The amateur film WITNESSING EXTINCTION (Svědectví vymírání) by Tomáš Jůnek (Department of Ecology) received the Neuron Prima ZOOM Prize together with three other science-popular images. The authors received an award from the hands of the patrons, the Wald's husbands, in the Neuron Prize awarding ceremony on May 24th at the Prague Archa Theater. The WITNESSING EXTINCTION describes an ambitious project by spouses Pavla and Tom Jůnek, focused on the inventory of animals in the Niokolo Koba National Park, one of the largest protected areas of West Africa. This region over the past decades has faced extreme human-driven pressure on wildlife. In particular, large mammals are losing their natural habitat and, in combination with illegal hunting, are gradually dying out. The aim of the project was to map and analyze surviving mammals' populations in the core zone of the Park and to set up a methodology for long-term monitoring in African savannas.
