Carnivore Research Malawi

Happy New Year from Carnivore Research Malawi!!

Some highlights from 2025 include:
-Deploying a new collar on URBHY25 from our Urban Clan
-The pregnancy and successful birth of URBHY25 this fall
-Welcoming a new Research Manager and Research Assistant to our team!
-Following the pregnancy of BUNDAHY01
-Traveling across various regions of Malawi for diet analysis research and conflict mitigation outreach!!

Thank you so much to all our friends and supporters who helped 2025 be so successful, and here’s to an exciting 2026! 🥂🐾

We are happy to see a new project Biomas Malawi (Bio+) starting in Kasungu National Park, alongside our long term research project in the park. This is great news as more projects means better outcomes for the park and its wildlife! We look forward to seeing their results and potential collaborations.

We are also happy to share the good news that in-fact the endangered African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) has indeed been recorded in Kasungu NP park since 2010.

In-fact we have officially recorded them each year as part of our long-term camera trapping survey, first in 2017, then 2018, 2019 and each year since. See our pics below and the results as published in our paper from our camera trapping project (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.7620)

We also recorded African lion (Panthera leo) each year since 2018, in-fact we even tried to collar them a few times but to no avail! We will keep trying!

All our records are of course shared with the IUCN to inform regional range and population estimates as part of our participation in the relevant IUCN species committees, so we are more than happy to share our sightings with Bio+!

Keep your eyes on our socials early in 2026 as we have lots of exciting work planned, both on our urban hyaena project and in Kasungu, in-collaboration with Zoo Miami and the University of Bath Milner Centre for Evolution.

Exciting times for Kasungu National Park. Happy Christmas from the CRM team.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.7620




Kumbali Country Lodge DNPW Malawi
Conservation Research Africa Milner Centre for Evolution IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence Specialist Group

In September, Carnivore Research Malawi (CRM), along with African Bat Conservation (ABC), were invited to the Msangu Primary School in Lilongwe to present our work throughout Malawi to students aged 6 to 18. During our visit, we spoke to fifteen classrooms and reached over 2,000 students. These discussions included Malawian carnivore ecology, CRM’s methods of carnivore data collection, human benefits of spotted hyaena conservation, as well as safety measures to prevent and mitigate human-wildlife conflict.

Recently we performed some habituation sessions for clans of Hyaenas 🐾 around Lilongwe! Here are our Research Manager and Research Assistant preparing for call-ins.

Habituations are vital to our conservation and research efforts. This will help us to perform immobilizations in the future, where we collect important biological information, confirm hyaena ID’s, and assess clan composition.

So proud of two of our previous research managers Maddie Melton and Brennan PetersonWood who have published thier work on the impact of tourism on hyaena in Namibia!
Great to be able to be part of their journeys!

www.sciencedirect.com

🐾 We’re back with good news! A couple of months ago, we shared that BUNDAHY01, the matriarch of the Bunda clan, was pregnant. Today, after our camera trap check, we spotted in the images from the last few weeks her two beautiful new cubs: BUNDAHY14 and 15.
These early months are the toughest, but BUNDAHY01 is an experienced mother who has successfully raised twins before. We’re excited to follow their journey!

This past Saturday, we successfully captured a female spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta), nearly four years old, in . We fitted her with a GPS collar (and collected samples) that will be vital for understanding how the urban clan navigates Lilongwe city, identify new resting sites and potential ecological corridors. Another key aspect of the collar is helping us better understand human-wildlife conflict in the surrounding areas.

A huge thank you to our colleagues from for their help that night, and to for her excellent veterinary work. Now we look forward to the results!

🔈Join us on 29th May at Land & Lake for an evening talk with our Research Manager at Carnivore Research Malawi.
We’ll dive into the fascinating world of Malawi’s carnivores, exploring their ecological roles and incredible adaptations. Discover how these species manage to share space and resources in diverse ecosystems — and what that means for conservation.
Don’t miss it!

🔔LAST CALL!

Are you passionate about carnivore conservation and ready to take the next step in your career?

Visit our website 👉www.carnivoreresearchmalawi.org/vacancies to download the application form.
📩 Submit your completed form, along with your CV and cover letter to [email protected] before the end of this week.

Don’t miss the chance to join our team in the field! 🐾

Yesterday, we kicked off our CRM seminar series at Bunda College with an exciting introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS)! 🌍🗺️ This first glimpse into the world of GIS is vital across countless fields, offering students invaluable skills for both university projects and future careers. From empowering research to guiding administrative decisions in land-use planning, GIS with us isn’t just about data—it’s about making informed choices that champion environmental conservation every step of the way. 💡📊🌱

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the lively discussion! 🙏✨

We’ll be diving deeper with practical hands-on modules next September, after the students have enjoyed a well-deserved break to recharge! 😎📚

Thank you to Zoo Miami for their ongoing support of our work to conserve spotted hyaena in Malawi. Fabulous to work with such a passionate team.