Research at Watatunga

Collaborate with us to explore, understand and protect wildlife—join our research community

Here at Watatunga Wildlife Reserve we are incredibly passionate about supporting research projects and assisting in any way that we can.

We are more than happy to provide a buggy for research students to carry out research projects for free within the reserve as we believe that there should be no financial barriers to your research project. Our dedicated conservation & education officer as well as our reserve operations manager will provide support for you if needed when conducting your research project.

We are open to research projects across all areas, not just subjects from our research priority list. We understand that people have different passions and areas of interest and we will assist where possible. You do not need to be on a formal course to apply, it can merely be a passion or professional project although we fully support BSc, MSc or PhD projects.

We are very open and honest and would love to collaborate with different colleges and universities regarding groups of research students, school trips or facilitating with any potential project ideas.

If you would like to conduct a research project at Watatunga, please download and complete our Research Proposal Form and email this to education@watatunga.co.uk.

Watatunga 2026 Research Priority List

Interspecific interactions within the reserve: The unique way that our animals all coexist in one enclosure would make a great study whilst observing behavioural interactions across singular or multiple species.
Exploring African and Asian ungulates: Comparing our seasonal feeding routines with energy expenditure outputs in the form of external body temperatures across the 4 different seasons. We have the equipment to analyse the external body temperatures and will gladly share our previous feeding regimes. This can focus on one species or multiple species. Explore the relationship between supplementary feeding and the possibility of utilising energy to maintain body temperature. Our team are currently working on taking thermal imaging photos displaying body temperatures across the varying seasons so the data will be readily available.
Habitat exploration across different seasons looking at preference and usage within multiple different species.
The relationship between haylage consumption intake and weather patterns, along with any other relevant external factors.
Study the relationship between supplementary feeding and grass & browse quality within the reserve.

Explore enclosure usage via our tracking collar across different species. Look at factors such as seasonality, circadian rhythms i.e. most of our ungulates are crepuscular but looking at some nocturnal species would be very interesting. This can be species-specific, or a comparison can be made against a range of species.
Faecal analysis studies focusing on a variety of factors such as: having access to legume crops and anti-bloating and anti-worming crops such as Sainfoin, having lots of wetlands dwelling species of birds in the reserve naturally foraging and thus keeping parasite worm burdens down etc.
Faecal analysis studies focusing on species-specific trends vs seasonality.
Faecal analysis studies focusing on the different categories of habitat that species choose to occupy I.e. woodland dwelling species, open grassland species and wetlands species. Are there any patterns or trends?
Biodiversity surveys on any native species within the reserve.
Observe sand martin nestbox utilisation and breeding success rates of our artificial sand martin nestbox and any variable factors involved in this.
Study the bird nest box utilisation within the reserve

BIAZA Research priorities that work for us:

Ungulates:

Factors affecting health, survival and breeding success in zoo and wildlife park deer = A multi-zoo study assessing the health status of zoo and wildlife park Cervidae (deer species).
Animal records – Zims, ARKS or MedArks records could be used to assess the health status of deer species throughout the last ten years considering common health conditions or diseases intra-species or group housed inter-species.
Behavioural observations – Case study mixed species exhibits and singulary housed species could be assessed to determine behavioural characteristics of successful breeding pairs and successful rearing.
Developing methodology for species-appropriate body condition scoring = The need for consistent and species-appropriate body condition scoring methodology to be developed which then can be used across organisations. This will aid with tracking of species condition and form an essential material for evidence-based management. Species of focus are: Deer, antelope, rhinos, caprinae.
Parasite management of ungulate species in human care= More information required on how to monitor then subsequently manage the parasitic load of species. Focus on arid species such as antelope or camel.

Birds:

Stork, pelican and crane activity patterns = Comparison of the behaviour and time budgets of pelicans and Ciconiiformes to develop metrics suitable for assessing welfare in captivity. Collection of behavioural data (via direct observation) for a range of commonly housed species across several institutions. Comparion against wild time budgets (if data exists).

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