Emil McCain

Emil McCain is a Master’s student in Wildlife Management at Humboldt State University. Large carnivore conservation is Emil’s passion and will be the focus of his career. Emil’s vision is not only to learn more about carnivore ecology, but to use this information to protect large-scale ecosystems. He is currently working on jaguar conservation ecology in the borderlands area of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. Emil’s Master’s thesis focuses on the spatial and temporal relationships between predators and between predators and their prey species. Specifically, he is examining how closely these cats track the activity patterns of their prey. During his junior year at Colorado College, Emil conducted his undergraduate thesis on jaguar predation on nesting sea turtles in Costa Rica, where he worked with Dr. Eduardo Carillo, Central America’s leading jaguar biologist. After receiving an undergraduate degree in Biology from the Colorado College, Emil surveyed for endangered Orange-breasted Falcons in Belize and southern Panama. He then studied mountain lion ecology in Yellowstone National Park and tracked wolves on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Before beginning graduate school, he worked in Grand Teton National Park on a raptor study that was started by Frank and John Craighead during the middle of the last century to monitor the health of the Jackson Hole ecosystem. He plans to combine the solid scientific background from his graduate and undergraduate programs with the technical skills gained from his field work experiences to protect large wild areas using the “umbrella effect” of carnivore conservation. High profile carnivores such as jaguars and mountain lions require extensive, connected, relatively unaltered habitat; therefore, the conservation of these animals results in the protection of large wild areas. His work will require large-scale efforts that include obtaining solid ecological date on “indicator species” as well as working effectively with land owners, government agencies, and conservation organizations. Emil also hopes to develop effective environmental education approaches to assist people who live in and near critical habitat in developing alternative ways to balance their economic and cultural concerns with an understanding of the importance of holistic conservation ecology.