IBREAM - Institute for Breeding Rare and Endangered African Mammals

05/08/2026

Congratulations to The Toronto Zoo on the birth of their newborn pygmy hippo calf! What an exciting and hopeful news for this beautiful species. We wish Kindia, the pygmy hippo mom, the very best with her new calf and can't wait this adorable pygmy hippo grow up. 🦛

Toronto Zoo is one of IBREAM's proud sponsors and is dedicated to helping conserve the pygmy hippo. Through their conservation efforts, Toronto Zoo is helping give this unique species a chance to survive, and, hopefully, one day thrive again in the wild.

23/07/2026

Congratulations to J.B. Kempkes on his very first publication under IBREAM! We are very proud to have him on the team researching the pygmy hippo 🦛.

J.B. Kempkes spent 3 full months in the rainforest of Ivory Coast, researching why pygmy hippo population densities vary, even in seemingly fine habitat. Curious about his and his co-author's findings? Read all about it, it has just been published ! And, of course, let us know what you think!

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2026.e04346

Co-authors: Monique Paris, Yali Si, Maarten van 't Zelfde, Hermann Okou Eléazar Digbeu, Inza KONE, Karim Ouattara, Elie Bandama Bogui

21/07/2026

𝐈𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐨𝐛 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Professor Bob Millar, the visionary Co-Founder and Director of the Institute for Breeding Rare and Endangered African Mammals (IBREAM).

Bob co-founded IBREAM with a bold vision: to bring together reproductive science, veterinary medicine, and wildlife conservation to secure a future for Africa's rare and endangered mammals. What began as his dream/brainchild has nowadays grown into an internationally respected institute that has advanced conservation research, trained future scientists, and fostered collaborations across Africa and beyond. His passion, determination, and belief that science could make a real difference remain the foundation upon which IBREAM stands today.

To those who had the privilege of working with him, Bob was much more than a distinguished scientist. He was an inspiring leader, a generous mentor, and a trusted friend. He had an extraordinary ability to encourage others, challenge them to think differently, and have great confidence in young researchers. His enthusiasm for conservation was infectious, and his unwavering commitment to protecting Africa's wildlife inspired many of us.

The IBREAM family is heartbroken by his passing. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues, collaborators, and former students. We share in their grief and honour a life devoted to scientific excellence, conservation, and the protection of Africa's extraordinary biodiversity.

As we remember Bob, we also celebrate his remarkable vision and the enduring legacy he co-created. IBREAM exists because of his passion and belief that together we could make a meaningful difference for endangered wildlife. We are committed to carrying his vision forward to inspire and guide future generations.

Thank you, Bob, for your leadership, your friendship, your generosity, and your unwavering dedication to conservation. Your legacy lives on in the institute you co-created, the people you inspired, and the wildlife you wanted so much to protect.

You will be deeply missed and never forgotten.

20/07/2026

We're proud to partner with Dierenpark ZiE-ZOO on an exciting conservation milestone: the first-ever attempt at artificial insemination in the African wild dog. 🐾

This project aims to strengthen the genetic diversity of the European population and support the long-term conservation of one of Africa's most endangered carnivores.

Together, we're working to Bring Back the Pack. 💚

Read more below!

🐾 Een unieke stap voor het behoud van de Afrikaanse wilde hond!

Dierenpark ZiE-ZOO start samen met IBREAM een bijzonder en innovatief project: voor het eerst wordt geprobeerd om kunstmatige inseminatie toe te passen bij de Afrikaanse wilde hond. Een spannende ontwikkeling die kan bijdragen aan nieuwe bloedlijnen binnen Europese dierentuinen en uiteindelijk ook aan het versterken van wilde populaties in Afrika. 🌍🌿

Dat is hard nodig. Naar schatting leven er nog minder dan 6.000 volwassen Afrikaanse wilde honden in het wild. Hun aantallen nemen af door verlies van leefgebied, conflicten met mensen en ziekten. 📉

Om de juiste omstandigheden voor dit project te creëren, bouwen we een verbinding tussen twee verblijven. Hierdoor nemen we tijdelijk afscheid van onze rode honden, die op termijn naar GaiaZOO zullen verhuizen. Maar wees gerust: ze komen terug! In de komende jaren bouwen we voor hen een compleet nieuw verblijf. ✨

Met het project ‘BRING BACK THE PACK’ hopen ZiE-ZOO en IBREAM een belangrijke bijdrage te leveren aan de bescherming van deze bijzondere en bedreigde diersoort. 💚

Lees meer via ibream.org

10/07/2026

Last week, Mark van Heukelum and Jop Kempkes visited ZooParc Overloon to give a presentation about the pygmy hippo research project! They spoke to all of the volunteers who work there and help care for the zoo's pygmy hippos 🦛.

And what a surprise: after our presentation, we received an amazing donation of €10.750 from Stichting Wildlife! Thanks to this generous contribution, we'll be able to purchase a boat for our research in Côte d'Ivoire 🙌. The rainforest there is crisscrossed by many rivers, so having a boat will allow us to travel through the forest much more quickly while conducting research on wild pygmy hippos.

Stichting Wildlife and ZooParc Overloon: thank you so much!!

01/07/2026

01/07/2026

𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐠: 𝐑𝐮𝐛𝐲! 💚

Ruby is a beautiful female Labrador of 5 months old. She might be young, but she if full of passion and determination the help the conservation of the African wild dogs 🐕 . She has just started to learning basic skills that are needed for this specialized detection work. The coming months she will undergo almost daily training to reach high accuracy levels to get Ruby to be at the top of her game!

23/06/2026

𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐥 (𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡: 𝐁𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐞), 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌'𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐨𝐠𝐬! 🐝

Did you know Bumblebees symbolize the importance of hard work, diligence, and perseverance? These are exactly the characteristics of this 2 year old female field trial , who, you may have guessed it, also loves p**p!

But unlike our other dog Senco (see previous post), Hummel loves the smell of male pygmy hippo p**p. She is an expert determing the male pygmy hippo scent. Additionally, in the future Hummel will also help determine p**p, but then only from the .

19/06/2026

We are kicking off with Senco! 🐕

Senco is 3 years old and is a male field trial . And what do a Labrador and a pygmy hippo have in common? Well.. not very much. BUT! Senco loves pygmy hippo p**p 🦛💩.

Senco knows the smell of female pygmy hippo p**p better than any other dog. By identifying female p**p, Senco can help in identifying the distribution of female and male pygmy hippos in the wild.

17/06/2026

🐕 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞?

At IBREAM we work with specially trained conservation detection dogs: meet Hummel, Ruby, and Senco!

Our dogs are trained under the supervision of and qualified by Mariska Snelleman (Conservation Dog Services Netherlands), a biologist with over 15 years of experience in conservation detection dog training and deployment. Besides training and deploying detection dogs, Mariska is also dedicated to advancing the science behind canine scent detection and expanding its applications in conservation research! 🔬

With dog's incredible sense of smell, they help us obtain crucial information on population dynamics and structure of the pygmy hippo 🦛 and African wild dog 🐕 . Monitoring rare and elusive species like these is often challenging, especially in dense environments like rainforests. By using biological matter, like f***s 💩 (!), and identifying the specific biological signatures, the dogs help make this work faster, more efficient, and less invasive for the animals we study!

Over the coming weeks, we will introduce you to the amazing dogs that are part of our IBREAM team. They work incredibly hard in the field and play an important role in helping us protect wildlife.

Stay tuned to meet them!



Picture 1: IBREAM's Conservation Detection Dogs
Picture 2: Mariska during a training session!