Abstract:
Small carnivore species might provide the disease link in
disease transmission between domestic dogs and apex
predators. The objective of this study was to determine the
presence of carnivores and prey species on two wildlife
reserves in Mpumalanga Province.
Carnivore presence was determined on two reserves managed
by Mpumalanga Tourist and Parks Agency(MTPA). Manyeleti is
contiguous with Kruger National Park (KNP), 23 000 hectares
in area, and has villages on one side. Andover is not adjacent
to KNP, 7 000 hectares in area, and has villages on three sides
of the reserve. The presence of carnivores and determination
of inter-species interactions were measured during a two-year
period using randomly placed clusters of camera traps. These
camera traps were placed at each selected location for a period of 4 to 6 weeks before being moved. Permanent camera traps
were also placed on the interface between reserves and villages.
Data were entered into Microsoft Excel and mapped using
ArcGIS 10.4.1. Ordinary Kriging and inverse distance weighting
interpolation were used to determine the spatial distributions of
observed wildlife. The Mackenzie model was used to determine
the daily detection probability of each species. The most
abundant species present in Manyeleti were hyena (Crocuta
crocuta) and Lion (Panthera leo). In Andover, the only apex
predator present was leopard (Panthera pardus), while serval
(Leptailurus serval), caracal (Felis caracal), and mongoose (Mungos
mungo) were also present. Some locations were shared among
carnivore species, while other areas had no carnivore species
detected at all. Areas with prey species, water and access routes
to water had the highest probability of carnivore detection.
Description:
Poster presented at the University of Pretoria, Faculty of Veterinary Science Faculty Day, September 07, 2017, Pretoria, South Africa.
Includes bibliographical references
