Abstract
Despite extensive evidence that African buffalo Syncerus caffer are grazers, De Graaff et al. using rumen content analysis of animals that had starved to death proposed that buffalo in grass-limited Eastern Cape thicket should be considered browsers. Although these anomalous findings were initially accepted, but later challenged, the browse-dominated diet continues to be used as a foundation for hypotheses on the diet of healthy animals. Consequently, the debate around buffalo as browsers or grazers in thicket has not yet been settled. We describe the diet of buffalo in the Addo Elephant National Park and include data from other published work from the region to test the importance of grass in buffalo diet. We show that the diet is dominated by grasses, even in grass-limited thicket, and that browse species are seldom dominant foods. Thus, there is no empirical evidence to corroborate the notion that buffalo switch their diet to browse when grass availability is low. In an attempt to advance our understanding of buffalo foraging in thicket, we reiterate that De Graaff’s work is not a valid measure of buffalo diet in succulent thicket and that additional testing of the browser–grazer hypothesis is not needed.Conservation implications: Our results confirm that buffalo are grazers, rather than browsers, in grass-limited Eastern Cape thicket. Thus, additional testing of the browser–grazer hypothesis for buffalo in the region is not needed.
Highlights
Weak attempts to apply the scientific method may paradoxically improve our understanding if these encourage further robust scientific engagement that recognises the pitfalls of earlier attempts (e.g. Hayward et al 2015; Stephens et al 2015)
We use an example of a diet study of African buffalo Syncerus caffer that had starved to death (De Graaff, Schulz & Van der Walt 1973), and whose findings were anomalous and initially accepted, only to be challenged later (Landman & Kerley 2001; Novellie, Hall-Martin & Joubert 1991)
With this we aim to resolve the debate around buffalo as browsers or grazers in grass-limited Eastern Cape thicket, South Africa
Summary
Weak attempts to apply the scientific method may paradoxically improve our understanding if these encourage further robust scientific engagement that recognises the pitfalls of earlier attempts (e.g. Hayward et al 2015; Stephens et al 2015). We use an example of a diet study of African buffalo Syncerus caffer that had starved to death (De Graaff, Schulz & Van der Walt 1973), and whose findings were anomalous and initially accepted, only to be challenged later (Landman & Kerley 2001; Novellie, Hall-Martin & Joubert 1991) With this we aim to resolve the debate around buffalo as browsers or grazers in grass-limited Eastern Cape thicket, South Africa. In the succulent thickets of the Eastern Cape, De Graaff et al (1973), using rumen content analysis of buffalo that had died in a drought, showed an overabundance of browse in buffalo diet They presumed that this was a response to low grass availability at the time and proposed that these buffalo should be considered browsers rather than grazers. The debate around the feeding strategy of buffalo in thicket has not yet been settled
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