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Quinton Martins is the project manager and one of the principal researchers of the CLT. A board of Trustees, including eminent scientists, business professionals and conservationists, administer the affairs of the CLT. The current work of the Trust includes several research projects involving leopards in the Cape and elsewhere in South Africa, including a comprehensive conservation genetics project estimating gene flow, genetic variability and genetic relatedness among South African leopard populations. A key aim of this study is to determine whether the leopards of the Western Cape region should be considered as a unique genetic unit– a group of small leopards weighing up to half that of their northern cousins.

Quinton’s has recently registered for a PhD through the University of Bristol (U.K.), the subject being: “The ecology of the leopard in the Cederberg Mountains”. There are presently ten leopards in the Cederberg that have been collared with GPS transmitters and these are revealing remarkable information on home range and activity patterns. A leopard population density study using camera traps has been underway for the past 3 years, revealing valuable information on these elusive predators.

To date, research has taken place primarily in the Cederberg Mountains, which have been declared a World Heritage Site and are now also part of the Greater Cederberg Biodiversity Corridor (GCBC). The CLT have also been invited by Cape Nature to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the ecology of leopards in the Cape as a whole. A recent project has been established in the Swartberg/Gamka Corridor and another planned for the Namaqualand region of South Africa.

The leopard currently fills the role of apex predator in the Cederberg and the rest of the Western Cape; however, its conservation status remains uncertain. The species is regularly removed or exterminated from farms with little knowledge of population or genetic status, whether these removals are sustainable or whether the factors giving rise to conflict are established. Preliminary studies show that (i) leopards in the Cape differ morphologically as well as genetically from leopards elsewhere in Southern Africa (in publication) and (ii) leopard home ranges in the Cederberg mountains may be as much as 10 times larger than those reported in earlier research, illustrating that population sizes are far smaller than previously estimated.

The results of these studies will provide the most comprehensive understanding of the conservation status and needs of the leopard in the Cape conducted to date.

In addition to the “hard science” research component, the CLT is also actively involved in the training and empowering of local community residents as well as working with farming communities to find ways to minimize depredation of livestock by the Cape’s threatened and persecuted predator population. The CLT has recently employed a member of the local community who is being trained as a biology field assistant and guide to supervise international paying research volunteers and to assist in tracking and monitoring. Our objective of finding solutions for farmers who encounter “problems” with wildlife in their area includes encouraging the view that the tourism and conservation value of wildlife exceeds the perceived threat to livestock. Publicity created in this regard, together with the CLT’s sponsorship of Anatolian shepherd dogs to conservation-minded farmers has significantly altered the views and perceptions of other farmers and landowners in the existing study area.

Considerable awareness regarding the activities of the CLT in the Cape has been brought to the attention of the public via regular media articles, television, corporate/public presentations and by encouraging benefactors and interested-parties to visit the research area in the Cederberg. Monthly articles are published in Africa Geographic (www.africa-geographic.com) and bi-monthly newsletters are circulated to our growing database. More recently, several articles on our work have been published in the Argus, Die Burger, The Cape Times, Travel Africa and Getaway.

The work of the CLT has also been acknowledged at a national level and as a result Quinton Martins has been elected onto the committee of the South African Leopard Forum (SALF) hosted under the umbrella of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT).

In summary, the CLT is involved in a unique and relevant conservation project that continues to generate considerable interest from a variety of local and international conservation bodies.