65 and 1973). John Goddard shared data on predation by a resident population of wild dogs (1964–65; Estes and Goddard 1967); Fritz Walther shared observations of Crater gazelles (1964); Winston and Lynne Trollope prepared a management plan for Ngorongoro grasslands (1995 and 1998), including scheduled burning, assisted and later implemented by Amiyo Tlaa, who also assisted my research. Daniel Deocampo shared his preliminary survey of the Crater’s surface waters (1999). Hans and Ute Klingel collaborated with marking operations . Bernard Kissui, Dennis Ikanda, and Ingela Janssen, monitoring Crater lions as part of Craig Packer’s ongoing Serengeti lion research, responded to requests for information about conditions between my trimestral visits (1997–2002 and later). George and Lori Frame provided information on wildebeest and conditions in the NCA while doing research in Mpakai Crater in the early 1970s. Serengeti National...