And then there was one: a camera trap survey of the declining population of African elephants in Knysna, South Africa

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dc.contributor.author Moolman, Lizette
dc.contributor.author De Morney, Melanie A.
dc.contributor.author Ferreira, Sam M.
dc.contributor.author Ganswindt, Andre
dc.contributor.author Poole, Joyce H.
dc.contributor.author Kerley, Graham I.H.
dc.date.accessioned 2020-11-17T13:31:48Z
dc.date.available 2020-11-17T13:31:48Z
dc.date.issued 2019
dc.description.abstract Conservation agencies rely on accurate wildlife population estimates to inform management practices. The importance of accuracy increases with smaller, threatened populations, but so too does the challenge in achieving it, especially for evasive species in low-visibility terrain. Non-invasive survey techniques have been successfully applied in such conditions; however, each technique bears a unique set of limitations and often deliver different results. The shy Knysna elephants (Loxodonta africana) occur at extremely low numbers in difficult terrain, and the past few decades have seen debates raging about their numbers, fuelled in part by differing survey outcomes, although a decline has been apparent over the last 150 years. We surveyed the known range of the Knysna elephant population for 15 months (July 2016 – October 2017), using camera traps, and identified one adult female elephant. The reliability of using camera trapping for surveying animal populations in conditions such as the Knysna elephant is compared with the previous faecal DNA genotyping survey. We conclude that this population has declined to a single individual and discuss the implications for local conservation authorities. Additionally, we highlight the importance of designing rigorous survey approaches where only a few individual animals are present. en_ZA
dc.description.department Mammal Research Institute en_ZA
dc.description.librarian hj2020 en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorship The South African National Parks’ (SANParks) Garden Route National Park management team en_ZA
dc.description.uri http://www.sawma.co.za en_ZA
dc.identifier.citation Moolman, L., De Morney, M.A., Ferreira, S.M. et al. 2019, 'And then there was one : a camera trap survey of the declining population of African elephants in Knysna, South Africa', African Journal of Wildlife Research, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 16-26. en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn 2410-7220 (print)
dc.identifier.issn 2410-8200 (online)
dc.identifier.other 10.3957/056.049.0016
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/77058
dc.language.iso en en_ZA
dc.publisher Southern African Wildlife Management Association en_ZA
dc.rights © Southern African Wildlife Management Association en_ZA
dc.subject African elephant (Loxodonta africana) en_ZA
dc.subject Small populations en_ZA
dc.subject Camera trapping en_ZA
dc.subject Evasive behaviour en_ZA
dc.subject Faecal DNA genotyping en_ZA
dc.title And then there was one: a camera trap survey of the declining population of African elephants in Knysna, South Africa en_ZA
dc.type Article en_ZA


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