A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Science. Johannesburg, September 2017. / Sable antelope numbers have been declining in protected areas of South Africa and
they are listed as Vulnerable in the National Red List Assessment. In Kruger National
Park, since 1986, the abundance of sable antelope has declined from 2240 to just
under 400 individuals in 2014, making them at risk of local extirpation.
The aim of the study was to explore some of the possible explanations, not explored
before, for sable antelope (Hippotragus niger) perceived decline in the Kgaswane
Mountain Reserve (KMR), in the North-West Province of South Africa. I therefore
looked at assessing sable antelope use of space in relation to ‘high risk’ areas as
determined by distances to fences, campsites and roads; determining the seasonal
variations in the nutritional status of sable antelope; estimating calves recruitment,
survival and population sex ratio. To achieve these objectives two sable antelope
heifers were collared in the reserve, one from the ‘vlei’ herd and one from the
‘woodland’ herd.
Both herds avoided ‘high risk’ areas, especially areas close to camping huts. The
herds made little use of areas where there was lots of human movement. I expected
the herds to utilise areas close to fences, especially after security burns along the
perimeter of the park, but that was not the case as these areas were little utilised.
Both herds preferred the tall grassland type of vegetation. As expected both herds
utilised burnt areas and the woodland herd used these areas more than the vlei
herd.
Faecal crude protein and faecal phosphorus values during the dry season were
higher compared to a previous study in KMR, which seems to suggest that currently
the sable population in KMR is doing better compared to 2002-2003. Since 2011
until 2014, there were a total of 34 calves born with 15 missing after the study but
only one mortality recorded. Therefore the reasons for the missing calves are still
unclear. The best way to monitor survival of populations for long term studies would
be to mark individuals in a population but unfortunately this was impossible for this
study. I expected more females to be born as compared to males and this was not
the case as there were more males (20) born than females (14), further indicating
that potentially currently the population is doing better than in the past. / MT2018
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/24174 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Tshenkeng, Phenya Pius |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (xiv, 86 pages), application/pdf |
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