Utilisation and aspects of management of the Willem Pretorius Game Reserve

The Willem Pretorius Nature Reserve, Orange Free State, is briefly described, and aspects of management and utilisation with particular reference to game animals are discussed. Habitat management is the one aspect needing a great deal more attention and it would appear that the capture of game for live sale and relocation is a satisfactory way […]

All the eggs in one basket: A countrywide assessment of current and historical giraffe population distribution in Uganda

To design effective conservation and management strategies at the national scale, it is important to consider population trends across space and time. Here we assessed the near threatened Rothschild’s giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) in Uganda. We applied individual-based photographic surveys to generate abundance estimates for all extant populations, using either mark-recapture estimates or complete enumeration, […]

Impacts of Bush thinning to livestock and Biodiversity in Soysambu Conservancy

The continuing bush thinning in Soysambu Conservancy (Delamere estates) to increase the grazing fields lead to establishment of the study. The main objective of this study was therefore to determine the effectiveness of bush thinning as management tool in rangeland management and determine the utilization of the thinned areas by both livestock and wild animals […]

Behavioral ecology in managed reserves: gender-based asymmetries in interspecific dominance in African elephants and rhinos

As large-bodied mammals become restricted to progressively smaller fragments of former habitat, competitive interactions and interspecies aggression are likely to intensify. Data on the outcomes of 159 encounters between endangered African pachyderms revealed that: (1) female elephants (Loxodonta africana) dominated both sexes of black rhinos (Diceros bicornis); and (2) rhino males but not females displaced […]