Camille Fritsch is a Post Doc in the Centre for Functional Biodiversity, University of KwaZulu-Natal, where his research focus is hippo behavior, ecology, and conservation. He has a Ph.D. in Zoology which he obtained at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2021 on the same subject. Camille worked in marine research, restoration, and education for 5 years in California before coming to South Africa in 2015 where aside from his own research, his appetite for science has propelled his involvement in a variety of research projects. As the lead scientist in the hippo research group at UKZN, Camille’s role for River of Life is to collect novel survey and monitoring data for hippos as part of strategic ecological monitoring and research programs on multi-stakeholder river systems inside and outside of protected areas. Camille is an expert in implementing novel UAV (drone)-based and telemetry-based methodologies in the collection of behavioral, ecological, and environmental data used in the formation of species and system-level management plans. Camille has a proven record of scientific reporting in the form of presentations to stakeholders, writing of technical reports, and a growing list of publications in international peer-reviewed journals. As a lifelong wildlife enthusiast, in his free time, Camille enjoys fishing, photography, and training his dogs to locate cryptic species in the bush.
