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A Review of the Status of Rothschild’s Giraffe SubSpecies Population in Africa

Africa is the cradle of the world’s giraffe species and the sub-species that keep evolving with more conservation approaches. However, the population of Rothschild’s Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) has been impacted at different sects in the wild. The aim of this paper was to review the status of Rothschild’s giraffe in Africa. A desktop descriptive review approach was used through perusal of different scholarly articles on giraffes. From the existing literature, this review exposes the effect of human effects on

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Observations and perceptions of veterinarians and farmers on heartwater distribution, occurrence and associated factors in South Africa

Background: There is currently no scientific evidence regarding the current climatic or other epidemiological factors that could influence the occurrence of heartwater in South Africa. Objectives: The objective was to determine whether climatic changes or other epidemiological factors influence the occurrence of heartwater in South Africa. Method: A survey was conducted to scrutinise these factors using both veterinarians and farmers working in known areas in which heartwater had previously been confirmed to establish the value of each of these factors.

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Spatial and temporal dynamics of human–wildlife conflicts in the Kenya Greater Tsavo Ecosystem

Biodiversity conservation in developing countries is faced with many and mounting challenges, including increasing human–wildlife conflicts (HWCs). In Africa and other developing countries, increasing HWCs, particularly those adjacent to protected areas, can adversely affect local stakeholder perceptions and support for conservation. We analyzed HWC reports for multiple wildlife species compiled >23 years (1995–2017) from the Greater Tsavo Ecosystem (GTE) in Kenya to determine HWC trends. The GTE is the largest protected area in Kenya, covering 22,681 km2. Overall, 39,022 HWC

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Contemporary niche contraction affects climate change predictions for elephants and giraffes

Aim: Climate change assessments are largely based on correlative species distribution models (SDMs) that are sensible to spatial biases or incompleteness of input distribution data. We tested whether changes on the species’ climatic niche resulting from recent human-induced range contractions have a significant influence on SDM predictions of future species distributions. Location: Africa. Methods: For this study, we selected two highly detectable species with acknowledged human-induced range contractions, namely the African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) and giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis). We

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Key innovations in ruminant evolution: A paleontological perspective

Key innovations are newly acquired structures that permit the performance of a new function and open new adaptive zones, and are, therefore, of paramount significance for understanding the history of the Ruminantia, particularly its diversification through the Miocene. Here we review and discuss what is known about these evolutionary novelties, with special emphasis on the appearance and evolution of cranial appendages and highcrowned (or hypsodont) teeth. Cranial appendages probably favored the diversification of pecorans by being structures strongly related to

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Herbivore Dynamics and Range Contraction in Kajiado County Kenya: Climate and Land Use Changes, Population Pressures, Governance, Policy and Human-wildlife Conflicts

Wildlife populations are declining severely in many protected areas and unprotected pastoral areas of Africa. Rapid large-scale land use changes, poaching, climate change, rising population pressures, governance, policy, economic and socio-cultural transformations and competition with livestock all contribute to the declines in abundance. Here we analyze the population dynamics of 15 wildlife and four livestock species monitored using aerial surveys from 1977 to 2011 within Kajiado County of Kenya, with a rapidly expanding human population, settlements, cultivation and other developments.

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Patterns of Variation of Herbivore Assemblages at Nairobi National Park, Kenya, 1990-2008

Wildlife, especially mammals populations dynamics in many conservation areas are influenced by ecosystem processes and increasingly by climate change. Generally, cyclic population dynamics is relatively common among small mammals, especially in high latitudes but is not yet established among many African savanna ungulates. Habitat fragmentation and loss propagated by anthropogenic activities are responsible for the decline in populations of many wildlife species leading to the confinement many wildlife species particularly herbivores within parks and reserves as a conservation measure. We

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