Makuleke Transboundary Elephant Movements
June 2010
Cow movements are as expected. All herds (bar 1) are focused in the concession area between the Luvuvhu and Limpopo Rivers.
The bull map is more interesting. Finally we can prove some connectivity between the Kruger National Park and Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe. The bull Gila 'streaked' across the Sengwe Communal lands and is currently focused on the Mwenezi River downstream of Mabalauta. It will be fascinating to see his movements over the duration of the dry season and how much time he spends on the Mwenezi before moving south (we have to doubt he'll move much further north given the lack of water in that area), and whether his southward journey is along the Mwenezi or directly back to the Limpopo.
Clive Stockhill (of Save Valley and Chilo/Mahenya) is going to raise the presence of these collared animals with the hunting concessionaires in Zimbabwe to ensure their safety.
Click here to see maps of the elephant movements.
May 2010
At last ... A bull heads into Zimbabwe to do a proper recce.
Otherwise the rest of the collared animals show the expected beginnings of their dry season concentration between the Luvuvhu and Limpopo Rivers, this despite quite significant late summer rains.
Click here to see maps of the elephant movements.
April 2010
April at Pafuri was a wet month although this rain only fell around mid-month. What is interesting is the very early concentration in the Makuleke area by most of the collared elephant cows. Three moved south (and east in one case) again after the rains, but the other three stayed almost exclusively in the western half of the concession area. The bulls were interesting. Mapimbi (north of Shingwedzi), Jabulani (western Makuleke), Gila (north south movements along the cusp between the granites and basalts) and Mondli (east west movements around Nkovakulu) showed very similar movements and concentrations to March, while Nwambi moved east to join Bvekenya in Limpopo NP in Mozambique and the two clearly showed a clear association.
Currently there is plenty of water in northern Kruger and it will be interesting to see if this allows a May dispersal and a delay in the return of the majority of animals to the Makuleke area (if indeed they all return). Refer to their detailed movements here
It was a very dry month (5.5mm of rain) with the driest season since we have been operating experienced there to date (255mm received as of end March). As a result the Luvuvhu River has been very important for the cow herds and they have moved back into the area. The bulls continued to wander widely. Read more here
The increased rainfall has had some interesting effects on elephant movements. Read more here
December 2009
Bulls
Gila has headed back north and settled down in Shingwedzi area. Just to the south.
Nwambi also appears to have settled down at Shingwedzi. Just to the north.
Mapimbi in contrast to these older bulls settling down at Shingwedzi seems to have suddenly moved north. Whether or not he is still with his natal herd would be interesting to know.
Bvenkenya has continued to stay in a relatively small area south of the Luvuvhu since his desnaring.
Jabulani moved back into KNP from the Madimbo corridor.
Mondli also moved back into KNP after initial wet season wanderings into Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
Cows
The cows have in general all moved greater average daily distances this month compared to November and the typical dry season movements. They are also all now south of the Luvuvhu with some having moved further south than others.
Of interest are Agnes's movements into Mozambique and also the apparent close relationship (if the closely related movements are anything to go by) in Mangala and Nwamkwimbi who have both showed a distinctive movement in a south eastern direction.
Detailed maps depicting movements can be found here
November 2009
As far as the bulls are concerned:
'Mapimbi' the young bull continues his concentration in the Shingwedzi catchment.
'Bvekenya' the previously snared bull showed some circumscribed movements in the north (snare now removed courtesy of Markus Hofmeyr).
'Nwambi' showed a long distance movement down the eastern boundary all the way south of Shingwedzi camp and north again.
'Gila' went even further and is our first elephant to head as far south as south of the Letaba River on the western boundary.
'Jabulani' showed very interesting movements west upstream along the Limpopo Corridor.
'Mondli' went the other direction and headed eastward downstream along the Limpopo into Mozambique.
As far as the cows are concerned the movements have been less dramatic although clearly linked to the arrival of the summer rains which have sent all the animals ranging further south from the Luvuvhu now that there is more natural water around. The strategy to collar two cows in the west of the concession has proved productive since these two 'new' cows have shown movements through the sandveld to the south that differ from the clustering of the other animals in the more eastern parts. Of interest is that only one cow crossed briefly into Zim in the Chikwarakwara area opposite Mabiligwe and then headed south again.
Click here for some interesting movements of the Pafuri bulls and cows now that the first rains have fallen.
September 2009
As expected, the family herds have remained along the Limpopo and Luvuvhu Rivers in the dry season. Other news here
August 2009
Once again Mapimbi returned to the woodlands of western KNP. For full update click here
July 2009
For July's movements click here
May 2009
With the start of the dry season Mapimbi has moved further northward, but not as far as the Pafuri region where he was collared late last year.
Fascinating avoidance of the northern plains by Mapimbi, also a more staggered movement north than we expected. You can see the northern plains of Kruger as the paler coloured area on the map.
It is basically a scrub mopane grassland on a fire driven system that harbours the last proper populations of ostrich, tsessebe and roan in Kruger. To the east is a mopane fringe and then sandveld, to the west is mopane woodland. To the north west is another hilly sandveld community that we don't anticipate Mapimbi using.
March 2009
After three weeks in the north, Mapimbi returned to the area west of Shingwedzi where he has spent most of the latter half of the wet season. Once again he crossed the granitic grasslands in less than a day.
February 2009
Researchers: Michelle Henley and Sieglinde Rode
Activities:
- GPS mapping of roads in the area to construct a map.
- Looking for elephants for identification purposes.
- Entering of available guides' elephant sighting information into an electronic database (1172 sightings in total from August 2007 until the 25 February 2009).
- Preliminary analysis of data (database handed over to Walter Jubber, Pafuri senior guide, including spreadsheet with statistics based on analyses).
- Graphic display of preliminary results based on guide's sighting database and Walter Jubber's resightings ID database.
- Presentation of results and preliminary findings to the Kruger National Park at Punda Maria on 26 February 2009.
- Handing over of STE Transboundary Elephant Research Programme presentation and contact with SANParks to Walter Jubber for reference.
- Guest presentations on three occasions at Pafuri Camp.
Results - a synopsis:
Both bulls and breeding herd numbers fluctuated according to season. The mean group size of bulls increased when moving from the wet to the dry season. No clear pattern could be distinguished for breeding herds which would be expected as the composition of breeding herds is more stable than those of bachelor herds. Although it would appear as if an exceptional number of herd individuals were estimated in January of 2009, these results are similar to estimates in January 2008.
Seasonal trends in numbers are clearly depicted when considering the number of sightings on a monthly basis for each of the sexes as well as the frequency of days within a month during which no elephants where sighted. Although a greater number of bull sightings were recorded on a monthly basis, fewer individuals were estimated per bull sighting when compared to breeding herds.
The proportion of bulls sighted in musth on a monthly basis has not delivered any distinctive seasonal pattern but recording sightings of musth bulls in the sightings book, will assist with elucidating any particular trends in future.
The ID study has revealed that the population structure of bulls may be skewed towards the younger age classes. These preliminary results may be of concern as they indicate that past and present practices (such as trophy hunting of older bulls and poaching of large tusked individuals) may be responsible for the present trends. In fact, all animals in the 40-45 year age class were sighted in 2005 and 2007 (prior to the ID study) and have not been sighted since then.
Acknowledgements
We appreciate the support of the Kruger National Park and for collaring Mapimbi. We would like to thank Wilderness Safaris for not only all their logistical support but also for their hospitality and dedication towards conservation. We are very grateful for the high quality of data that the Pafuri guides are presently collecting.
January 2009
We are now entering the hottest months of the year and large-bodied animals such as Mapimbi are faced with the serious problem of maintaining their body temperature within acceptable limits. For elephants this means bathing, resting in the shade and flapping their ears. Elephant ears account for 20% of their skin surface area. Typically elephants start flapping their ears when the ambient temperature gets to around 23 degrees Celsius, the point at which environmental heat gain equals normal body heat loss.
Dec 2008
Mapimbi remains on the granites, west of Shingwedzi Camp.The abundance of nutritious vegetation and surface water at this time of year means that it is a good time to move away from the security of his natal herd.
Nov 2008
In November 2008, Mapimbi moved southward and spent most of the month west of Shingwedzi. He is at a similar latitude to an area known to be frequented by larger bulls when not in musth.
Oct 2008
Mapimbi was collared on the 30th of October as a young bull within a herd. He stayed in the area for about four days before making his way toward Shingwedzi, an area known to be favoured by bulls as part of their non-musth range. In the two days it took him to journey southward he walked a straight line distance of 77km.
March 2010
January 2010
