Limpopo Valley Carnivores

Unusual find

limpopocarnivores — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:10:22 +0000

It is very unusual that we come across a predator that we struggle to firmly identify, but just that happened this week. A guide brought in a dead cat to the research centre that he had found on the road, claiming it was a highly secretive Black-Footed Cat. Our interest was immediately sparked as this area is supposedly out of their range. Their normal range is in the Western dry section of Southern Africa, and as none of us come from there nor have seen these cats alive, we were a little unsure. Was it a Black-Footed Cat or an African Wildcat kitten?

We took extensive photographs and they were sent off to an expert at a museum within the heart of the range of the Black-Footed Cat, who confirms that it is indeed a member of this species.

This photo shows where the cat was put in a tree to prevent scavengers taking it overnight when it was brought in by a guide.

On suspecting we had something unusual, we froze the specimen, and will now send it down to the museum for analysis and to be a record of the cats that exist in this far reach of their range.

This photo shows just how small the cat is.

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Counting cats

limpopocarnivores — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:40:44 +0000

Our work on Mapungubwe National Park is well underway and we are already seeing great differences in predator densities when compared with Venetia. Mapungubwe has a lot of leopards! We expected this from camera-trapping work we carried out a few years ago, but the difference between the two reserves is startling. Mapungubwe is wonderful leopard habitat, as it stretches along the Limpopo River which provides dense cover, and has many rocky outcrops in the area behind.

We have also picked up a number of lions in the area; up to 10 individuals on a section of the park that is only 10000ha. At least one group is thought to have crossed the river from Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana and been caught on this side when the rains caused the normally dry Limpopo to flow. As we head into the dry winter, and the sand resurfaces in the Limpopo, it is possible these lions will head back across the border. The fantastic thing is that with the fences coming down, these beautiful animals now have the freedom to move like this in a way that has been almost impossible for much of the last century.

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Update on the Limpopo-Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area

limpopocarnivores — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:01:52 +0000

The meeting in Zimbabwe to discuss the predator management plan for the new transfrontier conservation area, covering the corners of Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa where they meet, was highly productive. It seems that March next year is the date that we will see the fences beginning to come down, which is a huge triumph for the conservation of this region. Without the fences animals can move more freely and so the populations need less management, and the freedom of movement of herbivores can reduce the unnaturally high pressure on some habitats that is forced by fences. Looking at the predators in particular, it will be of most notable effect with the Lions and Wild Dogs who will be able to form contiguous populations with the residents on the other side of the borders. The cheetahs, as we have seen, seem to be moving quite freely anyway, and trees along fences form easy paths in and out of reserves for the leopards.

One of the single biggest issues in conservation in Africa is the pressure on land and the contraction of habitats, so by expanding conservation areas, we are taking huge steps in the right direction. This process is something I am extremely proud to play a part in.

The following map shows the area that will be incorporated into the Limpopo-Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area

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New Kids on the Block

limpopocarnivores — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:55:04 +0000

Some exciting news on the lion front! We have some newcomers in the area and they are looking in fabulous condition. Mungojerrie was found on our northern fenceline late in the afternoon, pacing up and down and obviously extremely agitated. Wendy was out tracking the Wild Dogs at the time and left him, only to cross over into Mapungubwe National Park later on opposite where Mungojerrie had been. The park lies directly to the north of Venetia with a tar road in between. Not far inside the park and close to the fence, Wendy found a wildebeest kill with a very large lioness on it, accompanied by two sub-adult lions. The lions were all in great condition and were very relaxed. A visit later on that night showed up a total of four sub-adult lions with the lioness. This is great news for the lion population in Venetia as well as the park, as the fences between the two are due to be removed in early 2009. This will allow free movement of animals and effectively double the size of the conservation area. Healthy breeding lions in Mapungubwe National Park will add very welcome new blood to the Venetia lions, and will allow all of them to disperse in a more natural fashion. The removal of the fences will be fantastic news for all the species and is definitely a move in the right direction. I am off to Zimbabwe for a few days for the annual meeting of the Shashe Limpopo Predator Research Group, a group of scientists and land managers in the area of the new Transfrontier Conservation Area. It promises to be a very productive meeting so I will keep you posted on my return.

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Wild Dog Pupdate

limpopocarnivores — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:48:52 +0000

We have Wild Dog news that is both good and bad. Beginning with the sad news, I am sorry to have to report that we have lost another dog. This time, Carat, a subordinate dog who was wearing a collar, was picked up as being away from the pack and stationary for a couple of days. This usually only means one thing so we went in knowing to expect the worst. Harriet, the head of the Carnivore Conservation Group at EWT tracked the collar until she could hear she was almost on top of it, and then saw the badly chewed collar lying in the grass. There was no sign of a body at all, and it may be that the collar had been carried by a hyaena or lion for some distance from where poor Carat met his end. Unfortunately we have no way of knowing what the cause of death was, and the Venetia pack has now dwindled to only 3 adults and one yearling.

Venetia Wild Dogs on the move.

The good news is…. we think that Stellar, the alpha female, is now underground in her den with this year’s litter of puppies. The dogs are sticking closely to one area and Stellar has not been seen for a few days. She was certainly pregnant and this is the right time of year for denning so we are very hopeful. Had she also met a grisly end, we would not expect the rest of the pack to remain in such a close area. I will keep you posted on the puppies that may well bring the Venetia pack back from the brink.

Last year’s litter of puppies, of which only one, Rory, is remaining.

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Something smells fishy

limpopocarnivores — Thu, 29 May 2008 07:23:02 +0000

One of the methods we are using for our census is scent stations, surrounded by swept sand. The idea is that any animals passing by will stop to sniff the scent pad, thereby leaving their tracks in the sand to be recorded. In the middle of the scent stations we place a pad soaked in fermented egg, which to us really is as bad as it sounds, but the wildlife and the canids in particular seem to find it irresistible. At each site we have a central scent station with the egg mixture, and on either side is a carpet pad hair snare that is laced with a different scent. The scents were are using here are perfume, fish oil, and catnip.

A scent station with hairsnare:

The problems we are finding is that many of the methods we are trying out are designed in places where the wildlife is perhaps less destructive than it is here. We have had elephants coming in and trashing our sites, Brown Hyaenas eating the whole scent pad, and of course the much discussed birds obliterating the previous nights tracks before we can get there to record them.

A hairsnare attached to a tree:

Mishaps aside, the method is looking promising, and I am particularly keen on it as it is cheap, repeatable easily and has very low impact on the animals themselves. A perfect combination!

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Meet the team

limpopocarnivores — Mon, 19 May 2008 12:39:12 +0000

While I head up the project, I have invaluable assistance from my fieldwork team and could not do without them. Azwifarwi is a student working with the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Conservation Leadership Group. He originally came on a six month internship but we are very happy to announce that he is going to extend his stay with us for another six months. As in my previous post, he is going to be doing his Diploma research project on the Wild Dogs, while he continues with me. Much of our work at the moment involves spoor counts, which have to be conducted in the early morning to allow for the low angle of the sun to make the tracks in the sand more visible. By late morning when the sun is getting high, the tracks just seem to disappear. This means that Azwifarwi has free time in the afternoons when he can go out and study the Wild Dogs.

Wendy originally worked on the Wild Dog project during the last research project which was focussing on the provisioning of puppies by adults. The data was hard to collect for just one person and so Wendy came on board to help with that. The data collection for that project has now finished and is being written up, so Wendy was able to come across to the Carnivore Census Project and share her excellent knowledge of the reserve and the wildlife with us.

As Snoopy was my dog before the project began and lived alone with me, he is very much a one person dog and is reluctant to work for anyone else. I want to avoid this pitfall with Barclay due to it being more useful to have a dog that can be worked by one of a number of handlers, and so Wendy is going to be working with Barclay as well. We hope to be able to use the dogs on projects elsewhere and it will be ideal if at least one of them is not dependent on my presence to perform. As long as we are consistent in our commands and praise, I think Barclay will have no problem in working for different handlers.

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Photos for Theresa

limpopocarnivores — Fri, 16 May 2008 06:49:22 +0000

Here is the beautiful Rumpleteaser. What a cat!

This Caracal was photographed walking down a fence late last year. It is the angle and perspective of the photo that makes it look so out of proportion.

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We hate birds

limpopocarnivores — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:48:32 +0000

We do not really hate birds, but they are certainly not helping us out at the moment. We have set up scent stations along our spoor count transects with delicous scent such as fermented egg and fish oil on a pad of cotton wool in the middle of an area of swept, watered sand. The idea is that animals moving along the transects will be irresitably drawn to sniff the enticing smell and so leave a record of their passing by way of footprints in the sand. We have had some problems with this such as Brown Hyaenas stealing the scent pads, and Elephants taking exception to our efforts and trashing our scent stations, but the biggest, most persitent thorn in our side is the birds whose track are obliterating the tracks of our predators before we can record what was there. The high rainfall this year has led to wonderfully large broods of game birds such as francolins and guinea fowl, but this means that large groups are out forgaing at first light and they are quite literally trampling all over my data. We are hanging crunched up tin foil above the trees but it is serving as no deterrent whatsoever. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

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Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser

limpopocarnivores — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:35:28 +0000

There is a pair of young lions that have been wandering around Venetia for some time now that have proved extremely elusive when it comes to managing to put a collar on them, so we are all extremely excited at having finally succeeded. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser are brother and sister and, in my opinion, are two of the most beautiful lions on the reserve. We bump into them from time to time, and the volunteer group were even lucky enough to see them hunting a kudu in front of their camp recently, but every time there is a vet on hand they disappear. We finally did it! Mungojerrie is now proudly sporting a radio-collar and so we will start to get to know the habits of this pair of youngsters.

In the photo Mungojerrie is the young lion on the right, and his father, Thunzi, is on the left.

They have been independent of their mother for over a year, but are sticking together for rather a long time for opposite sex siblings. We know they use the fence lines a lot as we often see them there. My husband has had a few encounters with them while checking our fence on his quad bike (ATV). Rumpleteaser definitely views him as prey and wastes not time in dropping down to stalk him. Being young and subordinate, it may be that they are looking to expand their territory or are simply avoiding the older, more established lions in the centre of the reserve. Now that we have a collar on Mungojerrie, we can begin to answer some of our questions.

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