Wildlife - GCF Resource Library

Addressing management questions for Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania, using the Savanna modelling system

Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), in northern Tanzania, is a multiple-use area of importance to Maasai pastoralists and wildlife conservation. We adapted the SAVANNA modelling system to the NCA, creating an Integrated Management and Assessment System that allows users to assess responses to alternative management actions. We used the system to conduct fifteen experiments reflecting potential management questions. Results suggest that: the distribution of rainfall throughout the year may have a greater impact on the ecosystem than its quantity; cattle may

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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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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.

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Subspecific assessment of the North American captive giraffe population compared to extant giraffe populations across Africa

Approximately 25% of the North American captive giraffe population (n = 125) was compared to a large data set of wild-sampled giraffe from 28 national parks, refuges, and protected areas in Africa (n = 403). The wild-sampled individuals are a part of a larger study being conducted by the International Giraffe Specialist Group (IGSG) towards the resolution of questions regarding the evolution, population genetics, ecology, behavior, census, and ranges of extant populations of giraffe throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The samples were

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Impacts of military training on the distribution and abundance of small versus large wildlife herbivores on Mpala Ranch, Laikipia, Kenya

Since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, Kenya’s training grounds have become increasingly relevant to the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK). This has seen ranches hosting the army in Laikipia increase to eleven in 2009 from one in 1964 when training began on Mpala Ranch. This was necessitated by the need for BATUK to train in an area similar to and close to the warzone. Training in the region involves drills, use of ﬁre arms and explosives,

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White giraffes: The first record of vitiligo in a wild adult giraffe

Variation in the colour and patterning of animal coats has evolved to offer individuals adaptive advantage and is determined by both genetics and environmental factors. The biological functions of animal coat patterns include protection of the skin from exposure to sunlight, protection from predators by camouflage, individual recognition and sexual recognition within a species. Optimal coat patterns are especially important in the wild where immediate survival relies on an individual’s ability to avoid predators. Changes in coat colour within an

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The occurrence and prevalence of giraffe skin disease in protected areas of northern Tanzania

Giraffe skin disease (GSD) is a disorder of undetermined etiology that causes lesions on the forelimbs of Masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi). We estimated occurrence and prevalence of GSD in six wildlife conservation areas of Tanzania. The disjunct spatial pattern of occurrence implies that environmental factors may influence GSD.

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Soil correlates and mortality from Giraffe Skin Disease in Tanzania

Giraffe skin disease (GSD) is a disorder of undetermined etiology that causes lesions on the forelimbs of Masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) in Tanzania, East Africa. We examined soil correlates of prevalence of GSD from 951 giraffe in 14 sites in Tanzania, and estimated mortality using 3 yr of longitudinal mark–recapture data from 382 giraffe with and without GSD lesions, in Tarangire National Park (TNP). Spatial variation in GSD prevalence was best explained by soil fertility, measured as cation exchange

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The impacts of elephant, giraffe and fire upon the Acacia tortilis woodlands of the Serengeti

The reduction in canopy cover of the Seronera woodlands since the mid- 1960s can be largely attributed to the destruction of mature Acacia tortilis trees by elephants. The development of the tree regeneration that has colonized the gaps in the mature canopy is being suppressed by giraffe browsing and periodic burning. A simple model is presented which simulates these impacts upon the dynamics of the A. tortilis population. Height-specific impact rates of these three agents are quantified. Between 1968 and

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