Title:

Observations on the movements and home ranges of Hartmann’s Mountain Zebras and Oryx in the Greater Sossusvlei-Namib Landscape, July 2014

Author(s):
Publication Year:
2014
Abstract:

This document provides a summary of information on the movements and locations of 9 Hartmann’s mountain zebra and 9 oryx in the Greater Sossusvlei-Namib Landscape (GSNL). Each animal was fitted with a GPS tracking device on the 22nd or 23rd of November 2013. The locations of the animals were then recorded every 5 hours. This provided over one thousand locations for each animal during the 7 months from November 2013 to the 26th of June 2014, the date chosen as a cut-off for this review. Each animal is identified by its transmitter code number: from 1092 to 1100 for the 9 zebras, and from 1101 to 1109 for the 9 oryx. Tables 1 and 2 provide information on the size of each animal’s home range, calculated as a Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP). A better measure of areas used is provided by polygons which reflect intensity of use, here reported as areas enclosing 90% of the density of activity. The two Tables also report the average distance travelled per day by each animal. The home ranges and 90% location density areas of zebra in the relatively flat landscape in the northern Ganab area of the GSNL were several times larger than those of zebra further south which spent much of their time in hilly country (Table 1 and Figure 3). While zebra 1095 in the Tsondab- Naukluft area also used a relatively large range, much of its activity was in the hilly areas in its range.

Item Type:
Report
Language:
en