Daniella Mhangwana

BSc Hons (Cape Town)

I have spent my life looking towards nature and being in awe of its wonder. I grew up living in a small town in Namaqualand where collecting shells on the bank of the orange river and going camping allowed me to cultivate my love for nature. At a young age I became slightly obsessed with the protection of the environment by becoming a vegetarian and advocating for the introduction of recycling facilities at my high school. To further my reach in the environmental sphere I decided to study environmental and geographical science at UCT as well as biology which would give me further insight into functioning of the system I was determined to protect. I have a particular interest in conservation biology and the interaction with humans and the natural environment. I finished my undergrad with these majors and continued into my honours in Biology. However I persisted in the field of sustainability practices and environmental activism by becoming the head of the Green Campus Initiative which aims to make the institution more environmentally friendly.

Research focus:
Throughout my academic career there have been a myriad of subjects that have interested me and occupied most of my time. For the last two years, I have been focused on birds and more specifically the African Honeyguide. I had attended a research trip in the beginning of third year where I had met this bird for the first time. The trip was led by Claire Spottiswoode and my other two current supervisors Celiwe Ngcamphalala and Jessica van der Wal and it drove me to read up, increase my bird ringing skills and engage in my very own honeyguide research project. I am currently doing my master’s on avian consumption of beeswax. It has been thought that honeyguides are unique among terrestrial birds in being able to consume and digest beeswax, but in my honours, I discovered that wax eating and efficient wax digestion are more widespread in birds than previously thought and support other recent findings that honeyguides face significant interspecific competition for the wax they expose through their remarkable cooperation with humans. I am continuing with this project and increasing the research size and area to identify the larger ecological consequences of theses findings.