Did I say animal ethics would only take a couple of weeks? I just found out I need a permit to study wildlife in Ethiopia and this may take months. I'm sure a few eyebrows will be raised at the Wildlife Conservation Agency, when they get an application from an Australian who wants to study vermin.

Ethics clearance is almost complete, except for animal ethics which will take a couple of weeks. I can't imagine filming urban hyenas will rate highly in terms of disturbance to animal well-being when there are eggheads in white coats growing human ears on the backs of mice. But then my idea of acceptable often differs from other peoples'.
I'm presenting a paper in Newcastle on Wednesday the 15th. I'll be raising questions about how we perceive animals (in this case, hyenas) as entire species rather than individuals or local populations. We often take a god's eye view of the world so that, when we know from censuses that there are still 40,000 hyenas left in the wild, we are less concerned about the threats to local populations. This doesn't address the problems that occur if localised populations of hyenas disappear from ecosystems. The rest of the presentation will consist of me drinking from a bottle of water, and trying to get a video in my powerpoint to work.