CENTRAL LIMPOPO RIVER VALLEY ELEPHANT RESEARCH

 

 

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Project Description | Background on the Project | Track the Elephant Herds

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Central Limpopo Valley elephant population occurs in three different countries namely Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Management of the elephant population is different in the three countries. Hunting quotas and permits for control shooting and culling or capture are issued by the three different conservation agencies on the basis of incomplete information related to only a part of the elephant’s range.

Given the plans for a Trans Frontier Conservation Area in the region; that everyone in the region is affected by the presence of the elephant in some way; and the fact that elephants currently appear to be widespread and mobile, it is of critical importance to establish:
(i) what the current range is,
(ii) what the size, age structure and sex ratios of the population are,
(iii) what the social structure is,
(iv) what the movement patterns are and what factors determine these,
(v) what the population and social dynamics are, and the factors which determine them,
(vi) what the ecological densities are, and how these influence the structure and dynamics of the system, and
(vii) what interactions between people and elephants are, what conflicts arise because of this interaction, and how to resolve these.

During 1999 the first research project was initiated to address requirement (i) and (ii) in depth and to obtain preliminary information on (iii) and (iv), forming the basis for a follow up study, initiated in 2004 which address requirement (v), (vi) and (vii).

The objectives of the current project are:

1. Determine the social dynamics of the elephant population and the factors affecting these.
2. Understanding the population dynamics of the Central Limpopo Valley elephant population.
3. Determine the exact effects of different environmental factors on birth and death rates in the different sub populations.
4. Determine how different family groups of elephants share resources in the landscape (i.e. how resource partitioning works) when one or more resources become limiting.
5. Determine the exact effects of different environmental factors on habitat selection and movements.
6. Determine how climate, elephants and other herbivores together influence the growth, survival and recruitment of different tree species.

In order to meet the objectives, data will be gathered through field observations of the various herds within the study area concentrating within the Northern Tuli Game Reserve, satellite data on the movements of the various herds collared, weather data from various stations within the study area, vegetation data on the phenology of various plant species as well as long term vegetation change in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve.

Significance of project

In light of the proposed Shashe/Limpopo Trans Frontier Conservation Area this population is a significant cross border population and research on these elephants and their movements would supply important basic information such as where do the elephant come from, where do they move to and what factors govern these movements (e.g. season, climate, human interference). As formerly stated the elephant population is managed differently in the three countries. Basic knowledge on the population would help in formulating a management plan acceptable to all parties involved in the different countries and crucial to the formation of a Peace Park. Information gained from this study will be used in future in-depth studies on specific aspects of the elephant population. There are two aspects of this project that are new to science. (1) The splitting of a population in fragments has not previously been documented. (2) Habitat choice and identifying the factors that which influence it. Both aspects are of extreme importance to management of the elephant population.