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Leader of Wildlife Initiative International and Executive Director of Wildlife Initiative Mongolia. Claudio is the co-founder of Wildlife Initiative International.
As an ecologist he has a great experience in working on Mongolian carnivores. Since 2012, he mainly worked on the snow leopard and the Pallas’s cat. He is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), a member of the Steering Committee of the Manul Working Group, and a member of the Snow Leopard Network. He holds collaborations with many researchers and conservation institutions across the world and he is a partner of Snow Leopard Conservancy. As the Wildlife Initiative leader, he coordinates the activities of the NGO throughout the four continents, taking part in the field work and managing the relationships with all the stakeholders. He has been living with his family in Mongolia since 2013.
President of Wildlife Initiative Mongolia
Choikhand is the co-founder of Wildlife Initiative International. Choikhand has a Ph.D. in Geography at the University of Leicester (UK). She studied and obtained bachelors and master degrees in India, Mongolia, US, and Spain. Her experience on wildlife management has increased once she started working as a Director for the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia. She spent over ten years working for wildlife conservation in Mongolia as the Director of the NGO Green Initiative.
Fabio is the President of Wildlife Initiative Italia
With a big passion for nature, Fabio has got a lot of experience in wildlife monitoring with non-invasive techniques and in the management of human-wildlife conflicts. After a long experience working in the forests in his birth place, Fabio decided to take part of Wildlife Initiative, starting to cooperate with many projects, helping in fundraising and also developing eco-tourism activities.
Guy is the founder and President of Wildlife Initiative DRC
He has a degree in Agronomy at the University of Kinshasa and a Master Degree on Management and Conservation of Species in Trade. He was born and still lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and he has a long experience on environment management, having worked for the Ministry of Environment of DRC over the last 15 years. In particular, Guy is specialized in forest ecosystem.
Wildlife Initiative Media contents manager, photographer and videomaker
Ivan is a professional photographer and videmaker based in the Dolomiti Bellunesi. He collaborates with Protected Areas and foundations in Italy for the conservation of habitats and animal species. He has conducted researches on herpetofauna and wolves in Italy. He is a high quality camera trap expert and author of multimedia projects. He has traveled in Zambia, Malawi, Brazil, Canada and Mongolia and he has made exhibitions and video projections that have had great visibility.
Associate
Luciano is a biologist graduated at the University of Cagliari and specialized in Conservation at the University College, London. He has a solid background in molecular methods, and he currently works at the interface between landscape ecology and population genetics. His research interests involve the application of spatial ecological research to the study of population distribution, connectivity, and genetic structure. Currently, he is completing a PhD in Conservation Ecology at Beijing Forestry University, focusing on a snow leopard population from Gansu, China. He has been also involved in researches on the Asian Elephant, the red-collared brown lemur, the Chinese Alligator and the Himalayan wolf. He will take care of the scientific production for Wildlife Initiative.
Otgombiembe is a member of the Board of Direction of Wildlife Initiative Mongolia.
She lives in the Mongolian steppe of Bayan Onjuul district. She has been collaborating with Claudio and Choikhand since many years and she is the responsible for the logistic, for Wildlife Initiative Mongolia.
Associate
Giovanni is an expert in monitoring and preserving amphibians and reptiles. He has a long experience on working on restoration of species population, and on cataloguing for museum collections. He has a master’s degree in forestry sciences and a second level master in GIScience, a remote Control System. He has participated in a number of expeditions in Mongolia and worked intensively on data management for Wildlife Initiative.
Mushabaa is the project manager for Wildlife Initiative in the DRC.
Mushaba is an agricultural engineer with a long experience since he works for the Ministry of Environment of DRC. He has a great experience in the field and in the area of Upemba where he has been involved in fauna inventories.
Associate
Maila has been a true wildlife and nature passionate since her childhood. She decided to pursue a university career in her hometown, Bologna. A first strong expedition into the wilderness of Central Mongolia brought Maila to achieve a master’s degree with a thesis titled “occupancy of the Siberian Roe Deer inside the Khangai Nuruu National Park”. After this first experience, she decided to continue to contribute to the Mongolian wildlife conservation working with Wildlife Initiative.
She is a member of the board of Direction of Green Initiative Mongolia. She has a Master degree in Economy at the National University of Mongolia, and she is the treasurer of Wildlife Initiative Mongolia.
Associate
Stef is a zoologist with an interest in wild cat ecology. He has conducted his Ph.D. project on wildcats with a pioneer camera-trapping study in the Etna Park in 2006, which has further developed by integrating scatology as a sampling method. He recently started an on-going personal project (the Camera Cat Repository) to systematically organize the massive amount of camera-trapping surveys targeting wildcats worldwide. So far, he has published more than 20 scientific papers. He's a member of the Snow Leopard Network since 2012 and of the Eurowildcat network since 2018. He will manage the scientific production for Wildlife Initiative.
Called “Mabu” Is our aged guide who knows every hidden corner and secret of the steppe in Bayan Onjuul, the main study area of Pallas cat. He helps driving us with his car across the rocky area where the most of wildlife occur. .
Associate
Marcello is a conservation biologist whose research interests are mostly focused on medium-sized and large mammals’ conservation, spatial distribution and behavioural ecology, with a special focus to large carnivores. He obtained a Bachelor Degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Modena and Reggio-Emilia and a Master Degree in Ecology and Nature Conservation at the University of Parma, through the implementation of a thesis addressing the degree of conflict between pumas and livestock ranchers in the Argentine Espinal, where he spent almost six months. Since June 2017 he has been working at the University of Udine. From November 2019 he has been developing a PhD on socio-ecological factors exacerbating the degree of conflict between large carnivores and extensive husbandry practices in the mountainous areas of north-eastern Italy. As an associate member of the ONG Wildlife Initiative, his role will mainly include the study of the ecological aspects involving large carnivore species and the human dimension studies, seeking to scientifically assess those factors leading to conflicts with traditional grazing activities.
Liliana is a wildlife veterinarian graduated at the University of Turin in 2011. She began her career working in a small animals clinic, but she never gave up on the idea that a vet could have a greater impact working on conservations, saving species populations, restoring their ecosystems, and helping human communities cohabit with flora and fauna. In 2014 she started working in the Gran Paradiso National Park within conservation projects acting as veterinarian during ibex and chamois captures. Additionally she providing technical assistance to the Park for health surveillance activities. In the following years she as a vet has been involved in research projects of the University of Sassari on wild boars and wolves. She is currently completing a Master’s degree in Medical Management and Forensic Pathology of wild animals.
Ndengoli has a formal qualification as logistician and this is his role in Wildlife Initiative Congo.
His experience in the field is a precious value to implement our projects effectively.
Photographer
Giacomo is a co-founder of Wildlife Initiative Italy. Wildlife photographer and documentarist, born and raised at the feet of the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park(Italy), strongly connected with nature thanks to his family. His work is focused on showing little corners of wild nature, fighting against the development of infrastructures. Co-author of two hardcover books about Dolomiti Bellunesi, with publications in national magazines and two times art director of photographic exhibitions for the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park. Thanks to Wildlife Initative, he is exploring new corners of the world in order to document the issues affecting the wildlife crisis.
Baterten is a member of the Board of Direction for Wildlife Initiative Mongolia.
He has got a Master degree in law at the National University of Mongolia and he takes care of the legal aspects for Wildlife Initiative Mongolia.
Associate
Davide is a young biotechnologist currently affiliated at the University of Pavia where he is attending a Master Program in Molecular Biology and Genetics. From an early age, he demonstrated a strong passion and dedication for the conservation of wild species and nature, to a broader extent. During adolescence, he also showed a great interest in Molecular Sciences and today his biggest dream is to extend and use his skills on the genetic field, to preserve biodiversity. Davide is excited to collaborate alongside other passionate and talented researchers and wildlife technicians of Wildlife Initiative, and to have the possibility to make his enthusiasm and professional skills available for what he truly loves: protecting wildlife in the most pristine and remote biodiversity hotspots on Earth!
Marta is very passionate about nature and wildlife conservation. She graduated in Environmental Biology, at the University of Turin, with a thesis on the assessment and management of human-wildlife conflict. She is currently pursuing a Master in "Natural Capital, Ecosystem Services and Environmental Accounting". Her main interest concerns the study and monitoring of small-mammals, but she is also involved in cartographic elaborations, spatial analysis in GIS and Ecosystem Services evaluation. Marta collaborates with Wildlife Initiative as a member of the Scientific Committee.
Ibra is a wildlife technician and member of the “Manul Working Group”. He is currently completing his master in Management of Environmental Fauna Resources at the University of Florence (Italy). His master thesis focuses on distribution models of the Pallas’s cat in the Altai Mountains. His research interests mostly involve the use of camera traps to study in particular wild cats. From 2015 to 2017, he monitored the Appennine Wolf in Livorno (Italy) for a project headed by the Tuscany Region. Since 2017 he has collaborated with Claudio Augugliaro in Mongolia to study and monitor wildlife, improving his skills in camera traps and live trapping.
Buunda has a background in administration and communication with a strong work experience. She will be the administrator of Wildlife Initiative Congo, and will help on establishing relationships with other parts in the country.
Enrico is a naturalist graduated with honors at the University of Turin and he has a second level master in "GIScience and RPA/UAV Systems" at University of Padua. He participated in a herpetological university camp in Croatia (2017) and twice in the research camp in the Apennines about wolves and bears (2019 and 2021). His love for nature is not limited to the mainland but also the sea therefore, since 2021, he is the Voluntary Regional Coordinator of the Sharks Studies Center (Italy).
Andrea Vendramin is a co-founder of Wildlife Initiative Italy.
He was born and raised in the mountains of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in the North East of Italy, and he has always been passionate about wildlife. He decided to follow this vocation by graduating in Environmental and Nature Sciences at the University of Udine. Andrea is specialized in the study of large carnivores, and in particular in human-wildlife conflicts, for instance he studies coexistence methods between humans and wildlife. He has also a great experience as a nature guide as he worked in Spain and Portugal, and also across the mountainous steppes of Mongolia, leading groups into the beauties of the natural world.
Francesco is a biologist with a great passion for nature and environmental issues. He holds a master's degree in Biodiversity and Evolution and a second level master in characterization, management and remediation of contaminated sites linked to anthropic impact. After a period of academic research at the University of Bologna, focused on studying the effects of anthropization and climate change on endemic coral populations in the Mediterranean Sea, he currently deals with microbiological analyzes, as well as microfauna, in the environmental field. After his first expedition to Central Mongolia in 2017, he decided to continue his experience with Wildlife Initiative in protecting wildlife by collaborating in data collection and scientific production.
He is a member of the Board of Direction of Wildlife Initiative Mongolia. He has a bachelor in Ecology at the School of Ecology in Ulaanbaatar. He has a certain experience in the field and he is a facilitator of the expeditions conducted in Mongolia.
Graduated in Evolutionary biology at the University of Padua with a thesis on occupancy and co-occurrence in a guild of three ungulates in the Eastern Italian Alps. He has international experience working for over two years as a mammal research field coordinator for NGOs in Latin America. His research interests focus on understanding the impact of anthropogenic related disturbance on the ecology and behavior of mammalian species, emphasizing the effect on biodiversity and conservation outcomes. He uses a combination of techniques in wildlife monitoring, survey design, geographic information systems, and habitat modelling to provide scientific-based evidence that can be used to improve conservation practices.