Academic literature on the topic 'African elephant populations'
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Journal articles on the topic "African elephant populations"
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Chase, Michael J., Scott Schlossberg, Curtice R. Griffin, Philippe J. C. Bouché, Sintayehu W. Djene, Paul W. Elkan, Sam Ferreira, et al. "Continent-wide survey reveals massive decline in African savannah elephants." PeerJ 4 (August 31, 2016): e2354. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2354.
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African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are imperiled by poaching and habitat loss. Despite global attention to the plight of elephants, their population sizes and trends are uncertain or unknown over much of Africa. To conserve this iconic species, conservationists need timely, accurate data on elephant populations. Here, we report the results of the Great Elephant Census (GEC), the first continent-wide, standardized survey of African savannah elephants. We also provide the first quantitative model of elephant population trends across Africa. We estimated a population of 352,271 savannah elephants on study sites in 18 countries, representing approximately 93% of all savannah elephants in those countries. Elephant populations in survey areas with historical data decreased by an estimated 144,000 from 2007 to 2014, and populations are currently shrinking by 8% per year continent-wide, primarily due to poaching. Though 84% of elephants occurred in protected areas, many protected areas had carcass ratios that indicated high levels of elephant mortality. Results of the GEC show the necessity of action to end the African elephants’ downward trajectory by preventing poaching and protecting habitat.
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Pretorius, Yolanda, Marion E. Garaï, and Lucy A. Bates. "The status of African elephant Loxodonta africana populations in South Africa." Oryx 53, no. 4 (April 15, 2018): 757–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0030605317001454.
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AbstractWith an increase in poaching of elephants Loxodonta africana across Africa, it is vital to know exactly how many elephants remain and where they occur, to ensure that protection and management are planned appropriately. From a nationwide survey we provide current population and distribution data for elephants in South Africa. We consider the viability of elephant populations in the country, as well as some of the management techniques implemented and how effective these are in controlling elephant numbers. According to our surveys there were 28,168 elephants in South Africa as of December 2015, with 78% of these occurring in Kruger National Park and reserves bordering and open to the Park. Of the country's 78 discrete reserves that host elephants, 77% have populations of < 100 elephants, which could mean they are not genetically viable. We discuss our findings in terms of the conservation value of South Africa's elephant reserves, and the animal welfare implications. We recommend that the fragmentation of elephant habitat in the country be addressed through a national elephant management strategy that promotes wildlife corridors between existing, neighbouring elephant reserves.
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Huang, Ryan M., Rudi J. van Aarde, Stuart L. Pimm, Michael J. Chase, and Keith Leggett. "Mapping potential connections between Southern Africa’s elephant populations." PLOS ONE 17, no. 10 (October 11, 2022): e0275791. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275791.
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Southern Africa spans nearly 7 million km2 and contains approximately 80% of the world’s savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) mostly living in isolated protected areas. Here we ask what are the prospects for improving the connections between these populations? We combine 1.2 million telemetry observations from 254 elephants with spatial data on environmental factors and human land use across eight southern African countries. Telemetry data show what natural features limit elephant movement and what human factors, including fencing, further prevent or restrict dispersal. The resulting intersection of geospatial data and elephant presences provides a map of suitable landscapes that are environmentally appropriate for elephants and where humans allow elephants to occupy. We explore the environmental and anthropogenic constraints in detail using five case studies. Lastly, we review all the major potential connections that may remain to connect a fragmented elephant metapopulation and document connections that are no longer feasible.
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Hoare, Richard. "African elephants and humans in conflict: the outlook for co-existence." Oryx 34, no. 1 (January 2000): 34–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3008.2000.00092.x.
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AbstractThe future persistence of African elephants over the 80 per cent of the species's range that remains outside protected areas is increasingly uncertain in many parts of the continent. Conflict between elephants and agriculturalists is already widespread and can lead to displacement or elimination of elephants, causing a further decline in their range and numbers. ‘Protectionist’ conservation groups have recently attempted to play down the importance of human–elephant conflict, contending that it has been greatly exaggerated by those advocating sustainable use of wildlife. The future of elephants in ecosystems over much of the continent will depend largely upon the attitudes and activities of humans. The realities of survival faced by rural Africans may mean that little attention will be paid to a debate taking place on conservation philosophy in the developed world. Therefore, the IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG) is investigating how human land use can be integrated with the needs of elephant populations in Africa's biogeographical regions. Findings from these studies will be used in attempts to benefit elephant conservation and management in the 37 African elephant range states.
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Barnes, R. F. W., M. Agnagna, M. P. T. Alers, A. Blom, G. Doungoube, M. Fay, T. Masunda, J. C. Ndo Nkoumou, C. Sikubwabo Kiyengo, and M. Tchamba. "Elephants and ivory poaching in the forests of equatorial Africa." Oryx 27, no. 1 (January 1993): 27–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0030605300023929.
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Reconnaissance surveys were made of the forests of four central African countries to establish, for the first time, the status of forest-dwelling elephants. The results, when combined with information from previous surveys in other countries, provide a picture of the elephant situation in the forest zone, and especially the impact of poaching. About one-third of the forest elephant population of central Africa is to be found in Zaire, and about one-third in Gabon. The rest are in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Congo. It is poaching for ivory, rather than the growth of human populations, which threatens the elephants of the equatorial forests.
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Poole, Joyce H., and Jorgen B. Thomsen. "Elephant are not beetles: implications of the ivory trade for the survival of the African elephant." Oryx 23, no. 4 (October 1989): 188–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0030605300023012.
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The scientific community now agrees that, more than anything else, it is the killing of African elephants for the ivory trade that has caused the very dramatic declines in elephant populations witnessed over the past decade. Based on samples of ivory trade data, recent population modelling and field data, the authors discuss the implications of the ivory trade for the future survival of viable populations of African elephants.
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Della Rocca, F. "How tall is an elephant? Two methods for estimating elephant height." Web Ecology 7, no. 1 (February 14, 2007): 1–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/we-7-1-2007.
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Abstract. Shoulder height is a reliable indicator of age for African elephants (Loxodonta africana), and is therefore an important parameter to be recorded in field studies of population ecology of these pachyderms. However, it can be somewhat difficult to estimate with precision the shoulder height of free-ranging elephants because of several reasons, including the presence of drops and vegetation cover and the potential dangerousness of approaching them in the wild. Here I test two alternative models for estimating shoulder height of elephants. In both models, the equipment needed to generate the height estimates is minimal, and include a telemeter and a digital photo-camera furnished with an ×16 zoom. The models are based respectively on a linear regression approach and on a geometric formula approach, and put into a relationship the linear distance between the observer and the animal, the number of pixels of an elephant silhouette as taken from digital photos, and the absolute height of the animal. Both methods proved to have a very small measurement error, and were thus reliable for field estimates of elephant shoulder heights. The model based on a geometric formula was used to estimate the shoulder height distribution of an elephant population in a savannah region of West Africa (Zakouma National Park, Chad). I demonstrated that Zakouma elephants were among the tallest populations in Africa, with growth rates being highest throughout the first five years of life.
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Fuentes, Sarah Quebec. "Activities for Students: Estimating African Elephant Populations (Part 1)." Mathematics Teacher 102, no. 7 (March 2009): 534–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.5951/mt.102.7.0534.
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How many elephants remain in Africa? For a variety of environmental reasons, monitoring the population of elephants in Africa is extremely important. When attempting to estimate the size of an elephant population in a certain area, a researcher must make several decisions. Should the count be conducted from the air or from the ground? Should the elephants in the entire area be counted or only those in a representative area? Should only the elephants themselves be counted, or should signs of their presence—such as dung, tracks, and feeding evidence—be considered as well? Over the past four decades, the approaches used to count elephants have become more statistically refined. This twopart article, to be continued in next month's issue, will explore the mathematics of some of the methods used to count elephants and will present related activities for the mathematics classroom. In this part, we will provide a brief but pertinent history of the African elephant and then present two different methods of counting elephants. This activity may be used as an entire unit or as an application of a particular concept and may be incorporated into several courses. Algebra and geometry students will be able to handle the necessary mathematics. Although this activity informally exposes students to several statistical concepts, a sophisticated understanding of statistics is not required to complete the first two scenarios. The mathematics for the third scenario is more advanced, however; thus, it could be used in higher-level classes such as statistics and calculus. The tasks involved in all three scenarios encourage students to make connections between mathematics and other disciplines and touch on the various implications of mathematical decisions.
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Fuentes, Sarah Quebec. "Activities for Students: Estimating African Elephant Populations (Part 1)." Mathematics Teacher 102, no. 7 (March 2009): 534–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.5951/mt.102.7.0534.
Full textAbstract:
How many elephants remain in Africa? For a variety of environmental reasons, monitoring the population of elephants in Africa is extremely important. When attempting to estimate the size of an elephant population in a certain area, a researcher must make several decisions. Should the count be conducted from the air or from the ground? Should the elephants in the entire area be counted or only those in a representative area? Should only the elephants themselves be counted, or should signs of their presence—such as dung, tracks, and feeding evidence—be considered as well? Over the past four decades, the approaches used to count elephants have become more statistically refined. This twopart article, to be continued in next month's issue, will explore the mathematics of some of the methods used to count elephants and will present related activities for the mathematics classroom. In this part, we will provide a brief but pertinent history of the African elephant and then present two different methods of counting elephants. This activity may be used as an entire unit or as an application of a particular concept and may be incorporated into several courses. Algebra and geometry students will be able to handle the necessary mathematics. Although this activity informally exposes students to several statistical concepts, a sophisticated understanding of statistics is not required to complete the first two scenarios. The mathematics for the third scenario is more advanced, however; thus, it could be used in higher-level classes such as statistics and calculus. The tasks involved in all three scenarios encourage students to make connections between mathematics and other disciplines and touch on the various implications of mathematical decisions.
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Foley, Charles A. H., and Lisa J. Faust. "Rapid population growth in an elephant Loxodonta africana population recovering from poaching in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania." Oryx 44, no. 2 (January 12, 2010): 205–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0030605309990706.
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AbstractWe studied the demography of a subpopulation of African elephants Loxodonta africana in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, from 1993 to 2005. The Tarangire elephants had been affected by heavy poaching prior to 1993. We monitored 668 individually known elephants in 27 family groups. The population increased from 226 to 498 individuals, with mean group size increasing from 8.4 to 18.3. The average annual growth rate was 7.1% (range 2.0–16.9%). This approaches the maximal growth rate for African elephants, with corresponding minimal values for demographic parameters. The mean interbirth interval was 3.3 years, mean age of first reproduction 11.1 years, average annual mortality of elephants younger than 8 years 3%, and average annual mortality of adult females 1%. Probability of conceiving was positively correlated with annual rainfall. No significant density-dependent effects were recorded. Rapid growth was aided by high rainfall, low population density and release from the stresses of poaching. These results demonstrate that elephant populations are capable of rapid population increases for extended periods of time given the right ecological and social conditions. This has consequences for elephant conservation and management.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "African elephant populations"
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Selier, Sarah-Anne Jeanetta. "The social structure, distribution, and demographic status of the African elephant population in the central Limpopo River Valley of Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa." Connect to this title online, 2007. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06112008-154746/.
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Gough, Katie F. "Relatedness, social behaviour, and population dynamics of the elephants (Loxodonta africana) of Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/3569.
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This study presents an investigation into the population dynamics and social structure of a small, closed elephant population. Specifically, it examined population growth rates for evidence of density-dependent regulation. It also quantified the association patterns of female elephants groups, and male elephants groups. Social structure was examined using Hamilton’s kinship theories of inclusive fitness, and age. Male-female patterns of association were also examined for inbreeding avoidance behaviours. The study population was located in Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa. Density-dependence was assessed using a long-term data set. Densities were considerably higher than estimated carrying capacities. Population growth rate was positively correlated with increasing density. No relationship between birth rate, the age of first calving or calf sex ratio and elephant density was detected but there was a positive relationship between birth rate and rainfall during conception year. Mortality rates, particularly for juveniles, were low, and mean inter-calf interval was 3.3 years. There is no evidence of density dependent regulation in this population. These findings indicate that density dependence should not be considered as an option in the control of elephant numbers in this Park, or where elephant resources are not seasonally limited. Examination of association patterns of the adult female component revealed that associations were not random at the population, family or individual scale. This is the second study on African elephants to confirm previous behavioural studies that predicted that preferred associates were close maternal relatives. This supports many studies showing that social species preferentially associate with their kin. The adult males in this population were found to have a well differentiated society with non-random associations. Generally, males were found to have weak associations with most other males and strong associations with only a few males. This association pattern was found to be persistent over the time frame of the study, as indicated by the time lag analysis. Males returned to their natal family, even when maternally related females were in oestrus. Oestrous females directed positive behaviours towards musth males. It appears that behavioural inbreeding avoidance mechanisms in this small, closed population are inhibited: musth status seems to override inbreeding avoidance. General principles from this case study were interpreted in terms of their applicability to other small, closed populations.
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Roever, Carrie Lynn. "Spatial determinants of habitat use, mortality and connectivity for elephant populations across southern Africa." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/28661.
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Southern Africa contains 58% of the world’s savannah elephant population, yet 72% of their range occurs outside of protected areas. It is, therefore, important to develop management guidelines that satisfy the needs of both elephants and people while maintaining environmental heterogeneity and ecosystem processes. Managing elephants as a metapopulation may provide the solution. The goal of this thesis was then to use a habitat-based approach to identify landscape characteristics which could contribute to the functionality of a metapopulation for elephants. Using resource selection function models, I identified habitat suitability for elephants across southern Africa and used these models to evaluate whether current habitat configurations allow for the assumptions of connectivity and asynchronous population dynamics required by a metapopulation. I found that water, tree cover, slope, and human presence were important predictors of elephant habitat selection. Furthermore, functional responses in habitat selection were present across space and time for water and tree cover, showing the adaptability of this generalist species to resource heterogeneity. Using habitat selection along with circuit theory current flow maps, I then found a high likelihood of connectivity in the central portion of our study area (i.e. between the Chobe, Kafue, Luangwa, and Zambezi cluster). Main factors limiting connectivity were the high human density in the east and a lack of surface water in the west. These factors effectively isolate elephants in the Etosha cluster in Namibia and Niassa clusters in Mozambique from the central region. Models further identified two clusters where elephants might benefit from being managed as part of a conservation network, 1) northern Zambia and Malawi and 2) northern Mozambique. Incorporating information on elephant mortalities in northern Botswana into habitat selection estimations, I found that source habitats for elephants occurred within the central Okavango Delta region and sink habitats were associated with periphery of the study area where human use was highest. Eighty percent of elephant mortalities occurred within 25 km of people. The protected designation of an area had less influence on elephant mortality than did the locations of the area in relation to human development. To exacerbate human-elephant conflicts, people tended to settle in areas of high-quality elephant habitats, creating resource competition between elephants and people. Consequently, elephant mortality near humans increased as a function of habitat suitability, and elephants responded by using less suitable habitats. While humans occupied only 0.7% of the study area, mortality and behavioural effects impacted 43%. Based on the habitat factors examined here, elephants in southern Africa could be managed as a metapopulation if (1) connectivity is maintained and encouraged and (2) spatial heterogeneity in resources and risks serves to stabilize elephant demography. This habitat-based system of management could serve to alleviate unstable elephant populations in southern Africa and create more natural, self-sustaining regulatory mechanisms.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
Zoology and Entomology
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Kelly, Henry Lyle Patrick. "The effect of elephant utilisation on the Sterculia rogersii and Adansonia digitata populations of the Kruger National Park." Connect to this title online, 2000. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-04032006-101546/.
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Rosenlund, Håvard. "A genetic insight to the population of African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Serengeti Ecosystem, Tanzania." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for biologi, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-12824.
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African savannah elephants play a vital role in the Serengeti ecosystem with the opportunity to alter the entire ecosystem by its sheer number. Management of these animals are therefore of high importance, but little genetic research has been done thus far in the ecosystem. Their recent traumatic history of poaching serves as a template for intriguing evolutionary theories and further understanding of elephant behavior. In this study it was investigated on the genetic structure and spatial differentiation of the elephants in Serengeti using a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) marker. A widespread sample size of 55 elephants were collected in three zones of the Serengeti National Park (West, North and Seronera) and analyzed for genetic diversity. The results gave the impression of a slightly outbreeding population with no ongoing subdivision (FST = -0.04864, p = 0.92082). A total of 7 haplotypes were obtained with one clearly being dominant (78.2 %). All collected haplotypes were compared to earlier studies using the same mitochondrial marker and having a wider perspective, with samples ranging across the sub-Saharan Africa. Results show that there is a possibility that the elephants now inhabiting the Serengeti are primary descendants of Northern populations coming from Kenya and Uganda, with additional individuals giving the impression that the Serengeti elephants are a mixture of individuals with historical connections from all over sub-Saharan Africa.
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Lindsay, William Keith. "Feeding ecology and population demography of African elephants in Amboseli, Kenya." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.338055.
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Jansson, Lina. "How to stop the African elephant population from extermination; Causes, Achievements and Consequences." Thesis, Södertörn University College, School of Life Sciences, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-747.
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Humans’ hunting for ivory has had a serious impact of the African elephant population. Ivory has throughout history been a symbol of manhood and status. As the market of ivory expanded to the rest of the world, the market demand for ivory became higher than what the elephants could manage to provide. In the 1980’s, the African elephant population was threatened by extension and it was reduced with 50 percent in ten years. For this reason, CITES placed the African elephant population under a ban, which made it an illegal act to trade ivory and other elephant parts.
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Cimadori, Ilaria <1994>. "BIODIVERSITY, WILDERNESS AND THE PROTECTION OF THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT POPULATION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/16568.
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The protection of biodiversity and of particular animal species and their habitats has become increasingly relevant at an international level. For this reason, several Conventions have been created over the years, each dealing with different issues to enhance animals, habitat and biodiversity protection.
Unfortunately, although these instruments highlight the increasing awareness of the importance to enhance conservation and the efforts that the international community is taking to improve the protection of animals, habitats, and biodiversity, in many cases these tools do not afford adequate protection.
The aim of my thesis is to study in depth animal and biodiversity protection in international law, taking into consideration four major biodiversity-related Conventions to foster conservation. In particular, I will deal with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), and the Convention concerning the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (UNESCO Convention), discussing the limitations of this branch of international law to identify possible solutions.
To do so, I will carry out an analysis of the current status of the African Elephant population as a case study in four African range states that have signed the above mentioned Conventions, which are Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
The management and protection of elephants is very complex because it involves various issues like poaching, habitat loss, human population growth which worsen human-elephant conflict, poverty, corruption, national development needs and lack of funding, all elements that make conservation very difficult, with subsequent countries difficulties in the Conventions application.
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Merte, Christen E. "Age effects on social and investigative behaviors in a closed population of African elephants." Click here to access thesis, 2006. http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/archive/spring2006/christen%5Fe%5Fmerte/merte%5Fchristen%5Fe%5F200601%5Fmsb.pdf.
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Thesis (M.F.A.)--Georgia Southern University, 2006."A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science" ETD. Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-58) and appendices.
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Mgqatsa, Nokubonga. "Diet and population trends of warthog in the Addo Elephant National Park." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1277.
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The common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) has recently been recognised as an alien invasive species in the Eastern Cape and their population is increasing rapidly within the region. This then raises a concern as it is recorded that invasive species have negative impacts on both economic and ecological aspects of biodiversity in the receiving community. There are few studies that have documented the impacts of this species in the Eastern Cape. This study therefore seeks to determine the diet and population trends of this species in the Addo Elephant National Park (AENP) Main Camp and the results obtained can be correlated with previous studies and used to quantify the impacts of this species in the Eastern Cape. Warthogs are specialized grazers, it was therefore hypothesized that they will have potential impacts on grazing resources in the AENP Main Camp. The diet of common warthogs in the AENP Main Camp was determined through microhistological analysis of faecal material of samples collected seasonally. Population trends of common warthogs were determined in relation to the effects of predation on the population growth and population age structure of these animals within the AENP Main Camp. The results were compared with the findings for common warthog population growth and population age structure of Great Fish River Nature Reserve (GFRNR), a predator free population. It was hypothesized that the population growth rate of common warthogs in the AENP Main Camp before the introduction of lions and hyaenas in the AENP would not differ from the population growth rate of common warthogs in GFRNR. Secondly, the post-lion/hyaena common warthog population in the AENP Main Camp would differ from both the AENP Main Camp pre-lion/hyaena and GFRNR common warthog populations due to the presence of large predators in the AENP Main Camp. For population age structure it was hypothesized that the two populations, AENP Main Camp and GFRNR would differ because of predators increasing mortality. The diet of common warthogs was dominated by grass (87.4 percent), with Cynodon dactylon being the dominant grass species. Common warthogs in the AENP Main Camp should be properly managed because they have potential impact on grasses. The population growth of common warthogs in the AENP Main Camp showed no effect of predation, with population growth not differing from that of GFRNR. Predation had an effect on common warthog population age structure with AENP Main Camp and GFRNR populations differing, particularly in terms of adult structure. Thus, population growth of common warthogs in the AENP Main Camp is not determined by the presence of predators. These findings highlight the status of common warthog as an invasive species in the AENP Main Camp and potentially impacting on grass species and show little effects of top-down population regulation. These results show a need of monitoring common warthog population as well as their potential impacts in the area.
Books on the topic "African elephant populations"
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Douglas-Hamilton, Iain. African Elephant Database, February 1992. Nairobi: Global Environment Monitoring System and the Global Resource Information Database, United Nations Environment Programme, 1992.
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Michelmore, Frances. Technical report on the African elephant database. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme, 1991.
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Programme, United Nations Environment, Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, eds. Elephants in the dust: The African elephant crisis : a rapid response assessment. Nairobi, Kenya: UNEP, 2013.
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Zimbabwe. Dept. of National Parks and Wild Life Management. and Price Waterhouse (Firm : Harare, Zimbabwe). Wildlife, Tourism, and Environmental Consultants., eds. Elephant census in Zimbabwe, 1980 to 1995: An analysis and review. [Harare]: Price Waterhouse, Wildlife, Tourism and Environmental Consultants, 1996.
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Dunham, K. M. National summary of aerial census results for elephant[s] in Zimbabwe: 2001. Harare]: WWF, 2002.
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Dunham, K. M. Aerial survey of elephants and other large herbivores in Gonarezhou National Park (Zimbabwe), Zinave National Park (Mozambique) and surrounds: 2009. Harare, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Parks and wildlife Management Authority, 2010.
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(Organization), WWF-SARPO, ed. Aerial survey of elephants and other large herbivores in the Sebungwe Region, Zimbabwe, 2006. Harare, Zimbabwe: WWF-SARPO, 2006.
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D, Taylor R. Aerial census of elephant and other large herbivores in the Sebungwe 1991. Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe: WWF Multispecies Project, 1992.
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Aerial census of elephant and other large mammals in Gonarezhou National Park and adjacent areas, September, 1991. Causeway, Zimbabwe: Branch of Terrestrial Ecology, Dept. of National Parks and Wildlife Management, 1991.
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Dunham, K. M. Aerial census of elephants and other large herbivores in the Save Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe: 2001. Harare]: WWF, 2002.
Find full textBook chapters on the topic "African elephant populations"
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Horning, Ned, Julie A. Robinson, Eleanor J. Sterling, Woody Turner, and Sacha Spector. "Integrating field data." In Remote Sensing for Ecology and Conservation. Oxford University Press, 2010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199219940.003.0021.
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While the savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana) is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as “vulnerable” because of declining abundance in some regions of Africa (Blanc 2008), populations in some protected areas of South Africa are growing rapidly (van Aarde and Jackson 2007). These populations can cause extensive modification of vegetation structure when their density increases (Owen-Smith 1996; Whyte et al. 2003; Guldemond and van Aarde 2007). Management methods such as culling, translocation, and birth control have not reduced density in some cases (van Aarde et al. 1999; Pimm and van Aarde 2001). Providing more space for elephants is one alternative management strategy, yet fundamental to this strategy is a clear understanding of habitat and landscape use by elephants. Harris et al. (2008) combined remotely sensed data with Global Positioning System (GPS) and traditional ethological observations to assess elephant habitat use across three areas that span the ecological gradient of historical elephant distribution. They explored influences on habitat use across arid savannahs (Etosha National Park in Namibia) and woodlands (Tembe Elephant Park in South Africa and Maputo Elephant Reserve in Mozambique). The researchers focused on three main variables—distance to human settlements, distance to water, and vegetation type. The authors used Landsat 7 ETMþ imagery to create vegetation maps for each location, employing supervised classification and maximum likelihood estimation. Across all sites, they recorded the coordinates of patches with different vegetation and of vegetation transitions to develop signatures for the maps. Elephants do not use all vegetation types, and it can be expedient to focus on presence rather than both presence and absence. Accordingly, the researchers used GPS to record the locations of elephants with the aim of identifying important land cover types for vegetation mapping. The authors mapped water locations in the wet and dry seasons using remotely sensed data and mapped human settlements using GPS, aerial surveys, and regional maps. They tracked elephants with radiotelemetry collars that communicated with the ARGOS satellite system, sending location data for most of the elephants over 24 h, and then remaining quiescent for the next 48 h to extend battery life.
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Tatar, Marc. "Senescence." In Evolutionary Ecology. Oxford University Press, 2001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195131543.003.0015.
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At all taxonomic levels, there exists tremendous variation in life expectancy. A field mouse Peromyscus may live 1.2 years, while the African elephant may persist for 60 years, and even a mousesized bat such as Corynorhinus rafinesquei lives a healthy 20 years (Promislow 1991). Part of this variance is caused by differences in ecological risks, rodents being perhaps the most susceptible to predation, and to vagaries of climate and resources. Another portion is caused by differences in senescence, the intrinsic degeneration of function that produces progressive decrement in age-specific survival and fecundity. Senescence occurs in natural populations, where it affects life expectancy and reproduction as can be seen, for instance, from the progressive change in age-specific mortality and maternity of lion and baboon in East Africa. The occurrence of senescence and of the widespread variation in longevity presents a paradox: How does the age-dependent deterioration of fitness components evolve under natural selection? The conceptual and empirical resolutions to this problem will be explored in this chapter. We shall see that the force of natural selection does not weigh equally on all ages and that there is therefore an increased chance for genes with late-age-deleterious effects to be expressed. Life histories are expected to be optimized to regulate intrinsic deterioration, and in this way, longevity evolves despite the maladaptive nature of senescence. From this framework, we will then consider how the model is tested, both through studies of laboratory evolution and of natural variation, and through the physiological and molecular dissection of constraints underlying trade-offs between reproduction and longevity. As humans are well aware from personal experience, performance and physical condition progressively deteriorate with adult age. And in us, as well as in many other species, mortality rates progressively increase with cohort age. Medawar (1955), followed by Williams (1957), stated the underlying assumption connecting these events: Senescent decline in function causes a progressive increase in mortality rate. Although mortality may increase episodically across some age classes, such as with increases in reproductive effort, we assume that the continuous increase of mortality across the range of adult ages represents our best estimate of senescence.
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Peprah, Kenneth, Raymond Aabeyir, and Gervase Kuuwaabong. "Degradation of Forest Reserves in Asunafo Forest District, Ghana." In Sustainable Development. IntechOpen, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106993.
Full textAbstract:
Forest reserve degradation is a global concern because it is a storage facility of global biodiversity. In addition, forest reserves contain the wealth of several poor countries, particularly in Africa. Such is the situation in Ghana, which possesses portions of the tropical African rainforest. The timber species thereof has been harvested to create wealth since the 1800s. The wealth of the soils for cocoa production was realised in the first decade of the nineteenth century in Asunafo. Hence, the desire to reserve portions of the forest as protected areas began in 1910. Therefore, the aim of this study is an investigation of the degradation of the forest reserves of Asunafo. The methods of the study include a survey of farmers, key informant interviews, community meetings, and transect drives. The results reveal a progressive increase in the human population, expansion of settlements, and a drastic reduction in the forest reserves by –24.59%. The timber industry, cocoa farming, and population increase have caused forest reserve degradation, a loss of wildlife habitats, an out-migration of elephants, buffalos, and chimpanzees, a loss of plant biodiversity, and an invasion by weeds. The Government of Ghana should increase efforts to halt forest reserve degradation.
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Beinart, William, and Lotte Hughes. "Hunting, Wildlife, and Imperialism in Southern Africa." In Environment and Empire. Oxford University Press, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199260317.003.0009.
Full textAbstract:
Imperial networks in northern North America flowed initially along the waterways that gave access to the trade-associated hunting, trapping, timber extraction, and related activities. Hunting was essential to many indigenous societies, and required relatively little investment for the first wave of traders and settlers. It generated valuable resources in a number of colonized zones. But hunting frontiers in the British Empire differed. In part, the reasons were environmental. The assemblage of species in North America and Africa were possibly more similar 15,000 years ago ‘when the American West looked much as [the] Serengeti plains do today’. Large mammals including mammoths, big cats, and wild horses roamed the northern hemisphere prairies. Climate change, combined with the impact of rapid human migration through the Americas 10–12,000 years ago, resulted in many extinctions so that the wildlife of the two areas had become distinctive by the onset of European colonization. This opened up divergent opportunities for consumption and trade. Southern Africa was a frontier of heat rather than cold. There were no animals with the thick glossy fur favoured by Europeans for outer garments or for felt. Southern Africa’s most prized hunted commodity—aside from meat—was equally unpredictable. While mammoths had been exterminated in North America, an elephant species with large tusks survived into the modern era in Africa. Environmental factors also shaped the technology of hunting and carriage. Southern Africa lacked navigable rivers and lakes; Canada’s abundance of water was matched by South Africa’s dearth. Although the spread of firearms and horses was common to both regions, South Africa’s transport sinews were dusty, rutted ox-wagon tracks across the veld rather than the cool, wooded lakes and streams along which canoes could be paddled. In part, differences resulted from the chance value of particular animal products. Southern Africa was home to an extraordinary range of large mammals. The richness of wildlife can be judged by the variety of predators at the top of the food chain—lions, leopards, cheetahs, caracals, hyenas, wild dogs, jackals, as well as smaller cats. The antelope population was unparalleled in the diversity of its species. But variety did not in itself translate into value.
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Abulafia, David. "Isolation and Insulation, 22000 BC–3000 BC." In The Great Sea. Oxford University Press, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195323344.003.0008.
Full textAbstract:
Carved out millions of years before mankind reached its coasts, the Mediterranean Sea became a ‘sea between the lands’ linking opposite shores once human beings traversed its surface in search of habitation, food or other vital resources. Early types of humans inhabited the lands bordering the Mediterranean 435,000 years before the present, to judge from evidence for a hunters’ camp set up near modern Rome; others built a simple hut out of branches at Terra Amata near Nice, and created a hearth in the middle of their dwelling – their diet included rhinoceros and elephant meat as well as deer, rabbits and wild pigs. When early man first ventured out across the sea’s waters is uncertain. In 2010, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens announced the discovery in Crete of quartz hand-axes dated to before 130,000 BC, indicating that early types of humans found some means to cross the sea, though these people may have been swept there unintentionally on storm debris. Discoveries in caves on Gibraltar prove that 24,000 years ago another species of human looked across the sea towards the mountain of Jebel Musa, clearly visible on the facing shore of Africa: the first Neanderthal bones ever discovered, in 1848, were those of a woman who lived in a cave on the side of the Rock of Gibraltar. Since the original finds were not immediately identified as the remains of a different human species, it was only when, eight years later, similar bones were unearthed in the Neander Valley in Germany that this species gained a name: Neanderthal Man should carry the name Gibraltar Woman. The Gibraltar Neanderthals made use of the sea that lapped the shores of their territory, for their diet included shellfish and crustaceans, even turtles and seals, though at this time a flat plain separated their rock caves from the sea. But there is no evidence for a Neanderthal population in Morocco, which was colonized by homo sapiens sapiens, our own branch of humanity. The Straits apparently kept the two populations apart.
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Abulafia, David. "Would-be Roman Emperors, 1350–1480." In The Great Sea. Oxford University Press, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195323344.003.0033.
Full textAbstract:
Following the arrival of the plague, and the dramatic fall in population, pressure on food supplies within the Mediterranean diminished. This did not mean that the old Mediterranean grain trade withered. In fact, it flourished: as inferior lands were abandoned and turned over to pasture, and as other areas became dedicated to products such as sugar and dyestuffs, the economic life of the lands bordering the Great Sea became more varied. As specialization increased, trade in all manner of goods was stimulated. The Mediterranean economy began to take on a new shape. Local contacts came to the fore: products such as timber were ferried down the coasts of Catalonia; wool was sent across the Adriatic from Apulia to the burgeoning towns of Dalmatia, and from Minorca (famous for its sheep) to Tuscany, where around 1400 the ‘Merchant of Prato’, Francesco di Marco Datini, obsessively ensured that every bale was recorded and every piece of correspondence was preserved – about 150,000 letters – to the great advantage of historians. One of his agents in Ibiza complained: ‘this land is unhealthy, the bread is bad, the wine is bad – God forgive me, nothing is good! I fear I shall leave my skin here.’ But the demands of business came before personal comfort. The Merchant of Prato also had Tuscan agents based in San Mateu on the Spanish coast, where they could collect the best Aragonese wools, while deep within the Spanish interior sheep were conquering the Meseta, as millions of animals grazed the high ground in summer and the plateau in winter. Datini’s reach extended to the Maghrib and eastwards to the Balkans and the Black Sea. In the 1390s, he was involved in the slave trade, at a time when Circassians from the Black Sea and Berbers from North Africa were being sold in the slave markets of Majorca and Sicily. From oriental lands beyond the Mediterranean he obtained indigo, brazilwood, pepper, aloes, zedoary and galingale, as well as cotton, mastic and refined sugar from within the Great Sea. From Spain and Morocco, he imported, besides vast amounts of raw wool, ostrich feathers, elephant ivory, rice, almonds and dates.
Reports on the topic "African elephant populations"
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Mwebe, Robert, Chester Kalinda, Ekwaro A. Obuku, Eve Namisango, Alison A. Kinengyere, Moses Ocan, Ann Nanteza, Savino Biryomumaisho, and Lawrence Mugisha. Epidemiology and effectiveness of interventions for Foot and Mouth Disease in Africa: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis. INPLASY - International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocols, November 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.37766/inplasy2022.11.0039.
Full textAbstract:
Review question / Objective: What is the epidemiology and effectiveness of control measures for foot and mouth disease in African countries?’ PICOS: Description of elements Population/ problem/Setting: Artiodactyla (cloven ungulates), domestic (cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs), camels and wildlife (buffaloes, deer, antelope, wild pigs, elephant, giraffe, and camelids) affected by Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) or Hoof and Mouth Disease (HMD) caused by the Foot and Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV) in Africa. Intervention: Prevention measures: vaccination, ‘biosafety and biosecurity’, sensitization of the public. Control measures: quarantine, movement control, closure of markets and stock routes, mouth swabbing of animals with infected materials (old technique that is no long applicable), culling, mass slaughter, stamping out and any other interventions or control measures generally accepted by the ‘community of practice’ of animal health practitioners. Comparator: areas that did not have any control activities for FMD, in head-to-head comparisons in the same study. Outcome: epidemiological outcomes: incidence, prevalence, patterns or trends, clinical symptoms, and risk factors. Effectiveness outcomes: success, and usefulness of the interventions measured as averted deaths, illness and infections, and costs associated with the interventions (cost–effectiveness). Study design: epidemiological designs include cohort design for incidence, cross sectional for prevalence and case-control for clinical symptoms and risk factors. Interventional designs include randomized controlled trials, cluster randomized trials, quasi-experimental designs – controlled before and after, interrupted time series, [regression discontinuity design, difference-in-difference, and propensity score matching]. Timelines: 1900 – 2022.