Vertebrate anatomy and palaeoenviromental reconstruction in The West Coast of South Africa
R. Govender PhD
PhD University of the Witwatersrand (2006)
Curator of Cenozoic Palaeontology
Natural History Department
Iziko South African Museum
PO Box 61
Cape Town 8000
South Africa
Phone/Fax: +27 (0)21 481 3894
Mobile: +27 (0)83 756 5532
E-mail: rgovender@iziko.org.za
Research interests
Vertebrate anatomy including functional anatomy, palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmetal reconstructions, taphonomy and taxonomy. Faunal turnover at sites in South Africa over time, focussing on the west coast. Current research is on the five million year old marine mammal fauna at Langebaanweg, west coast of South Africa. Future research will focus on the small carnivores at Langebaanweg.
Publications
Postdoctoral Fellowships
2010 - August 2011– Claude Leon Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Zoology Department, University of Cape Town. Research: Palaeoecological reconstruction of the cetaceans and seals from Langebaanweg, a Pliocene locality on the West Coast of South Africa.
2009 - Postdoctoral Fellow (Departmental Scholarship) – Zoology Department, University of Cape Town. Research: A reconstruction of the palaeoecology of the seal population at Langebaanweg, a Pliocene Locality on the west coast of South Africa.
2006 – 2008- NRF Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow – Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, School of Geoscience, Wits University, Johannesburg. Research: Postcranial Analysis of African Middle Triassic Dicynodonts.