The Lion Research Center: Who We Are

Dr. Craig Packer
Craig Packer was born in Texas and received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University in 1972. While still at Stanford, Packer went to Tanzania to study baboons with Jane Goodall at the Gombe Stream Research Centre. He then went to the University of Sussex to complete his PhD research on the Gombe baboons. After a study of Japanese macaques in Hakusan National Park, Packer returned to Tanzania in 1978 to head the Serengeti lion project. He subsequently held a post-doc at the University of Chicago and joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota in 1984, returning to the Serengeti for several months each year. Packer received a J.S. Guggenheim Fellowship in 1990 and became a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in 1997. He is the author of "Into Africa," which won the 1995 John Burroughs medal, and 83 scientific articles 55 of which concern his research on lions. His research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health, the National Geographic Society and the Disney Foundation. After all these years, he still finds lions fascinating and feels that they lead the most interesting lives of almost any animal.

Meggan Craft
A week after graduating with a Biology degree from Brown University, Meggan moved to Africa as a Wildlife Management teacher for the School for Field Studies in Kenya. It was a biologist's dream come true when she was hired for the Serengeti Lion Project. Meggan ran the Serengeti long-term monitoring program from 1998-9 and 2001-3, taking a break to start Tanzania's first adventure tourism company. She has since rejoined the Lion Project as a Ph.D. student as is studying the dynamics and ecology of disease in Serengeti carnivores. Read about her research here.

Bernard Kissui
Bernard is from the Iramba district in the Singida region of Tanzania. He received his B.S. from the University of Dar es Salaam and has completed his Master's thesis on the factors influencing lion densities in the Ngorongoro Crater, also through U. Dar. He is currently a first year Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota and is supported by a fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation. He plans to continue working on the Ngorongoro lions using GIS and remote sensing. Learn about his project here.

Hadas is a PhD student in the Conservation Biology Department at the University of Minnesota. She is currently conducting research on human-lion conflict in southeastern Tanzania. Her interest in conservation biology and human-wildlife conflict arose during her undergraduate career at Barnard College, where she spent a semester in Kenya studying wildlife management. Before coming to the University of Minnesota, Hadas worked for the City of New York Parks & Recreation Natural Resources Group, where she helped plan and implement small-scale community-based restoration projects in the South Bronx. She is now applying the skills she gained working with communities in New York City to her PhD, by investigating the social and environmental factors that have caused the recent increase in lion attacks on people in southeastern Tanzania.

Dennis Ikanda
Dennis is a second year Master's student at the University of Dar es Salaam, supported and advised by Craig Packer. He is originally from the Musoma district in the Mara region, and spent several years living in the United States as a child while his father pursued a graduate degree. His project concerns the human-wildlife conflict in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area as it pertains to lions.

Anna Mosser
Anna began graduate study at the U of M in the fall of 2001. She is a Minnesota native and went to South High School in Minneapolis. She received a BA at The University of Chicago, where she developed her interest in behavior and ecology and began working for the Amboseli Baboon Research Project. With the Serengeti lion research project, she continues her interest in studying east African mammals and the role of environmental conditions in shaping social behavior. Learn about her project here or visit her personal webpage here.

Kim began working with the Lion Center as a senior in high school in 2003. Now, as a senior at the University of Minnesota, she is in her final year and will graduate in the spring of 2007 with a degree in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. Currently, she is completing her Honors thesis on social and ecological stimuli of pride fissions. She is also working on a project modeling disease dynamics in multi-host systems. After graduation, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. in disease or behavioral ecology.

Drew Davies
Drew designed the original Lion Research Center Web site, as well as maintained it for a number of years. He also provided hosting space for the site.

Dr. George Schaller
Dr. Brian Bertram
Dr. Jeanette Hanby
Dr. David Bygott
Dr. Anne Pusey
Dr. Lawrence Herbst
Dr. David Scheel
Dr. Jon Grinnell
Dr. Karen McComb
Dr. Robert Heinsohn
Dr. Sarah Legge
Pamela Bell
Audie Hazenberg
Marlene Haas
Dominic Smith

Lorelle Berkeley
Josh Leonard
Brittany Ullevig Sabol
Tammy Tran
Thao Tran
Mark Janiga
Christine Baker
Tina Ramme
Nathan Lebak
Kathleen Lee

Who we Are