Research Partner Organisations
The Carnivore Conservancy works closely with several academic, governmental and industry research organisations to ensure that our efforts have the greatest possible impact in the fight to prevent extinction of threatened carnivore species. Many of our partner organisations hold a seat on our research committee, which sets the direction and priorities for our overall research program.
Deakin university
national geographic society
The Remote Imaging department at National Geographic is responsible for developing the Crittercam™, an innovative technology that allows video cameras to be attached to wild animals in order to capture footage from the animal's-eye view. Such footage allows researchers to observe behaviours that in many cases would never be discovered otherwise.
At our request, the Remote Imaging team developed a collar-mounted apparatus tailored to the devil's anatomy, and then joined us and research partner Zoos Victoria in conducting a pilot study with captive devils as Healesville Sanctuary and two pilot studies with wild devils at our study sites in north-western Tasmania. These studies were a very successful proof-of-concept and yielded many new insights into devil behaviour.
Hokkaido university
save the Tasmanian devil program
The Save the Tasmanian Devil Program (STDP) is the official governmental response to the threat to the devil's survival posed by Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD). An initiative of the Australian and Tasmanian governments, the programme is tasked with the conservation of the iconic endangered species.
We coordinate our fieldwork with STDP to maximise the coverage of the overall monitoring programme, share demographic data on all the animals we capture, report suspected cases of DFTD and take tumour biopsies to confirm the disease, and develop research projects that complement STDP's work. Because of the location of our study sites, we have also been able support STDP by documenting the movement of the "disease front" into far north-western Tasmania, the last disease-free area in the state.
Taronga zoo
University of cambridge
The Transmissible Cancer Group in the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge, led by Dr. Elizabeth Murchison, conducts ground-breaking research on the evolution and genetics of directly transmissible cancers such as Devil Facial Tumour Disease. Their research, which incorporates approaches from the fields of genetics, genomics and molecular biology, continues to expand our understanding of how DFTD arose and how it is evolving over time — crucial information for researchers working on DFTD treatment and vaccine option, as well as for cancer researchers more generally.
We support Dr. Murchison's work by collecting tumour biopsies from DFTD-infected animals at our study sites, which allows her team to determine whether new strains of the disease are evolving in different localities.
university of new south wales
The Mammal Lab in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales is run by Professor Tracey Rogers, a specialist in predator ecology and biology. Professor Rogers and her team have done extensive research using stable isotope analysis, a technique that compares the ratio of different isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in a sample, to assess the dietary composition of several species. With this technique, a drop of blood is sufficient to identify the makeup of an animal's diet for the preceding two to four weeks; a single whisker can provide a dietary profile for up to a year prior.
As a postgraduate researcher with TCC, Anna Lewis did her Ph.D. research at the Mammal Lab, focusing on various aspects of the diet of Tasmanian devils and spotted-tailed quolls; her research drew on an extensive sample bank we began collecting in 2014. We have also supported the Mammal Lab's research on devil behavior by deploying acoustic loggers at our study sites to record wild Tasmanian devil vocalisations.
university of sydney
The Carnivore Conservancy has its roots at the University of Sydney. TCC founder and executive director Channing Hughes began his Tasmanian devil and quoll field research as a Ph.D. student there in 2012 and expects to complete his doctorate in 2026. His primary academic supervisor was Chris Dickman, Emeritus Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, who also serves as TCC's Director of Scientific Research.
We also collaborate with the Australasian Wildlife Genomics Group in the Faculty of Veterinary Science, which is responsible for cutting-edge research on the genetics of the devil and of Devil Facial Tumour Disease.
zoo and aquarium association of australasia
zoos Victoria
Zoos Victoria is a zoo-based conservation organisation, supporting threatened species conservation via three zoos: Healesville Sanctuary, Melbourne Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo. They have a strong commitment to Victorian and regional threatened species through active breeding, reintroduction and insurance programs, research, awareness-raising and advocacy. Part of this commitment is Zoos Victoria’s involvement in Tasmanian devil research and their regional captive breeding and insurance program.
We work closely with Zoos Victoria staff in the area of behavioural ecology. Maintaining wild behaviours in captive animals can be difficult, and the more zoos know about how wild devils behave, they better they can develop husbandry practices to maintain and promote such behaviour in captive animals. For that reason, Zoos Victoria was keen to join us and National Geographic to explore the possibilities of using Crittercam technology on devils. The three organisations worked closely together to conduct a pilot study with captive devils at Healesville Sanctuary, which enabled successful Crittercam deployments on wild devils.