Faculty of Health, Applied Sciences and Natural Resources

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Browsing Faculty of Health, Applied Sciences and Natural Resources by Author "Chicomo, Milcíades Rafael"

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    Assessment of the abundance and selected population characteristics of Hartmann’s mountain zebra Equus zebra hartmannae in Iona National Park, Angola.
    (Namibia University of Science and Technology, 2021-03) Chicomo, Milcíades Rafael
    Monitoring wildlife populations across time and space is key to their conservation and management. This was the basis for my study about Hartmann’s mountain zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae). Since peace was achieved in Angola, a rapidly increasing level of collaboration between Angolan and visiting scientists and institutions has seen biodiversity research prospering. As a result of these collaborative initiatives, monitoring of wildlife is gaining a new dynamic. To contribute to this dynamic, ensure continuous wildlife monitoring in Angola, and promote the development of management and conservation strategies, we carried out the present study. Its goal was to assess the abundance and population characteristics of Hartmann’s mountain zebra, a near-endemic species restricted to the extreme south-west of the country, in Iona National Park (INP). This study was carried out under the scope of the SCIONA project, funded by the European Union, which aims to strengthen cross-border ecosystem management and wildlife protection in the Namibian-Angolan Iona-Skeleton Coast Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA). It was implemented a camera trapping approach centered on waterholes, as means of non-invasively sampling the Hartmann’s mountain zebra (HMZ) population, and used spatial capture-recapture (SCR) to provide estimates of demographic parameters such as abundance and density. Results showed a population size of HMZ of 428 adult individuals, 33 juveniles, and 17 foals. The population of HMZ is dominated by females at all age classes, indicated by the sex ratio of 1:3.46 (male:female), which is typical of some equid member species. This HMZ population presented an age structure dominated by adult individuals, representing 89.6% of the total population, and this proportion suggests an aged population which raises concern due to anthropogenic and environmental threats that the population is subject to. Of particular concern, the study unveiled an emerging population of hybrids of Equus zebra and Equus asinus, so-called zonkey, with a population of 19 adult individuals. HMZ, donkey and zonkey are active at waterholes all day, as shown by their activity levels, but the three species present distinct periods in which one of the species is more active. HMZ, donkey and zonkey are active at waterholes during all day, but their activity peaks at different periods, at night for HMZ, and during middle afternoon for donkey and zonkey. This shift of HMZ to nocturnal activity can be associated with a learned or acquired fear behaviour from human disturbance at waterholes during daylight, xiv mostly by stock farmers with goats and cattle. This population estimate, based on rigorous camera trapping census methodologies, constitutes an accurate baseline population for a continuous monitoring programme in the park, and highlights conservation concerns for HMZ growth and success in Iona.