Mathai’s MNS talk on Civet, wildlife in logging zones

0

KUCHING: The public are invited to a talk featuring local wildlife ecologist John Mathai on small carnivore research in Sarawak.

The talk will cover the work of the Hose’s Civet and Small Carnivore Project, Borneo (HOSCAP Borneo), a research-based conservation project studying small mammalian carnivores (such as civets, mongooses, wild cats, and others) in a logging concession in the Upper Baram.

The project has a particular interest in the rare and elusive Bornean endemic, the Hose’s Civet, a species often described as ‘one of the world’s least known carnivores’.

It aims to recommend guidelines and management strategies that would ensure the conservation and long term survival of small carnivores, particularly the endemic Hose’s Civet, in logging concessions in Sarawak.

Moreover, this is the first ever ecological study on the Hose’s Civet Diplogale hosei, a species little known to science. As next to nothing is currently known about the Hose’s Civet, this species is of particular significance and interest to this project.

Organized by the Malaysian Nature Society Kuching branch, this talk will take place at UCSI University Sarawak Campus on July 18 from 7.30pm. The talk is also suitable for university students and admission is free.

John is the lead researcher of HOSCAP Borneo and is affiliated as a Research Fellow with the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation (IBEC), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).

The speaker holds Masters degrees in both Environmental Engineering and Conservation Biology and has spent the last 10 years working on conservation-related issues in Sarawak.

He works closely with the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature), serving as a member of the IUCN Small Carnivore Specialist Group, as a reviewer and Associate Editor for the IUCN scientific journal Small Carnivore Conservation and as an assessor for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.