海角社区

Ryan Long spends his summers in Gorongosa National Park in Africa’s Mozambique. There, you will find him chasing after the region’s antelopes and elephants, as he explores how the varied ecosystems within the park influence its large mammal community.
Long was instrumental in studying the elephants of the region, which are some of the world’s most elegant examples of human-induced evolution. Poachers battered the local herds during a civil war, and Ryan and his research partners found that the spate of violence led to the evolution of tusklessness in female elephants. The number of female elephants without tusks tripled in the park following the war.
When he's not in Africa, Ryan does research in Idaho on the region's bighorn sheep and elk.
Available to speak on:

The effects of climate change on large mammals
The evolutionary consequences of trophy hunting
Human-wildlife interactions

 conducts genetic studies on wildlife and domesticated animals. He uses DNA from elephants to determine conservation priorities for the species and to establish the geographic origins of confiscated ivory. He also studies “endogenous” retroviruses, which are retroviral copies that have become permanent components of the DNA of humans and animals, and can impact their health.
Roca is a professor in the , part of the  at the . He is also affiliated with the , the , and the  at Illinois.