Viorel Popescu to discuss future for Ohio bobcats at Oct. 5 Science Café

Viorel Popescu, Ph.D.

Ohio University’s Science Café features Viorel Popescu, Ph.D., discussing "The Secret Lives of the #RealBobcatsofOhio" at 5 p.m. on Oct. 5 at the Baker Center Theater and via YouTube.

To celebrate the second café of the season, audience members, online or in person, who ask a question will receive a Science Café t-shirt. Free coffee coupons also will be provided for the first 50 people.

“Bobcat trivia: there were no bobcats in Ohio in the 1920s when the mighty feline was proposed as the OHIO Athletics mascot,” said Popescu, who will share the wildly successful story of bobcat population recovery in the state and the challenges and opportunities for bobcat conservation.

Popescu, associate professor of Biological Sciences, has been studying wildlife ecology and conservation and is especially interested in the management and conservation of terrestrial vertebrates in human-dominated environments.

“Conservation biology is at a crossroads. After 40-plus years of sustained conservation efforts, biodiversity is still declining at an alarming rate, and threats such as deforestation, urbanization and climate change are more pervasive than ever,” Popescu said. But for bobcats, there is hope.

Watch the Oct. 5 Science Café live or later on YouTube. For more information, contact Roxanne Malé-Brune at male-bru@ohio.edu.

The series is supported by the Ohio University Research Division and Ohio University Chapter of Sigma Xi. For more information, visit the Science Café website.