Elephant movement patterns in relation to human inhabitants in and around the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
Elephant movement patterns in relation to human inhabitants in and around the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
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DOI：
10.4102/koedoe.v57i1.1298
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发表时间：
2015-11-17
期刊：
影响因子：
1.1
通讯作者：
Parrini, Francesca
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cook, Robin M.;Henley, Michelle D.;Parrini, Francesca
人类和非洲象（Loxodonta africana）在林波波河跨境公园的存在可能会造成潜在的人象冲突。除非采取缓解措施，否则随着大象和人类数量的增加，这种冲突可能会加剧。在这项研究中，我们分析了克鲁格国家公园北部13头戴项圈的成年非洲象在8年（2006-2014年）期间的运动模式。我们比较了林波波国家公园和克鲁格国家公园北部边界的村庄周围的象公牛和象母牛在不同季节和一天中的不同时间的发生和流离失所率。在旱季，大象比雨季更常出现在村庄附近，公牛比奶牛更常出现在村庄附近。从傍晚到午夜，公牛和母牛都喜欢使用靠近村庄的区域，公牛比母牛更靠近村庄。这些结果表明，大象，尤其是公牛，会在夜间穿过莫桑比克和津巴布韦被研究的村庄，而这些活动在已知资源稀缺的干旱月份最为常见。保护意义：克鲁格国家公园的大象正在靠近林波波河跨境公园内的村庄。因此，在公园内和周围重新安置村庄的计划应远离大象的季节性路线，以尽量减少人与大象之间的冲突。
The presence of humans and African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park can create situations of potential human-elephant conflict. Such conflict will likely be exacerbated as elephant and human populations increase, unless mitigation measures are put in place. In this study we analysed the movement patterns of 13 collared adult African elephants from the northern Kruger National Park over a period of eight years (2006-2014). We compared the occurrence and displacement rates of elephant bulls and cows around villages in the Limpopo National Park and northern border of the Kruger National Park across seasons and at different times of the day. Elephants occurred close to villages more often in the dry season than in the wet season, with bulls occurring more frequently around villages than cows. Both the bulls and the cows preferred to use areas close to villages from early evening to midnight, with the bulls moving closer to villages than the cows. These results suggest that elephants, especially the bulls, are moving through the studied villages in Mozambique and Zimbabwe at night and that these movements are most common during the drier months when resources are known to be scarce.Conservation implications: Elephants from the Kruger National Park are moving in close proximity to villages within the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. Resettlement of villages within and around the park should therefore be planned away from elephant seasonal routes to minimise conflict between humans and elephants.