conservation, education, research, research projects, princeton university, teacher resources, endangered species, mpala research centre

Three Maasai boys, sent to the mountains on a rite of passage, rebel and runaway. Furious, the elders turn them into a pack of dogs to roam endlessly for eternity. This, according to legend, is how wild dogs came to be…

These highly social animals once roamed in large packs throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but they have disappeared from 93 percent of the area where they once lived. The primary culprit? Habitat destruction caused by human activity. Imagine the surprise of Dr. Rosie Woodroffe, now the director of the Samburu-Laikipia Wild Dog Project, when she saw three of these animals run out of the bush in front of her vehicle in December 1999. They were the first wild dogs to be seen in Laikipia since 1980! Today, there are some 30 packs—about 300 animals—wandering and breeding in the region. Dr. Woodroffe credits this incredible comeback to the way livestock and the land are managed. The goal of her project is to take the management lessons learned at Laikipia and use them to foster coexistence between human and wild dog populations elsewhere.

RIVER CAMP PRODUCTIONS: FILMMAKING BY KENYAN AND PRINCETON STUDENTS