Rhinos of the World

Mario Melletti is an Italian freelance wildlife biologist and a member of the African Buffalo Initiative Group and the Wild Pig Specialist Group, both part of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission. During his Ph.D. and M.Sc. studies, he worked at the Department of Animal and Human Biology of the University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy, and at the Department of Conservation Biology of the Estación Biólogica de Doñana (CSIC-EBD) Sevilla, Spain. He has been studying African mammals since 2001. For about 3 years he studied the ecology and behaviour of forest buffalo in Central Africa, and he also worked as a field assistant in the Primate Habituation Program (PHP-WWF) of western lowland gorillas in Dzanga-Ndoki National Park (Central African Republic). Mario has also conducted a study on the ecology and behaviour of giant forest hogs and forest elephants in the rainforests of Kibale National Park, Semliki Wildlife Reserve and Queen Elizabeth National Park (Uganda). He has also participated in several large mammal surveys in other African countries such as Burkina Faso, Zambia and Zimbabwe. He is the editor of seven books on mammalian ecology, conservation and management published by Cambridge University Press and Springer Nature, and has authored about 70 scientific publications.

Bibhab Kumar Talukdar was one of the founders of Aaranyak in 1989, one of the leading NGOs in Northeast India, and is currently the Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of Aaranyak. He holds a M.Sc. in Zoology with specialisation in Animal Ecology and Wildlife Biology and did his Ph.D. on the status of Anatidae in Assam with special emphasis on the White Winged Wood Duck. He started his work on rhinos in 1998. Since 2008, he has been the Chair of the Asian Rhino Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. He is also the Senior Advisor of the International Rhino Foundation for Asian Rhinos. As Chair of the Asian Rhino Specialist Group, he is helping to prepare the global status report on the Asian rhino horn trade for CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). He has served as a member of the Standing Committee of the National Board of Wildlife from 2008 to 2010 and the National Board of Wildlife from 2008 to 2017 either individually or as a representative of Aaranyak. He is also currently a member of the State Board of Wildlife, Assam. He is an Advisory Committee Member of the Assam State Biodiversity Board. He has authored over 60 papers in various journals of national and international repute.

Dave Balfour is a South African freelance conservation ecologist. He is a member, and current Chair, of the African Rhino Specialist Group of the IUCN SSC and a member of the African Elephant Specialist Group. With an MSc. in forest ecology and a PhD in savanna ecology, Balfour worked for 20 years in state protected area management in South Africa, spending ten years as a park ecologist before leading the research team, followed by a stint in executive management, in one of the provincial conservation agencies. Balfour has extensive experience in sub-equatorial Africa and spends more than 60% of his time as a consultant, drawing on his expertise in large mammal management and his perspective on strategic approaches to the continent's current conservation challenges.