Conservation translocation is a management technique employed to introduce, re-introduce or reinforce wild animal and plant populations. Giraffe translocations are being conducted throughout Africa, but the lack of effective post-translocation monitoring limits our ability to assess translocation outcomes. One potential indicator of translocation success is the establishment of characteristic movement and home range behaviour in the new location. We analysed the post-translocation movement patterns of six Global Positioning System-collared Angolan giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis angolensis) in three regions of Namibia.
We estimated home range size with minimum convex polygon (MCP) and adaptive local convex hull estimators, and assessed home range behaviour with the localizing tendency model and a home range Monte Carlo bootstrap analysis. Four of the six giraffes appeared to establish home ranges, indicating short-term translocation success. The other two giraffes exhibited long-distance linear movements throughout the observation period, suggesting they did not establish home ranges. Home range sizes varied greatly among regions. Our results suggest monitoring translocated animals for the establishment of characteristic movement behaviour could be a useful early indicator of translocation success.
