Startseite Using photo by-catch data to reliably estimate spotted hyaena densities over time
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Using photo by-catch data to reliably estimate spotted hyaena densities over time

  • Peter J. Roberts , Dave J. Druce , Nokubonga Mgqatsa und Daniel M. Parker ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 1. Januar 2024
Mammalia
Aus der Zeitschrift Mammalia Band 88 Heft 2

Abstract

Protected areas are becoming increasingly isolated refugia for large carnivores but remain critical for their survival. Spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) are important members of the African large carnivore guild but, like other members of the guild, routinely come into conflict with people because of their large home ranges that are not always confined to protected areas. To effectively conserve spotted hyaena populations, it is paramount to monitor their abundance through reliable and cost-effective techniques. We estimated the density of spotted hyaenas in Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park (HiP), South Africa using camera trap images and a spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) framework between 2013 and 2018. We estimated an average of 18.29 ± 3.27 spotted hyaenas per 100 km2 between 2013 and 2018, with an annual estimated high of 20.83/100 km2 in 2014 and a low of 11.98/100 km2 in 2015. Our results demonstrate that camera trap by-catch data can be used for estimating spotted hyaena densities over time. We believe that given the widespread use and deployment of camera traps across Africa, collaborative efforts to use existing data to improve regional and continental estimates and population trends for spotted hyaenas should be a priority.

Keywords: spatially explicit capture recapture; Crocuta crocuta ; camera traps; South Africa
Corresponding author: Daniel M. Parker, School of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Mpumalanga, Mbombela, 1200, South Africa, E-mail:

Funding source: National Research Foundation

Award Identifier / Grant number: N/A

Acknowledgments

We are greatly appreciative for the support provided by Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park Management. We also thank Wildlife ACT for logistical and financial support, and the National Research Foundation for their financial support. We thank Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Panthera for giving permission and helping facilitate this research. This work formed part of a registered research project with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (registration number: E/5180/02) with data provided by Panthera and EKZNW. The constructive comments of the Associate Editor and two anonymous reviewers also strengthened the final version of the manuscript.

  1. Research ethics: Our research was conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations of the Republic of South Africa. The research did not involve the capture and/or handling of any vertebrate animals and was approved by the appropriate permitting authority – Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (registration number: E/5180/02).

  2. Author contributions: The authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission. PJR, DD, NM & DMP conceived the idea, PJR collected and analysed the data, DMP wrote the initial manuscript draft and all authors contributed equally to the final manuscript.

  3. Competing interests: The authors state no conflict of interest.

  4. Research funding: The National Research Foundation of South Africa granted a student stipend to PJR.

  5. Data availability: All data are provided in the supplementary material and are available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2022-0131).

Received: 2022-11-22
Accepted: 2023-11-14
Published Online: 2024-01-01
Published in Print: 2024-03-25

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Ecology
  3. Insights into surveying pangolins using ground and arboreal camera traps
  4. Reproductive aspects of female Andean bears (Tremarctos ornatus) in the Chingaza massif, eastern range of the Colombian Andes
  5. Using photo by-catch data to reliably estimate spotted hyaena densities over time
  6. Review of ocular alterations in bats in America and notes on a new case for Saccopteryx bilineata (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae)
  7. New dietary records for the rare Thomas’s Flying Squirrel (Aeromys thomasi, Sciuridae: Pteromyini) from Sabah, Malaysian Borneo
  8. A treetop diner: camera trapping reveals novel arboreal foraging by fishing cats on colonial nesting birds in Bangladesh
  9. First albino white-eared opossums in the Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil: records of albinism in Didelphis albiventris (Lund, 1840)
  10. Physiology
  11. Variation in leukocyte indices and immunoglobulin levels according to host density, sex, flea burden and tularemia prevalence in the common vole Microtus arvalis
  12. Evolutionary Biology
  13. Morphological symmetry of Rhipidomys mastacalis (Mammalia, Rodentia, Cricetidae) in fragmented habitats of the Atlantic Forest in Northeastern Brazil: a study on the influence of the environment on an endemic species
  14. Biogeography
  15. Brandt’s Hedgehog, Paraechinus hypomelas (Brandt, 1836), new to the mammal fauna of Iraq
  16. Taxonomy/Phylogeny
  17. Resolving the taxonomic status of Ctenomys paramilloensis (Rodentia, Ctenomyidae), an Andean nominal form from Mendoza Province, Argentina
https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2022-0131
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
spatially explicit capture recapture; Crocuta crocuta; camera traps; South Africa

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Ecology
  3. Insights into surveying pangolins using ground and arboreal camera traps
  4. Reproductive aspects of female Andean bears (Tremarctos ornatus) in the Chingaza massif, eastern range of the Colombian Andes
  5. Using photo by-catch data to reliably estimate spotted hyaena densities over time
  6. Review of ocular alterations in bats in America and notes on a new case for Saccopteryx bilineata (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae)
  7. New dietary records for the rare Thomas’s Flying Squirrel (Aeromys thomasi, Sciuridae: Pteromyini) from Sabah, Malaysian Borneo
  8. A treetop diner: camera trapping reveals novel arboreal foraging by fishing cats on colonial nesting birds in Bangladesh
  9. First albino white-eared opossums in the Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil: records of albinism in Didelphis albiventris (Lund, 1840)
  10. Physiology
  11. Variation in leukocyte indices and immunoglobulin levels according to host density, sex, flea burden and tularemia prevalence in the common vole Microtus arvalis
  12. Evolutionary Biology
  13. Morphological symmetry of Rhipidomys mastacalis (Mammalia, Rodentia, Cricetidae) in fragmented habitats of the Atlantic Forest in Northeastern Brazil: a study on the influence of the environment on an endemic species
  14. Biogeography
  15. Brandt’s Hedgehog, Paraechinus hypomelas (Brandt, 1836), new to the mammal fauna of Iraq
  16. Taxonomy/Phylogeny
  17. Resolving the taxonomic status of Ctenomys paramilloensis (Rodentia, Ctenomyidae), an Andean nominal form from Mendoza Province, Argentina
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