Evaluating the accuracy of some commonly used game-counting methods

The accuracy of game counts on an eastern Transvaal Lowveld game ranch was examined. A drive count was used to produce control estimates of actual population sizes. A helicopter count was more accurate than one from a fixed-wing aircraft. Twenty-four hour waterhole counts were relatively inaccurate. Line transect counts were relatively accurate when a fixed […]

Population census of Thornicroft’s giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis thornicrofti in Zambia, 1973−2003: conservation reassessment required

Thornicroft’s giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis thornicrofti is limited in distribution to a single population resident in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. During 1973 – 2003 regular counts were recorded along the Luangwa River in the core section of the subspecies’ range. In 2013 we conducted a count in the same region for comparison with the earlier survey […]