Management of Rare Ungulates in a Small Park: Habitat use of Bontebok and Cape Mountain Zebra in Bontebok National Park Assessed by Counts of Dung Groups

Abstract

recently burnt veld. This work, however, was done at a relatively broad scale, while we used counts of bontebok and mountain zebra dung groups to assess the habitat use of these ungulates at a finer scale. In our analysis we stratified the study area according to vegetation type, veld age and fire history. Our results suggest that bontebok are more closely associated with burnt veld than mountain zebra and that both favour the Drainage Line and Kraal Lawn vegetation types over the other vegetation types in the park. The importance of these vegetation types has previously been overlooked and should be included in future monitoring of herbivore habitat use.