S4 E10: Stratton Hatfield & Koen Betjes

Charles and Jon talk to Stratton Hatfield and Koen Betjes, two conservation researchers involved in a range of fascinating work in Africa.

We cover a lot of ground from Giant Pangolin research in Kenya to the importance of taxonomy for conservation and mammal listing.

The pair talk about how they have just – together with Charles – solved the mystery of a mysterious mongoose, a case worthy of Sherlock Holmes.

And Stratton and Koen run through a set of mammal encounters guaranteed to send any mammalwatcher weak at the knees from close encounters with Allen’s Swamp Monkeys and Mountain Bongos to having a bath with a Giant Otter Shrew!

Stratton Hatfield grew up in Zimbabwe and moved to Kenya when he was 12. He spent his childhood exploring the African bush and now lives in the Netherlands where he’s finishing is PhD at Wageningen University (on the foraging ecology of Martial Eagles in Kenya’s Maasai Mara). He continues to spend a great deal of time travelling throughout Africa working on wildlife research and guiding, with much of his current focus on conservation through his job with the BAND Foundation, supporting projects across southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. He is an avid fan of wildlife mysteries especially those related to cryptic diversity, biogeography and taxonomy.

Koen Betjes studied wildlife management in the Netherlands and has since worked in some remote regions in Africa, including on Mandrills in southern Gabon, and biodiversity surveys south of Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He also works with the Dutch evolutionary biologist and television presenter Freek Vonk on wildlife and conservation projects.

Koen and Stratton are now working together in Kenya for the Pangolin Project, which works to protect Kenya’s last remaining Giant Pangolins.

Jon’s trip report from Northeast Brazil is here. And here is some information on the Matto Grosso Primate Route.

Here is information on the Lost Species Initiative we mentioned.

Please take a minute to complete this survey about becoming a contributing member of mammalwatching.com.

Cover art: Jackson’s Mongoose (camera trap), David Gulden