Andre Ganswindt

PhD in Biology; Dipl.-Ing. (FH) in Biotechnology; Apprenticeship diploma in Biological Lab Technology

Professor and Director of the Mammal Research Institute; Head of the Endocrine Research Laboratory; NAS, UP

Research Sub-theme

Behavioural/Wildlife Endocrinology

Monitoring reproductive function and responses to stressors in captive and free-ranging mammals, reptiles, and birds, to address proximate and ultimate questions concerning regulative endocrine mechanisms which in combination with other factors influence and control animal behaviour.  

Research Projects

• The use faecal cortisol metabolites to determine levels of stress associated with fibre inclusion rate and fibre quality in Ovis aries (South African Mutton Merino sheep)
• Comparison of endocrine correlates of Tigers freely roaming in SA and India
• Developing a novel, non-invasive technique for monitoring reproductive patterns in the scales of the four extant African pangolin species
• The endocrinology of paternal care in bat-eared foxes (Otocyon megalotis)
• Reproductive activity and endocrine correlates of roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus)
• The influence of a pork diet on calcium availability in adult vultures and their chicks
• Implementing Assisted Reproduction Techniques into Large Felids Conservation: study of the female African lion (Panthera leo) reproductive physiology, and development of artificial insemination protocols
• The effects of land use and seasonal variation on diversity, behaviour and physiology of small mammal species of the Magaliesberg biosphere
• Monitoring Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and heavy metal contamination in faeces of wild terrestrial mammals to evaluate ecosystem health
• Capture as an acute stressor: phylogenetic and seasonal variation in avian stress responses
• Social and environmental regulations of the female reproductive system in meerkats
• Implementing Assisted Reproduction Techniques and Genome Resource Banking into Wildlife Breeding and Conservation
• The combined influence of environmental and social factors on the physiological stress levels of wild vervet monkeys, Chlorocebus pygerythrus
• The influence of environmental, anthropogenic and health-related factors on endocrine correlates of free-ranging giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis)