Sub-adult prepares for a night of foraging.

The Brown Hyaena is currently IUCN-listed as vulnerable. Estimates suggest an approximate world population of some 5-8,000, but in the arid savanna Makgadikgadi region of Botswana it is likely that there are less than 250 individuals remaining. This extraordinary area is dominated by 12,000km2 of salt pans which flood with the annual rains but which are dry for six months of the year. Brown hyaenas are solitary nocturnal foragers, often covering 50km in a night in their search for food, but with apparently complex social clan systems. As both local village and cattle communities expand, and the tourism industry increases, the amount of interaction and conflict between man and wild animals is steadily increasing, and conservation of a relatively unstudied and poorly understood species will be difficult.

A six-month-old cub contemplates life.

The project will gather information about this small population's behaviour, ecology and distribution. Working in conjunction with NGO's and other research projects focusing on different species, Glyn is forming the Makgadikgadi Research Foundation through which his work can be used to assist the overall conservation of one of Botswana's most threatened protected areas.