Dr. Jan F. Kamler

I have been affiliated with the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), University of Oxford, since 2004. Since 2023, I also have been affiliated with Pró-Onça, a conservation organization in Brazil, directed by Letícia Benavalli with help from Luma Astun Lopes. The main focus of Pró-Onça is the conservation of jaguars (Panthera onca) and other felids in the Cerrado, a vast tropical savanna that is South America’s second largest biome. We are monitoring jaguars and other biodiversity in the Cerrado, while emphasizing the involvement and empowerment of local people, especially women. 

The main focus of my most recent  work at WildCRU was on the conservation of the Indochinese leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri) in Southeast Asia, in collaboration with Dr. Susana Rostro-García, also from WildCRU. The Indochinese leopard is a genetically distinct subspecies that was native throughout Southeast Asia, but has experienced a recent range collapse and is now Critically Endangered. They remain only in two major strongholds which are considered priority sites: Peninsular Malaysia, and the Northern Tenasserim Forest Complex on the Myanmar-Thailand border. A small isolated population in eastern Cambodia also is a priority site due to high conservation value. Reasons for their decline are primarily due to poaching for the illegal wildlife trade, especially because leopard parts are used in traditional Asian medicine. Other reasons for their decline include prey declines, habitat destruction, and possibly disease. The Indochinese leopard is unique in that most individuals are black, or melanistic – except the population in eastern Cambodia, which contains only spotted individuals.

From 2015 to 2018 I worked for Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization, as coordinator for their leopard program in Southeast Asia. We worked with governments and local NGOs to conduct camera-trap surveys to determine the density of Indochinese leopards in eastern Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand. We also surveyed the Javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas), another Critically Endangered subspecies, on Java island, Indonesia.

My previous research in Southeast Asia focused on dholes (Cuon alpinus), and Endangered Species, in Cambodia, Laos, and Bhutan. I also studied the ecology of several species of Southeast Asian mesocarnivores, including golden jackals (Canis aureus), clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa), Asian golden cats (Catopuma temminckii), jungle cats (Felis chaus), and leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis). Before that I studied several other carnivore species, mostly canids, in South Africa, Poland, Texas, and Kansas (see Research tab for summaries).

I am a former Fulbright Scholar (Poland; 2002-04) and Marie Curie Fellow (University of Oxford; 2005-07). I am a member of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group, IUCN Canid Specialist Group, and the IUCN Dhole Working Group. I also am a member of the Society for Conservation Biology, American Society of Mammalogists, and The Wildlife Society.