Prof Anna Nekaris

Anna is a conservation biologist who has spent more than 30 years working in the tropics, especially Southeast Asia, with a focus on nocturnal mammal ecology and conservation and working to empower the local human communities that live alongside them.

[email protected]

Background

Anna is broadly interested in the conservation of cryptic and non-flagship animals, mainly mammals, and how improving our understanding of their behavioural ecology can further conservation efforts as well as improve their welfare in the wild and captivity. As part of her conservation work, she also conducts and evaluates education and outreach projects, including ecophilic conservation education leading to behavioural change as well as the role of 'green' branding and its impact on farming communities.

Spoken Languages

• English
• Bahasa Indonesia

Research interests

• Ecology and evolution of venomous mammals
• Ecology and biology of nocturnal mammals, especially slow lorises/primates, including energetics/ torpor, life history, social organisation, climate change, artificial light at night, vocal communication, taxonomy, biogeography
• Conservation – fragmentation (including mitigation), translocations, wildlife trade, wildlife friendly farming, impact of social media on animal conservation and welfare, conservation education

Areas of research supervision

Anna welcomes enquiries from prospective PhD students and Postdocs in the areas of her research interests.

Current PhD students

• Ariana Weldon: Communication systems of the Javan slow loris - (Director of Studies)
• Brittany Rapone – Kawaii culture, animal cafes and the illegal animal trade in Japan (External Supervisor)
• Leah Fitzpatrick: Evolution and genomics of the only venomous primate – the slow loris (External Supervisor)
• Siddhartha Badri – Ethnoprimatology in reintroduction efforts: conservation of Hoolock hoolock and Nycticebus bengalensis in Meghalaya, India (External supervisor)

Completed MPhil/PhD students

• Sophie Manson (2024)– Quantifying the value of wildlife and wildlife-friendly farming for coffee agriculture (Director of Studies – PhD, Oxford Brookes University OBU)
• Grace Foreman (2024): The dynamics of the online wildlife trade in mammalian species on Instagram and Facebook in Indonesia - (Director of Studies – PhD, OBU)
• Kim Fedemma (2022): Using marketing approaches to mitigate online wildlife trade in Indonesia (External Supervisor – PhD, University of Western Australia)
• Thais Morcatty (2022): A multilateral approach to tackling wildlife trade in South America: people, ecology and conservation- (Second supervisor – PhD, OBU)
• Rachel Sawyer (2021): Foraging sensory ecology of Avahi and Lepilemur in Tsitogambaraka, Madagascar (Second supervisor – MPhil, OBU)
• Kathleen Reinhardt (2020): The impacts of climate change on a primate pollinator: the slow loris of SE Asia. (Director of Studies - PhD, OBU)
• Miguel de Guinea (2020) – Navigating in rainforests – Movement patterns in a Neotropical primate, the black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra) - (Director of Studies - PhD, OBU)
• Peter Roberts (2020): Conservation and ecology of Asia’s common palm civets. (Co-supervisor - PhD, OBU)
• Penthai Siriwat (2020): Investigating illegal trade online and in markets in Thailand (Second supervisor - PhD, OBU)
• Stephanie Poindexter (2018): Navigating the night: Improving the lives and understanding the social and cognitive complexity of slow lorises rescued from the illegal wildlife trade in SE Asia. (Director of Studies - PhD, OBU)
• Jaima Smith (2018): Improving rehabilitation practices for Javan gibbons (Second supervisor - PhD, OBU)
• Michela Balestri (2018): The socioecology of two nocturnal lemurs: Avahi and Lepilemur in Tsitogambaraka, Madagascar (Second supervisor - PhD, OBU)
• Aoife Healey (2018): How least concern are least concern primates? A case study of African vervet monkeys (Second supervisor - PhD, OBU)
• Francis Cabana (2016): Nutritional ecology of the Javan slow loris in Cipaganti, Garut, Java. (Director of Studies - PhD, OBU)
• E. Johanna Rode (2015): The only poisonous primate: ecological context and function of slow loris venom and implications for conservation Leverhulme Trust-funded PhD studentship (Director of Studies - PhD, OBU)
• Nabajit Das (2014): Behaviour and feeding ecology of the Ashy slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis) in Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam, NE India. (External Supervisor - PhD, University of Guwahati) 
• Camille Coudrat (2013): Species distribution, abundance and conservation in Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area, central-eastern Laos: implications for future local conservation project. (Director of Studies - PhD, OBU)
• Andrew Perkin (2013): Taxonomy, biogeography and conservation of the cryptic and endemic forest-dwelling taxa of Tanzania and Kenya focusing on galagos (Primates: Galagidae), sengis (Insectivora: Macroscelidea) and birds (Aves) (Director of Studies – PhD by Published Work, OBU)
• Annie Holt-Elvidge (2013): Do primate captive breeding programmes conserve nocturnal primates? (Director of Studies – MRes, OBU)
• Richard Moore (2012): Assessing the possibility and measuring the viability of Indonesian slow loris reintroduction: a case study of the Critically Endangered Javan slow loris. (Director of Studies - PhD, OBU)
• Josiah Razafindramanana (2011): Comparative ecology of ring-tailed and brown lemurs in Southern Madagascar (Second supervisor - PhD, OBU
• Chris Shepherd (2011): Wildlife trade in SE Asia (Second supervisor - PhD, OBU)
• Carly Starr (2011): Distribution, conservation and behavioural ecology of the Bengal slow and pygmy loris in Cambodia. (External supervisor - PhD, University of Queensland) 
• Rachel Munds (2010): Developing trapping methods and estimating population densities of Bornean slow lorises and tarsiers in Danau Girang, Kinabatangan, Borneo, Sabah. (Director of Studies - MPhil, OBU)
• Angela Maldonado (2010): The impact of subsistence hunting by Tikunas on game species in Amacayacu National Park, Colombian Amazon. (Second supervisor - PhD, OBU)
• Matthew McClennan (2010): Conflict between humans and chimpanzees at the farm–forest interface, Uganda (Second supervisor - PhD, OBU)
• Ente Rood (2010): Elephant endurance in Aceh Sumatra (Second supervisor - PhD, OBU)
• Graham Wallace (2010): Development of techniques to reduce farmer-wildlife conflict associated with crop-raiding in Masindi District, Uganda (second supervisor - PhD, OBU)
• Karla Biebouw (2009): Behaviour and ecology of hairy-eared dwarf lemurs (Allocebus trichotis) in NE Madagascar (Director of Studies - PhD, OBU
• Lilia Bernede (2009): Effects of habitat fragmentation on the behaviour and ecology of the red slender loris (Loris tardigradus tardigradus) in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka (Director of Studies - PhD, OBU)
• Marcelle Olivier (2003): Evolution of baculum loss in Homo sapiens (Second supervisor – MPhil Oxford University)

Qualifications

• MA, PhD in Anthropology – Washington University St Louis, USA
• BA in Anthropology – University of Missouri, Columbia, USA
• Certificat d’Universite de Primatologie – Universite Louis Pasteur, France

Memberships, editorial boards

• Co-Editor-in-Chief, Folia Primatologica
• Section Editor, Nature Discover Conservation
• Associate Editor, Endangered Species Research
• Associate Editor, Asian Primates Journal
• Fellow, the Linnean Society

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• Conservation Partner of People’s Trust for Endangered Species - £20,000 per year
• Conservation Partner of Cleveland Zoo and Zoo Society - $30,000 per year
• Director of the Little Fireface Project, with zoo and other donations of £30,000 per year

Selected recent publications

Professor Nekaris has written more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Below is a sample.

Fuller G, Wirdateti, Nekaris KAI (2024). Evaluating the use of chemical weapons for capturing prey by a venomous mammal, the greater slow loris (Nycticebus coucang). Animals. 2024 May 11;14(10):1438.

Garber PA, Estrada A, Shanee S, Svensson MS, Arregoitia LV, Nijman V, Shanee N, Gouveia SF, Nekaris KAI, Chaudhary A, Bicca-Marques JC (2024). Global wildlife trade and trafficking contribute to the world’s nonhuman primate conservation crisis. Frontiers in Conservation Science, 5, p.1400613.

Kowalski, Krzysztof, Paweł Marciniak, K. Anne-Isola Nekaris, and Leszek Rychlik (2024). Proteins from shrews’ venom glands play a role in gland functioning and venom production." Zoological Letters 10 doi: 10.1186/s40851-024-00236-x.

Manson S, Nekaris KAI, Nijman V, Campera M (2024). Effect of shade on biodiversity within coffee farms: a meta-analysis. Science of the Total Environment. 169882.

Nijman V, Abdullah A, Adinda E, Ardiansyah A, Campera M, Chavez J, Dewi T, Hedger K, Imron MA, Shepherd CR, Sukmadewi DK (2024) Indonesia's sustainable development goals in relation to curbing and monitoring the illegal wildlife trade. Sustainable Development. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2975

Blair ME, Cao GT, López-Nandam EH, Veronese-Paniagua DA, Birchette MG, Kenyon M, Md-Zain BM, Munds RA, Nekaris KAI, Nijman V, Roos C (2023). Molecular phylogenetic relationships and unveiling novel genetic diversity among slow and pygmy lorises, including resurrection of Xanthonycticebus intermedius. Genes. 14(3):643.

Fitzpatrick L, Ligabue-Braun R, Nekaris KAI (2023). Slowly making sense: a review of the two-step venom system within slow (Nycticebus spp.) and pygmy lorises (Xanthonycticebus spp.). Toxins. 15(9), p.514.

Hathaway A, Campera M, Hedger K, Chimienti M, Adinda E, Ahmad N, Imron MA, Nekaris KAI (2023). Analysis of accelerometer data using Random Forest models to classify the behaviour of a wild nocturnal primate: Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus). Ecologies. 4(4), 636-653.

Karimloo L, Campera M, Imron MA, Rakholia S, Mehta A, Hedger K, Nekaris KAI. (2023) Habitat use, terrestriality and feeding behaviour of Javan slow lorises in urban areas of a multi-use landscape in Indonesia. Land. 12(7):1349.

Nijman V, Morcatty TQ, El Bizri HR, Al-Razi H, Ang A, Ardiansyah A, Atoussi S, Bergin D, Bell S, Campera M, Das N, Silva FE, Feddema K, Foreman G, Fourage A, Gnanaolivu SD, Hanssen MF, Racevska E, Rappone B, Regmi GR, Shepherd CR, Shukhova S, Siriwat P, Smith JH, Tavares AS, Weldon AV, Wilson A, Yamaguchi N, Zhang M, Svensson MS, Nekaris KAI (2023). Global online trade in primates for pets. Environmental Development 48:100925.

Quarles L, Campera M, Feddema K, Nekaris KAI (2023). Normal redefined: exploring decontextualization of wild animals on social media platforms. Frontiers in Conservation Science. 4:23

Nekaris KAI, Nijman V (2022). A new genus name for pygmy lorises, Xanthonycticebus gen. nov. (Mammalia, primates). Zoosystematics and Evolution. 98(1):87-92.

Nekaris KAI, Murray C, Campera M, Chiementi M, Showell Z (2022). Training in the dark: using target training for non-invasive application and validation of accelerometer devices for the Bengal slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis). Animals. 12(4): 411. doi.org/10.3390/ani12040411

Gnanaolivu SD, Campera M, Nekaris KAI, Nijman V, Satish R, Babu S, Singh M (2022). Medicine, black magic and supernatural beings: Cultural rituals as a significant threat to slender lorises in India. People and Nature. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10336.

Nekaris KAI, Watkins AR, Campera M, Morcatty TQ (2021). Aposematic signaling and seasonal variation in dorsal pelage in a venomous mammal. Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7928

Nekaris KAI, Handby V, Campera M (2021). Impact of weather conditions, seasonality and moonlight on the use of artificial canopy bridges by nocturnal arboreal mammals. Biodiversity and Conservation. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02267-8

Feddema K, Nekaris KAI, Nijman V, Harrigan P (2021). Re-evaluating the notion of value in wildlife trade research from a service marketing perspective. Biological Conservation. 256: 109060

Harris RJ, Nekaris KAI, Fry BG (2021). Monkeying around with venom: an increased resistance to α-neurotoxins supports an evolutionary arms race between Afro-Asian primates and sympatric cobras. BMC Biology, 19(1), 1-13.

Maynard KQ, Birot H, Campera M, Imron MA, Jasso del Toro C, Poindexter SA, Nekaris KAI (2021). Slow learning of feeding skills in a nocturnal extractive forager. Animal Behaviour 173:1-7 - doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.12.015

Nekaris KAI, Campera M, Birot H, Rode-Margono EJ, Fry BG, Weldon A, Nijman V, Wirdateti W, Imron MA. (2020) Slow lorises use venom as a weapon in intraspecific competition. Current Biology 30:R1-R3.

Recent presentations and conferences

Co-organiser of conferences and/or conference sessions.

2024. Venoms, poisons and toxins 11th International Toxinology Meeting. With Dr Rita de Cassia Collaco, Muhammad Sohail, Nick Casewell and Ronald Jenner, Leah Fitzpatrick, St Edmunds Hall Oxford.

2023. Let’s talk about primates – the role of conservation education in conserving primates. Congress of the International Primatological Society, Sarawak, Malaysia.

2024. Nekaris KAI. The myth of the solitary primate: using new technology to dispel an old misconception. Primate Society of Great Britain, Bristol, UK.

2023. Nekaris KAI. Saliva, stripes and the snake detection theory. Advances in the ecology and evolution of slow loris venom. Keynote talk. Venom Day, Bangor University.

2023. Nekaris KAI. Genomics and slow loris life history. Keynote speaker for the Ecological Genetics Group of the British Ecology Society, Oxford University.

2023. Nekaris KAI, Bukit WL, Brown ER, Hedger K, Imron MA, Campera M (2023). Using branding techniques to promote behaviour change to conserve the Critically Endangered Javan slow loris. IPS MPS Congress Sarawak, Malaysia.

2023. Translocations as a threat to slow lorises and other small-bodied species. Keynote address for Asia for Animals conference – online.

2023. Nekaris KAI, Hedger K, Adinda E, Weldon A, Imron MA, Campera M. Life history of the Javan slow loris based on a decade of field data, including conservation implications. Primate Society of Great Britain, Anglia Ruskin University.

2021. Nekaris KAI, Campera M. Conservation implications of reproduction, diet and ranging behaviour in a heavily hunted Critically Endangered mammal – the Javan slow loris. British Ecological Society, Liverpool.

Media experience

2024: Expert appearance on Attaboy Television for Canadian CBBC Survival of the Slowest.

2021: Media consultancy about slow loris venom for Japan’s Unbelievable on Fuji TV Network.

2021: Expert appearance and consultation for BBC World Service’s People Fixing the World’s programme on the Little Fireface Project and Slow Loris Bridges 'The mid-air walkways saving endangered animals' and 'Helping animals cross the road and other obstacles' https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04d42vf/clips.

2020: Expert appearance Singapore’s Mediacorp Pte Ltd Beyond the Viral Video.

2020: Podcast appearance for on slow loris venom for Word on the Vine.

2020: Podcast appearance on loris venom on Constant Wonder for ByURadio.

2020: Scientific consultant to BBC’s Life of Mammals 2.

2018: Podcast appearance on ZooRadio – Little Fireface Loris.

2017: Podcast series appearance on slow loris conservation I might go to the beach.

2016: Podcast appearance on slow loris venom and conservation on ThePrimateCast, Kyoto, Japan.

2016: Expert appearance regarding human evolution on History Channel’s Ancient Aliens.

2015: Advisor and expert appearance in NHK Japan’s Slow Loris Feature Documentary Here Comes Darwin!

2015: Advisor to Our Soul Earth – Tears of the Slow Loris for Korea’s EBS.

2014: Expert appearance on BBC1’s The Science of Cute.

2014: Expert appearance on Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot.

2013: Expert appearance on BBC3’s Sleepover at the Zoo.

2013: Expert appearance on History Channel’s The Unexplained Files - Bigfoot.

2012: Expert appearance on History Channel’s America’s Lost Book of Secrets – Bigfoot.

2011: Presenter for major production with Icon films and BBC for BBC2 and Animal Planet’s The Natural World; a 60-minute film on slow loris ecology and conservation Jungle Gremlins of Java in Java, Indonesia.

2010: Expert round table discussant on History Channel and Discovery’s 2-hour ‘Bigfoot – the Definitive Guide’ filmed in Montreal, Canada.

2009: Consultant for slow loris feature on Nick Baker’s Weird Creatures, UK Channel 5.

2007: Consultant on slow loris documentary for Missione Natura - La7 Television, Italy.

2007: Expert appearance about aye-ayes on Nick Baker’s Weird Creatures 30-min, UK Channel 5.

2005. Scientific advisor for a film on slender loris for a German film company (Bayerischer RundfunkRedaktion Naturwissenschaften und Tiere).

2003. Children’s conservation workshop and discovery of new slender loris species produced by YA (Young Asia) Television, Sri Lanka, and Asian satellite TV produced by Devaka Seniviratne.

2002. Presenter for a feature length documentary on Sri Lankan slender lorises (Global Wonders of Nature) for Japanese film company NHK. Produced by Mr. Akira Matsubayashi.

2002. Expert appearance on Sky’s Einstein Channel discussing behaviour and conservation status of the slender loris, featuring my own video footage.

2001. Expert appearance on Canadian Discovery Channel (@Discovery.com) discussing behaviour of the slender loris, featuring my own video footage.

2001. Expert appearance on Oxford Channel 6 (UK) promoting conservation of the slender loris.

2000- 2001. Scientific advisor for slender loris segment of Sir David Attenborough’s Life of Mammals: the Tree Dwellers, produced for BBC. Appeared January 2003; contributed to LoM website.