Search the Article Database:

Search our library of articles, papers and other published materials. You can use keywords or boolean-style search:

Molecular characterization of Blastocystis isolates from zoo animals and their animal-keepers

Blastocystis is an enteric protist and one of the most frequently reported parasitic infections in humans and a variety of animal hosts. It has also been reported in numerous parasite surveys of animals in zoological gardens and in particular in non-human primate species. PCR-based methods capable of the direct detection of Blastocystis in faeces were used to detect Blastocystis from various hosts, including non-human primates, Australian native fauna, elephants and giraffes, as well as their keepers from a Western Australian

View Details + Download

The impact of giraffe, rhino and elephant on the habitat of a black rhino sanctuary in Kenya

The habitat in an enclosed black rhino sanctuary, the Sweetwaters Game Reserve in Kenya, is being altered as populations of elephant, giraffee and black rhino increase. Height-specific browse impact data were recorded for 1075 trees of the dominant species, the whistling thorn, Acacia drepanolobium. Rhinos and elephants browsed 18% of these trees in 1 year, including 5% that were killed or removed. The remaining trees were subjected to high levels of giraffe browse and low rainfall and grew by only

View Details + Download

The ecology of the desert-dwelling elephants, black rhinoceroses and giraffe of western Kaokoland and Damaraland, South-West Africa

In the western desert regions of Kaokoland and Damaraland in S.W.A. elephants, black rhinoceroses and giraffes survive under environmental conditions atypical elsewhere for them. These animals occupy a seemingly inhospitable desert habitat, are locally endangered and occur in small numbers. The first priority of this study is directed at the acquisition of the relevant data necessary for formulating those management and conservation strategies which will ensure the survival of these wildlife populations. Secondly, this study also aims at establishing whether

View Details + Download

The destructive feeding ecology of elephants versus giraffes in South Africa

The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), tallest of the land mammals and heaviest of all ruminants, is one of the world’s best-known animals because of its highly distinctive appearance. The African elephant (Loxodonta africana), is the largest land mammal on Earth and one of the most interesting species because of its unique feeding strategies. How destructive is the feeding ecology of elephants as compared to giraffes? A comparison of the two species’ diets, feeding strategies, environmental impacts and management are considered.

View Details + Download

Collared!

North-western Namibia is a spectacular land of desert mountains, gorges, plains, and ephemeral rivers, and a land of stark beauty and seemingly inhospitable wilderness. It was here that the wildlife vet and capture expert Michael D. Kock came to help attach satellite collars to desert-dwelling elephants and giraffes so that their movements in their vast range could be tracked. Collaring the animals was the easy part. Getting permission to do so, and then finding them, were rather more challenging.

View Details + Download

Resource partitioning within a browsing guild in a key habitat, the Chobe Riverfront, Botswana

Resource partitioning between elephant, giraffe, kudu and impala was assessed. This was to address concerns that elephant population increase adversely affects other species through depleting their food in key areas close to permanent water. Resources considered were woody species browsed, height browsed and plant parts browsed. Animals were observed as they browsed and the plant species, browsing heights and plant parts browsed were recorded. Observations were made over 1 y and the data were divided between wet and dry season.

View Details + Download

Effect of low rainfall and browsing by large herbivores on an enclosed savannah habitat in Kenya

Savannah ecosystems in East Africa are rarely stable and can experience rapid local changes from dense woodlands to open plains. In this 3-year study there was a reduction of 16.3% in a height-stratified sample of nearly 1000 individually marked Acacia drepanolobium trees. The study was carried out in an enclosed fire-free wooded grassland habitat in the Laikipia region of Kenya. The trees were monitored from 1998 to 2001, a period that included 12 months when rainfall was 60% below average.

View Details + Download

Effects of resource limitation on habitat usage by the browser guild in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa

Resource depletion and association increases in interspecific competition are likely to influence differential habitat usage amongst a guild. We tested some prominent theoretical concepts using observed differenced in seasonal habitat use amongst the savannah browser guild (elephant, giraffe, impala, kudu and nyala) in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa. Herbivore locations (n= 3108) were recorded over 2 y using repeated road transects and, for elephant, GPS collars (187254 downloads). Densities were calculated using a novel GIS approach designed to be a cost-effective

View Details + Download

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 elephant bulls. The results of an additional 127 interactions involving pacyderms and 12 additional mammals ranging in size from cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) to giraffe (Giraffa

View Details + Download

Feasibility of characterizing reproductive events in large nondomestic species by transrectal ultrasonic imaging

The feasibility of using transrectal ultrasonography for imaging the in situ morphology of the reproductive tract of females of several large nondomestic and endangered species was studied. Two black (Diceros bicornis) and 1 white (Diceros simus) rhinoceros, 2 Asian (Elaphus maximus) and 2 African (Loxodonta africana) elephants, 4 banteng (Bos javanicus), 1 gaur (Bos taurus), 1 giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), and 1 bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) were examined. Real-time ultrasonic images were obtained for the following structures: 1) rhinoceros—corpus luteum, ovarian

View Details + Download
© All articles are copyrighted to the original authors/publishers unless otherwise stated. Any PDF files provided by the GRC are for personal use only and may not be reproduced. The files reflect the holdings of the GRC library and only contain pages relevant to giraffe study, and may not be complete. Users are obliged to follow all copyright restrictions.

Privacy Policy Cookie Policy