Abstract
Human settlement and agricultural activities restrict increasingly the range of large mammals in many cases contributing to declining numbers of ungulates. Here, we studied home range size and habitat selection of seven adult female mountain nyalas in the northern end of the Bale Mountains National Park (BMNP) equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) collars. Home range size was estimated using fixed kernel density and habitat selection was determined by resource selection functions. We found that female mountain nyalas have much smaller (5.7 km2) home ranges than the 19 km2 home range size predicted for a 170 kg, group-living species living in mixed habitats. Home ranges were 30% larger in the night than in the daytime. We suggest that the night extension beyond the park boundaries was caused by high livestock and other ungulates grazing pressure within the protected area which may cause forage-driven excursions out of the park. On the other hand, mountain nyalas are probably attracted by humans as shields against hyena predation. The resource selection index indicates that bushland and forest habitat are the most preferred habitat types, while agriculture and human settlements are the least preferred habitats. The small size of the northern part of the Bale Mountain National Park (31 km2) with the current high density of mountain nyala (24 individuals/km2) is too small for the predicted home range size of large ungulates. Hence, we suggest that protecting additional area may be needed for the long-term conservation of the endangered mountain nyala.
Highlights
Human settlement and agricultural activities restrict increasingly the range of large mammals in many cases contributing to declining numbers of ungulates
Given that mountain nyalas are found in high density (24 individuals/km2) and the size of the northern part of the Bale Mountain National Park, which is currently under protection by the park authorities for the mountain nyala conservation, is too small for the predicted home range size of large ungulates, we suggest protecting additional area may be needed for the long-term conservation of the endangered mountain nyala
We defined our study area as the 100% minimum convex polygon containing the all locations of all collared female mountain nyalas which corresponds to an area of about 133 km2 (Fig. 1)
Summary
Human settlement and agricultural activities restrict increasingly the range of large mammals in many cases contributing to declining numbers of ungulates. Human activities and human caused landscape alteration and fragmentation affect animal home range size, habitat use, activity and movement patterns [1, 5, 6]. A greater understanding of the human impact on activity and movement patterns, home ranges and habitat use constitute important baseline data for conservation management [13, 14, 5]. This is of particular importance for endangered species whose populations and ranges have already been reduced [15]. Ecological information on home range size, activity pattern and habitat use are essential for wildlife management and design of protected areas
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