Anyone want to work on Elephants (in natural habitat) ?
At Pah Muang Wildlife Sanctuary (along to road Chiang Mai to Lampang) there are 40+ wild-roaming elephants, released from captivity. And they are breeding ... so several wild-born babies. The population is becoming established. We will be shortly working with a foundation and the DNP to determine the effects of the re-introduced elephants on ecosystem structure and functions. The idea is to work out how many elephants can be released into the Wildlife Sanctuary without harming the ecosystem.
The study may be done with ground surveys of forest structure/diversity, remote and drone surveys, direct observations of elephant behaviour and looking at seed dispersal - yes the latter means digging through elephant dung. Anyone interested in doing this for a grad thesis, please contact us - either already-registered students or those thinking about registering at CMU for the next round of grad intake. AND ... the foundation will provide the funds needed for fieldwork and maybe a scholarship. So this is a great opportunity to work on Thailand's most iconic flagship species, close to Chiang Mai.
More info and questions in FORRU CMU:
http://www.forru.org/en/