The art of wrestling crocodiles is usually reserved for icons such as Crocodile Dundee and the Discovery Channel’s Crocodile Hunter. It is unexpected to find the role being played by a spunky woman lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch.
When Alison Leslie tackles a crocodile, however, it is not to boast and show off her skills but usually to examine a sick animal or to gather data about crocodile ecology and physiology.
A researcher and senior lecturer in the university’s department of conservation ecology, Leslie is doing important research in the Okavango Delta in Botswana aimed at ensuring the future survival of crocodiles.
Her keen interest in crocodiles emerged when she chose to write a doctoral thesis on the ecology and physiology of the Nile crocodile in the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park.
”I simply asked the Natal Parks Board [now Emzemvelo KZN Wildlife] what was available. They said crocs, so crocs it was,” she smiles. ”They provided a pondokkie [hut] in the bush at St Lucia and gave me a great opportunity.”
These days one of her main responsibilities at the university is running the crocodile research project in the Okavango Delta. Together with a team of students and volunteers, she patrols the delta, collecting crucial information about Nile crocodiles.
The aim of her six-year project, begun in 2002, is to understand the ecology and physiology of one of the world’s largest crocodile species in the Okavango Delta, and to allow the population to be managed successfully in a way that is beneficial to all.
”Unless you give crocodiles a value, no one will bother protecting them,” she says, adding that crocodile meat can be a real braai delicacy.
Studying conflicts in the Okavango area makes up a big part of Leslie’s job. Traditionally, humans and crocodiles have never been the best of friends. Fishermen who catch crocodiles in their nets generally do not think twice about killing them, while rural villagers rarely miss an opportunity to even the score against a perceived enemy.
”Lots of work remains to be done,” says Leslie. But with Leslie around — fighting for the crocodiles, rather than wrestling them — the reptiles’ chances of survival into the future have vastly improved.