Jason Gilchrist

Ecologist, Edinburgh Napier University

I am an ecologist. My research interests are focused on the behavioural ecology of social animals; Banded Mongoose group dynamics, Grey Mouse Lemur breeding, Social Spider colony demography, and Chimpanzee social dynamics; and game animal stress physiology, motivated by an interest in conservation and welfare, including fieldwork involving capture and translocation of white rhinoceros. My field research has taken me to South Africa, Uganda, and Madagascar. I lecture at Edinburgh Napier University, in Scotland. I studied for my PhD at the University of Cambridge, and my BSc at the University of Edinburgh.

As a writer, alongside my research paper publications in scientific journals, I have magazine articles published in BBC Wildlife, Africa Geographic, Biosphere and BBC Knowledge magazines. I was lead contributor to the Herpestidae (mongoose) section of The Handbook of the Mammals of the World Volume I (Carnivores; Lynx Edicions Publishers), and co-authored the Banded Mongoose species account in The Mammals of the World Volume V (Carnivores, Pangolins, Equids and Rhinoceroses; Bloomsbury Publishers).

As a photographer, I have photos published in BBC Wildlife Magazine, Africa Geographic Magazine, Outdoor Photography Magazine, Lynx Handbook of the Mammals of the World, and on the webpages of Scottish Natural Heritage. I was formerly signed up with and represented by the OSF (Oxford Scientific Films)/Photolibrary image library.

As an ecologist and lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University, the natural world is the focal-point of my life. I see my writing and photography as complementary to my work as a scientist. The natural world, through biodiversity and geodiversity, can be as beautiful and emotionally inspirational as it can be fascinating to understand and crucial to manage and conserve. If my writing and photography can encourage interest, awe or concern for nature in others, then I have achieved my goal.

Interests & expertise: ecology, behaviour, evolution, biodiversity conservation, physiology, animal welfare, geodiversity & palaeoecology.