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Lions on small reserves : an evaluation of ecological impact and financial viability

A founder population of lion (Panthera Leo) was introduced into a 70 kmĀ² privately-owned, wildlife reserve in the Waterberg area of South Africa. The lion and prey species' populations were monitored between 2001 and 2004. In this period, 452 kills were recorded at a mean kill rate of one kill every 2.43 days. The lions killed 11 common prey species. Eland, warthog, kudu, wildebeest and zebra comprised 75 % of the lion's diet. The lions consumed an average of 8 % of the available common prey species population per annum. Initially, the mean ungulate population growth rate was 30.9 %, but this rate declined to -0.8 % during the study period. Significantly more animals were killed in open habitats than in closed habitats. The loss in game value for the study period was over one million Rand. A formula was compiled to quantify the cost versus return aspects of introducing lion. / Nature Conservation / M. Tech. (Nature Conservation)

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:umkn-dsp01.int.unisa.ac.za:10500/2413
Date31 July 2008
CreatorsErasmus, Wayne Norman
ContributorsHenzi, S.P., Barrett, L., Brown, L.R.
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation
Format1 online resource (112 leaves)

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