Jacobus du P Bothma

University of Pretoria | UP · Centre for Wildlife Management

The range use patterns of adult leopards were used to examine the impact of environmental quality on conservation area size in the arid south-western portion of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in southern Africa. The ranges of the leopards are the largest recorded in the world, with a mean size of 2104.4 km2 (SEM 995.95 km2) for males and 1258.5 k...

The harvesting of Phragmites australis reeds in the Tembe Elephant Park has to be managed pro-actively. Solutions to potential problems should be sought before they arise. This paper offers a potential solution to the problem of instating a winter-only reed harvest in the Muzi Swamp. The potential for manufacturing finished products such as prefabr...

The diet of four sympatric carnivore species was established by analyzing scats collected during 1978-1980, a period of increasing drought in the Namib Desert. Termites were especially important in the diet of Aardwolves and Bat-eared foxes and the food spectrum was not broadened in response to increased aridity. Black-backed jackals utilized a wid...

Optimal foraging in caracals has never been substantiated. However, several authors have found that these predators select foraging paths to minimize distances between areas of high prey availability. The foraging pattern used by a predator relative to a common prey animal can give an insight into the optimality of hunting behaviour. Foraging behav...

Seasonal changes in crude protein, phosphorus and calcium contents of five common plant species in the south-western Kalahari were investigated. Three species that are browsed by springbok (Acacia erioloba, Grewia flava and Rhigozum trichotomum) and two grass species (Schmidtia kalahariensis and Stipagrostis obtusa), were included in the study. Bro...

A landscape map of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park is presented. Mapping is at a finer scale than previous vegetation and habitat maps for the same area. The landscapes were grouped into seven large classes and a total of 20 landscapes were mapped. A description of the terrain morphology, soil and vegetation of each landscape is provided. Landsc...

Springbok behavioural ecology in the Kalahari was examined with the use of public questionnaires and field forms. Springbok favoured grass and forbs overall more than shrubs and trees, but diet selection was influenced by time of day and season. Feeding was the most common activity and the frequency of occurrence varied during the day and between s...

Aardwolves have two methods of paste marking with anal gland secretion, resulting in minute spots or smears 2–3 mm or more long. These minute spots could aid in the recognition of areas foraged over during the same night, while the larger smears are commonly found at middens or burrows and probably indicate important areas of the home range. The ra...

The nutritional status of springbok, Antidorcas marsupialis, in the Kalahari was assessed in four habitats and three seasons by means of faecal profiling. Habitat only had a significant effect on the faecal nitrogen concentration in the cold–dry season, whereas faecal phosphorus concentrations showed no significant differences across habitats withi...

Annual stem circumference growth rates of 23 woody species of the Sand Forest and woodland in Maputaland are presented for the first time. The rare Sand Forest, has been identified as an endemic, diverse vegetation type that is under threat from land transformation and human utilisation outside conservation areas. The growth rate of the selected wo...

A local community adjacent to Tembe Elephant Park, which is the largest protected portion of sand forest in South Africa, recently nominated a portion of their land for a community-based natural resource management project to promote conservation in the region. The present study compared sand forest bird assemblages found in the communal land area...

Optimal foraging in caracals has never been substantiated. However, several authors have found that these predators select foraging paths to minimize distances between areas of high prey availability. The foraging pattern used by a predator relative to a common prey animal can give an insight into the optimality of hunting behaviour. Foraging behav...

A spoor count was done to determine whether caracal spoor densities in the vicinity of the border of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park differed from those in the interior of the Park. The objective was to compare caracal densities close to the agricultural land with those deeper in a national park. Two long-distance transects, one along the Namibian...

An analysis of the structure and composition of household buildings in the rural community of Manqakulane, Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, is presented. This bio-diversity-rich area forms part of the Maputaland Centre of Plant Endemism, currently under threat from land transformation and human utilisation outside conservation areas. The de...

The Tembe Elephant Park was proclaimed in 1983 after negotiations between the then KwaZulu Bureau of Natural Resources and the Tembe Tribal Authority in consultation with the local communities of northern Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The park boundaries were subsequently fenced and animal numbers started to increase. The fence has kept...

The scent-marking frequency of adult leopards when spraying urine and clawing trees was studied in the southern Kalahari. Between the leopard classes, males scent-marked significantly more frequently than females with and without cubs. Males spray-urinated 2.3 times as often as females without cubs and 5.9 as often as females with cubs. Moreover, i...

Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. has been harvested in the Muzi Swamp in Maputaland, South Africa for generations. Over the last ten years, however, a flourishing trade in this reed has developed. Concern has now been expressed that at the current levels of utilization the ecological integrity of the Muzi Swamp is being compromised, and...

The concept of carrying capacity originally was developed for domestic grazers and does not make provision for the wide variety of diets found in wild African herbivores. In the African savannas, herbivores are classified into 4 basic dietary classes: low‐selective grazers, high‐selective grazers, mixed feeders, and browsers. Given these conditions...

We report on the social dynamics and behaviour of five lions reintroduced to the Welgevonden Private Game Reserve. Despite initially being together in a boma for three months, the lions did not stay together. Aggression was also noted after the release of a female, which had been placed in the boma earlier after sustaining an injury. The results sh...

Both the male and the female klipspringer scent-mark their ranges. A pair of pre-orbital glands below the eyes produces the scent. The secretion is a sticky, substance that is deposited on a suitable twig. Klipspringer scent marks were surveyed in a specific klipspringer range in the Kruger National Park with the use of a strip transect method. The...

The woody vegetation of the Ol Choro Oiroua Wildlife Management and Conservation area was surveyed. The species present, their size and the vertical distribution of their canopy were recorded. These parameters were then used to determine the percentage cover of woody vegetation at different heights, and the potential productivity of the trees and s...

In South Africa, communal rural community development has, for the most part, been viewed as an add-on, rather than as an integral value in the broad spectrum of conservation activities being practised in the country. This paper, therefore, argues for the reality-based adoption of an extension of existing conservation paradigms to incorporate the d...

A grazing intensity gradient in a Zambian woodland covering four sites with long-term grazing histories is defined through ordination procedures. Grazing intensity ranged from zero grazing to severe overutilisation. The frequency and level of abundance of 28 commonly occurring grass species were recorded over the gradient to determine their respons...

A comparison was made between two tree canopy volume estimation techniques by using data collected in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The methods were Biomass Estimates from Canopy Volume (BECVOL) and Arbour Structure (ARBORSTRUQ). Both these methods depend on the mathematical calculation of the volume of geometric shapes using associated computer programs...

Konrad Gesner was the first author to group all the meat-eating animals into one scientific category in his book Historiae animalium, in 1551. He was followed by C. Linnaeus in 1758, who placed all the meat-eating animals in the Order Ferae when he published the tenth edition of his Systema naturae, a scientific classification system of all the liv...

There is no large carnivore as elusive and shy as the leopard Panthera pardus. For many a traveller the only memory of seeing a leopard, beyond the initial shock of suddenly looking into two opalescent eyes, is an incomplete and fleeting optical image.

The distribution of the brown hyaena Parahyaena brunnea is limited to the drier parts of the savannas of southern Africa in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. It was first recorded by A. Sparrmann in 1783 when it still ranged around Table Bay and Cape Town. However, it was described scientifically as Hyaena brunnea by C.P. Th...

In Africa the caracal Caracal caracal is typically an inhabitant of the more open, arid savannas and their associated rocky hills, although in South Africa it also occurs in the evergreen and montane forests of the southern provinces. In Ethiopia caracals also range up to 2500 m high into the Bale and Simien Mountains. Outside Africa the caracal’s...

The striped hyaena Hyaena hyaena is the second largest of the living hyaenas in the world. The male is larger than the female. An adult striped hyaena weighs from 25 to 55 kg, those in Africa being smaller than the striped hyaenas in Eurasia. It is the only living hyaena to retain the generic name Hyaena,and this name has an interesting origin. It...

The aardwolf Proteles cristatus is one of Africa’s most specialised carnivores. It also is the smallest living hyaena in the world today, with an adult male and female weight of about 9 kg each. Until recently there has been considerable controversy over whether the aardwolf, with its highly specialised termite diet, was indeed a form of hyaena. Be...

The African wild dog Lycaon pictus was originally described by C.J. Temminck in 1820 from a specimen collected on the Mozambique coast. He called it a form of hyaena Hyaena picta, but it was soon recognised as one of the canids, and was first renamed Lycaon tricolor by Brookes in 1827. The name Lycaon is derived from the Greek word lykaios which me...

The lion Panthera leo was one of the most fearsome beasts which roamed the African and Asian plains with the early pastoralists. Although the lion has been the dominant large carnivore in Africa and south-western Asia for millennia, this may not always have been so. Paintings by Cro-Magnon man, for example, show both the lion and another large feli...

To many people the whooping call of the spotted hyaena is as much a symbol of the African night as the haunting call of the fish eagle symbolises the day. Yet, this most abundant large carnivore of the African savannas is often maligned and persecuted because of human prejudices based on ignorance. When the spotted hyaena was originally described s...

The cheetah Acinonyx jubatus has had a long association with man, but its first contact with humans was actually in India and on the plains of southern Africa. Because of their speed and hunting prowess, captive cheetahs have been used by man as food hunters for many centuries. The oldest record of a captive cheetah is depicted on a decorated silve...

Introduction * The African lion * The leopard * The cheetah * The caracal * The African wild dog * The spotted hyaena * The striped hyaena * The brown hyaena * The aardwolf * The large carnivore guild.

The daily activity of buffalo Syncerus caffer caffer was investigated over a 12 month period in the Willem Pretorius Game Reserve, Free State, South Africa, using the scan sampling method (Altmann 1973). Buffalo in the WPGR showed the same general circadian rhythm as other ruminants: a few long feeding periods, followed by a few long ruminating and...

Cattle on a mixed cattle and wildlife farm in the Central Province of Zambia were regularly treated with acaricides. This resulted in a reduction in the abundance of certain free-living ixodid ticks on the vegetation, and of ticks parasitic on sympatric impala Aepyceros melampus when compared with a neighbouring ranch where only game is kept and no...

The leopard occurs widely in the world. Consequently it has great adaptability and a wide range of ecological characteristics. Some of these characteristics are valid throughout its range, but others are specific to a given region. This paper describes the ecology of the leopards of the arid southern Kalahari where extremes in environmental conditi...

Based upon radio-tracking, and using kernel analysis techniques, the mean range size of three adult male leopards Panthera pardus was 2182.37 ± 491.628 km2, that of five adult females 488.70 ± 292.893 km2, and that of a single subadult male 1323.80 km2. These ranges are considerably larger than for leopards elsewhere, and may reflect the aridity an...

Differences in prey taken by black-backed jackals Canis mesomelas at three widely separated sites on the Namib Desert coast in Namibia, and at one site in South Africa, were investigated through faecal analysis. Nine prey categories were used. Birds showed the highest frequency of occurrence, and highest relative frequency of occurrence in all samp...

The age structure of the elephant population in Liwonde National Park, Malawi was determined for the first time in 1993 and again in 1995 using the photogrammetric method. Sampling was done during a four year-long severe drought from 1991/92 to 1994/95. The drought reached its highest intensity in the first year. Therefore, the study also attempted...

The hunting tactics of male and female leopards in the southern Kalahari were analysed for prey-specific patterns. The field study was based on tracking leopard spoor in the sandy substrate of the Kalahari. Visual profiles for each type of prey were compiled for various facets of hunting. Data sets were analysed further, using Correspondence Analys...

Large herbivores display varying degrees of habitat selectivity and thus exhibit a heterogeneous distribution. This study investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of Burchells zebra Equus burchelli, blue wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus, eland Taurotragus oryx, gemsbok Oryx gazella, giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis, impala Aepyceros melampu...

The use of rubbing, scent-marking and scratching posts by southern Kalahari leopards is discussed. Leopards in the Kalahari use all three types of post, but females seldom scent-mark trees. Acacia erioloba is the preferred scratchpost.

Densities of large herbivores within distance annuli around drinking troughsin the Kruger National Park were determined by means of aerial counts. A relationship between herbivore use intensity and distance from drinking troughs was tested for and modelled with the logistic curve. A significant negative relationship was found. High herbivore densit...

Caracal, Felis caracal, Kalahari, range, aerial tracking.

Distance from artificial watering points was not significantly related to plant species composition in six habitats studied in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. Soil moisture had a significant effect on plant species composition of the riverbed habitat. Grazing intensity contributed significantly to trends in the vegetation composition of the riv...

The probable woody hunting cover for leopards in two parts of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park is quantified. The woody component of the vegetation supplies an abundance of permanent cover. Therefore prey abundance is the major limiting factor for leopards in this Park.

GPS-equipment was used to map the interior roads, major pans and the location of all windmills and solar-equipped boreholes in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park and the adjacent areas of Botswana. The final map was generated with GIS-equipment, and supplies managers and planners with the first error-free map of the area. The major errors of previo...

The possible habituation of leopards to spoor trackers or increased disturbance by trackers affecting leopards in the Kalahari was examined. The median flight distance class interval was 0,6-1,0 km and there was no evidence of either habituation or increased disturbance.

The long-term landscape preferences of the white rhinoceros for 32 different landscapes in the central and northern Kruger National Park are investigated. A preference index and a chi-square test are used to ascertain if white rhinoceroses prefer or avoid a particular landscape as habitat. Landscapes 13 (Karoo Sediment Plains with Acacia welwitschi...

The density of deposits of dung of indigenous large herbivores was measured in transects starting at drinking troughs in the Kruger National Park. The aim was to test whether a relationship exists between intensity of (large indigenous) herbivore use and distance from drinking troughs. There was a significant positive relationship between intensity...

White rhinoceros range size was ascertained telemetrically in the south-western Kruger National Park. The mean annual range size of territorial males was 9.86 km2 compared to 22.83 km2 for adult females. White rhinoceros females' summer wet season range was larger (21.44 km2) than the winter dry season range (11.64 km2). It is argued that abundant...

We studied the relationship between herbaceous plant community composition and distance from water to test whether the provision of water in the Kruger National Park has an impact on community composition. Composition at watering points has shifted to disturbance related annual species (e.g. Urochloa mosambicensis, Tra‐gus berteronianus, Dactylocte...

A line intercept survey was done on the herbaceous vegetation in permanently marked plots at distance intervals from the Wik-en-Weeg Dam, Kruger National Park, in 1973. The survey was repeated in 1990 so that changes in basal cover could be determined in relation to distance from the dam. Positive relationships with distance from the dam were found...

Quantitative inventory surveys were done on the woody vegetation in permanently marked plots at distance intervals from the Wik-en-Weeg Dam, Kruger National Park, in 1973. The surveys were repeated in 1990 so that changes in the community composition, the density and the canopy cover and the survival of the woody vegetation could be determined in r...

The phytomass and species composition of the herbaceous layer in preferred grazing areas of zebra Equus burchellii, buffalo Syncerus caffer, waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus, blue wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus, impala Aepyceros melampus and warthog Phacochoerusaethiopicus were investigated within the south-eastern portion of the Kruger National Pa...

During a two-year study on the ecology of oribi Ourebia ourebi (Zimmermann, 1783) in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, plant species fed on by oribi were noted. The oribi fed on a total of 22 plant species. Feeding preference categories were assigned according to the degree of use of different plant species, based on direct observation and o...

Vegetation changes around artificial watering points were monitored in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park from 1978 to 1989. Both rainfall and grazing influenced the vegetation but rainfall appeared to be the more significant factor. The above-average rainfall during the years preceding 1978 contributed to a relatively high basal cover in 1978. Sin...

Landsat-4 remote sensing is used to construct distortion-free maps of the almost trackless southern Kalahari Desert. These maps show the geography of natural pans, riverbeds and artificial water holes, and are improved versions of previous maps. The maps are essential for ecological and ethological studies and for the overall management of the area...

Ungulate habitat data for 10 ungulate types that use the grasslands of Jack Scott Nature Reserve, Transvaal, were quantitatively analysed. -from Authors

Panthera pardus in the N part of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, South Africa, are unable to increase the rate of hunting per km travelled, as hunger increases, because of a limited prey base which is already utilized fully, but by moving increasingly longer distances, they do increase the actual number of hunting actions per 24-h period. -from...

The patches of active, nested parabolic dunes occur within a vegetation-stabilized linear dune field between two ephemeral rivers. Water retained within higher dunes promotes tree growth, particularly where large linear and transverse bedforms intersect. -from Authors

A check list containing 397 plant species has been compiled for the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park which occupies an area of approximately 9 600 km2. These species represent 191 genera and 51 families. The Monocotyledonae are represented by 98 species (24,7 of the total number of species) and the Dicotyledonae by 299 species (75,3 of the total numb...

Notes on relative densities, habitat choice, food and foraging, social organisation and anti-predatory behaviour of certain small and medium-sized carnivores are presented. Possible mechanisms of niche separation and the evolution of different anti- predatory behaviours are briefly discussed.

Tracking in sand revealed data on hunting and kill rates, range, movements, activity, cover and water use, reproduction and interactions with other carnivores, by the leopard Panthera pardus in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. For leopards in the interior, 812,5 km of tracks were followed for 54 days, and 205,1 km for 15 days for females with cu...

Different methods were used intermittently to monitor the changes in the floristic composition, basal cover and density of the herbaceous and woody vegetation over a seven year period in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. Periods of drought and the variability of rainfall appear to have a significant influence in the short term on herbaceous speci...

Different methods were used intermittently to monitor the changes in the floristic composition, basal cover and density of the herbaceous and woody vegetation over a seven year period in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. Periods of drought and the variability of rainfall appear to have a significant influence in the short term on herbaceous speci...

Notes on relative densities, habitat choice, food and foraging, social organisation and anti-predatory behaviour of certain small and medium-sized carnivores are presented. Possible mechanisms of niche separation and the evolution of different anti- predatory behaviours are briefly discussed.

Tracking in sand revealed data on hunting and kill rates, range, movements, activity, cover and water use, reproduction and interactions with other carnivores, by the leopard Panthera pardus in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. For leopards in the interior, 812,5 km of tracks were followed for 54 days, and 205,1 km for 15 days for females with cu...

Au cours de six périodes successives de quatre heures durant la journée, on a recherché la présence de pelotes fécales molles dans l'estomac de 568 Sylvilagus floridanus, collectés sur le terrain, de 1965 à 1968. On constate un maximum de pelotes au cours des heures diurnes d'inactivité, et un minimum chez les Sylvilagus collectés au cours des péri...

In 1941 an area in the south western Kalahari Desert of Bechuanaland (now the Republic of Botswana), 40 km wide and adjacent to the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (KGNP) of the then Union of South Africa was declared a Game Reserve. In 1971 the Government of Botswana increased the size of this Game Reserve considerably and raised it to national par...

This paper reports on the conservation status of the larger mammals of eight Southern African countries: Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Rhodesia, South Africa, South-West Africa and Swaziland. The survey is based on the opinions of senior conservationists in each country and indicates that 60 mammal taxa are rare, threatened with extinction,...

The Kalahari Gemsbok National Park exhibits some six major habitats. Away from the river beds the tree savanna is limited to the northern corner of the park, consisting of Acacia girajfae woodland and scattered dunes. The Nossob and Auobriverbeds and adjacent areas also harbour A. girqffae except in the south where A. haematoxylon becomes dominant,...

This paper reports a study of prenatal growth of cottontail rabbits on the Welder Wildlife Refuge in South Texas. Measurements of known-age cottontails showed that the young in utero were smaller than Missouri rabbits of the same ages. However, they were similar in size at birth. A prenatal curve was fitted by hand for crown-rump length; hind foot...

This paper reports a study of growth and age determination of cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus) on the Welder Wildlife Refuge in South Texas. Measurements of known-age cottontails grown in pens showed that in size at birth, rabbits from South Texas were similar to cottontails from the midwestern United States; but postnatal growth of cotto...

Counts of springbok, gemsbok, red hartebeest and blue wildebeest were made in the Nossob riverbed of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park to measure the response in abundance of these species to the onset of the summer rains. Springbok and red hartebeest showed an immediate increase in numbers, probably in response to improving grazing as the first g...

A study of some aspects of river habitat use by spring-bok, gemsbok, blue wildebeest, red hartebeest and eland in the Auob and Nossob riverbeds in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. Suggestions for future research are made.

The long-term effect of burning and ut ilisation of the common reed Phragmites australis was investigated in the Muzi Swamp, Tembe Elephant Park over a 2-year period from 2000 to 2002. The effects of four different treatments on the density and size structure of the reed beds were compared. The aim of the study was to determine what consequences ut...

Considerable color variation exists in Hyracoidea occurring in Southern Africa. There is evidence of a correlation between dorsal color and mean annual rainfall. Individuals of Procavia welwitschii from the same area exhibit considerable individual color variation. The color of the dorsal spot seems to be a useful criterion for distinguishing speci...

Notes on the stomach contents of certain Carnivora (mammalia) from the Kalahari Gemsbok Park