Dr Roan Plotz

05th December 2020

BYU Radio, USA: Rhino's Eyes

Guest: Roan Plotz, Lecturer of Environmental Science, Victoria University, Melbourne, AU There may be a surprising solution to help black rhinos against poachers: the red-billed oxpecker. (Originally aired May 28, 2020).

22nd April 2020

Scientific American - 60 second science - Birds on Rhinos' Back Help Them Avoid Poachers

Victoria University of Melbourne behavioral ecologist Roan Plotz. But those protective traits are no match for humans with guns. Today the species is critically endangered largely due to poaching. But the rhinos may have an unlikely ally against poachers: the red-billed oxpecker. The chatty, sociable birds often hang out on the backs of rhinos, feasting on parasitic ticks.

10th April 2020

National Geographic: Bird alarm calls help rhinos avoid people—and possibly poachers

In sub-Saharan Africa, red-billed oxpeckers feed on the parasites of rhinos and more than 20 other species of mammal. Now, new research suggests the birds may also serve as sentinels that help rhinos avoid humans—and potentially poachers. Though black rhinos have a good sense of smell and good hearing, they have notoriously bad vision. If you know where one is and stay downwind of it, you can often get quite close to the animal, says Roan Plotz, now a researcher at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia.

19th May 2020

ABC Radio: Niue trials use of yam crops for weather forecasting

Dr Roan Plotz from Victoria University said communities tend use traditional knowledge to plan activities like fishing or planting but rely on weather forecasts for severe events like cyclones. But he said rapid climate change was also making it more difficult for village elders to read weather indicators.

23rd June 2016

Nature News: Plan to fly rhinos to Australia comes under fire

Nature | NEWS: An ambitious project to relocate rhinos from South Africa to Australia has been accused by some conservation researchers of being a waste of money. The Australian Rhino Project charity, headquartered in Sydney, has attracted huge publicity for its plans to move 80 rhinos to Australia “to establish an insurance population and ensure the survival of the species”. It raised more than Aus$800,000 (US$600,000) in the year to September 2015, and hopes to start by flying out six rhinos later in 2016. The charity says that eventually, rhinos from the Australian herd could be sent back to Africa to re-establish wild populations there, when poaching — which is devastating rhino populations in Africa — becomes less of a threat. But in a letter published in Nature this week, four researchers warn that the project “is diverting funds and public interest away from the actions necessary to conserve the animals”. The million-dollar cost of moving 80 animals would be better put towards poaching prevention, the researchers say.

11th September 2014

Epoch Times Newspaper: Scientists look to ancient knowledge for seasonal forecasts

An Australian scientist is working to collate ancient methods of weather prediction in the Pacific, saying that the study could help improve contemporary forecasting tools, record important cultural knowledge that might otherwise be lost, and help bridge the gap between ancient wisdom and modern science. Roan Plotz, who is a traditional ecological knowledge scientist at the Bureau of Meteorology in Melbourne, is working with Pacific meteorological services to collate traditional weather and climate knowledge, verifying the information and using it to make seasonal forecasts more useful to Pacific Island communities. “What we are trying to do is to be able to integrate the two systems in terms of the indigenous knowledge or traditional knowledge with an actual scientific statistical forecast. We need to understand how relevant or how true that is.”

04th March 2014

From PhD research on African Rhino to Traditional Climate Knowledge work in the South Pacific

Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology Website: Ancient wisdom can be put to practical use when combined with modern weather forecasting tools, according to Victoria University of Wellington PhD candidate Roan Plotz. Roan, now a traditional ecological knowledge scientist for the Climate and Ocean Support Program in the Pacific (COSPPac), is working with Pacific meteorological services on collating traditional weather and climate knowledge, verifying the information and using it to make seasonal forecasts more useful to Pacific Island communities.

19th February 2019

Radio NZ International: Scientists look to ancient wisdom to help predict weather

RADIO NZ International: A scientist in Australia is examining ancient methods of weather prediction in the Pacific, saying that data could help improve contemporary forecasting tools. Roan Plotz, who is a traditional knowledge scientist at the bureau of meterology in Melbourne, says traditional methods include observing animals, plants and atmospheric conditions. Dr Plotz says his work is just one component of a larger project aiming to help strengthen the forecasting capabilities of the Pacific met services. Dr Plotz talked to Amelia Langford about trying to bridge the gap between ancient wisdom and modern science.

29th November 2013

Australian Geographic: Roan Plotz is roaming with rhinos

Australian Geographic Website: AG sponsored researcher tracks critically endangered black rhinos through the hub of Africa’s rhino heartland.

01st December 2011

Country Life Magazine South Africa:The Rhino Man of iMfolozi

Article covering Roan Plotz's field research on black rhino in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa.

10th July 2009

Wild Magazine, South Africa: Black and White Survival

Article covering Roan Plotz's field research on black rhino in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa.

19th February 2009

On location with the Black Rhino

Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria NEWS: Zoo staff walked with Roan Plotz in the field on black rhino.

19th February 2008

SABC2: Roan Plotz - Black Rhinoceros Research Project

South African Broadcast Channel 2 - Nature program: Followed Roan Plotz in field to track black rhino.

01st October 2009

Australian Newspaper: Walking with Rhinos

Australian Weekend Newspaper: IF you see a black rhino charging you, don't run. Try to get behind a tree. This is not the kind of advice one hears everyday. I am in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, sweltering in 40C heat, while listening to Roan Plotz talk about a particularly endangered black rhino subspecies, Diceros bicornis minor.

19th February 2009

Nat Geo Wild - Hunter Hunted: Rhino Rampage

National Geographic Channel: Roan Plotz expert rhino behaviourist talking with field rangers and scientists about a rhino attack.