Abstract
The Kruger National Park is a stronghold for African wild dog Lycaon pictus and cheetah Acinonyx jubatus conservation in South Africa. Tourist photographic surveys have been used to evaluate the minimum number of wild dogs and cheetahs alive over the last two decades. Photographic-based capture-recapture techniques for open populations were used on data collected during a survey done in 2008/9. Models were run for the park as a whole and per region (northern, central, southern). A total of 412 (329–495; SE 41.95) cheetahs and 151 (144–157; SE 3.21) wild dogs occur in the Kruger National Park. Cheetah capture probabilities were affected by time (number of entries) and sex, whereas wild dog capture probabilities were affected by the region of the park. When plotting the number of new individuals identified against the number of entries received, the addition of new wild dogs to the survey reached an asymptote at 210 entries, but cheetahs did not reach an asymptote. The cheetah population of Kruger appears to be acceptable, while the wild dog population size and density are of concern. The effectiveness of tourist-based surveys for estimating population sizes through capture-recapture analyses is shown.
Highlights
African wild dogs Lycaon pictus and cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus are threatened throughout their range and the Kruger National Park and its neighbouring conservation areas represent an essential core area for their conservation [1] [2]
The number of wild dog entries was not associated with the number of tourists once the effect of time was accounted for (F1,42 = 4.03, p = 0.06; Fig. 2B) while the number of cheetah entries increased as tourist numbers increased (F1,42 = 6.02, p = 0.02; Fig. 2B)
In all three study regions, the accumulation of new wild dogs per unit effort reached asymptotes i.e. less than 0.1 individuals added per unit of increasing tourist effort (Fig. 2C, Northern: y = 26.99[1–e211.44x], R2 = 0.82; Central y = 243.88[1–e22.04x], R2 = 0.91; Southern: y = 135.06[1–e26.57x], R2 = 0.92)
Summary
African wild dogs Lycaon pictus and cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus are threatened throughout their range and the Kruger National Park (hereafter Kruger) and its neighbouring conservation areas represent an essential core area for their conservation [1] [2]. Both species are sub-dominant members of the African large carnivore guild with lions Panthera leo and spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta being dominant over them through exploitive competition [3] [4]. Detecting trends and local extinction risks in small populations is statistically challenging [8]
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