Anka Bedetti - Elephants Aliveelephantsalive.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/March2018_YPO-2nd... · YPO MONTHLY REPORT Wet Season Report – Oct 2017-March 2018 OVERVIEW OF THE COLLARED

YPO MONTHLY REPORT

Wet Season Report – Oct 2017-March 2018

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLARED ELEPHANTS’ MOVEMENTS

Elephants Alive is keeping track of the 8 collared elephants sponsored by the YPO in August 2017, adding

valuable insight every day into elephant movements and a better understanding of the bigger picture which is

key to this species survival.

Since August 2018, an additional 5 elephants were collared, for which Elephants Alive is very grateful for. Two

young females and 3 adult males. We are looking forward to discover and share with you the way they move.

A full dry season has passed since the first collaring (April-Sept), allowing for a broad scale seasonal overview.

Elephants tend to stick to certain areas as they are restricted by vegetation and water availability compared to

the wet season. This is noticeable in the following report, as we compare elephants’ movements with the

previous wet season.

The following table shows the distances travelled as well as home range sizes for the 8 elephants collared last

year for past wet and dry seasons. The new elephants have been added just to see how far and wide they have

travelled since the collaring in August 2018.

TABLE 1: SUMMARY OF DISTANCE TRAVELLED AND HOME RANGE SIZES PER ELEPHANT FOR THE PASSED WET AND DRY SEASON

Collared Elephant

Km travelled

WET Season

2017-2018

Km travelled

DRY Season

2018

Home Range - aLocoh (Km2)

WET Season 2017-2018

50%

DRY Season

2018

50%

WET Season 2017-2018

100%

DRY Season 2018

100%

Bocha 1176.00 389.18 42.80 91.56 433.85 573.82

Lekotla 1393.72 1253.41 106.08 60.75 907.87 526.83

Induna 1251.88 1815.89 39.39 120.05 1542.15 1258.57

Khumo 1133.00 898.82 11.90 8.94 213.22 206.68

Nthaba 1486.07 1147.71 120.70 56.00 1532.09 526.83

Dex 1463.38 1163.86 121.75 27.06 1356.52 349.26

Elon 1134.47 1109.24 36.46 41.21 334.39 183.76

Charlise 1588.01 1355.58 55.44 26.28 545.71 232.83

ST2010-3031 572.45 44.55 349.43

ST2010-3033 348.24 4.65 52.10

ST2010-3035 518.21 25.57 163.68

Bambuti 406.58 11.88 66.46

ST2010-3037 471.89 17.26 114.25

Anka Bedetti Elephant Tracking & ID

Projects Manager

Elephants Alive [email protected] Hoedspruit South Africa

http://www.elephantsalive.org/

The graphs below illustrate Table1:

Figure 1 shows that elephants have travelled further during the wet season compared to the dry season except

for Induna. Induna is a young adult at an “exploratory” age. Individuals like him bring valuable insight to the

bigger picture of what is known about elephant movements and seasons.

Figure 2 shows that 50% home ranges, thus areas where elephants spend 50% of their time is not necessary

dictated by season as some elephants have bigger 50% home ranges during the dry season compared to the

wet season. This will all depend on the “quality” of their 50% home range, in other words, the availability of

water and food. The 100% home range on the contrary, shows as expected a smaller overall home range for

the dry season when compared to the wet season as elephants would be restricted by main resources.

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Bocha Lekotla Induna Khumo Nthaba Dex Elon Charlise

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Distance travelled

Wet Season - Oct 2017-Mar 2018 Dry Season - Apr-Sept 2018

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Home Range 50%


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FIGURE 1: DISTANCE TRAVELLED DURING THE WET SEASON 2017-2018 AND DRY SEASON 2018

FIGURE 2: HOME RANGE (50% AND 100%) SIZE PER ELEPHANT FOR THE WET SEASON 2017-2018 AND DRY SEASON 2018

Time Density Home Range Analysis was used to illustrate and determine the elephant whereabouts. This

methodology quantifies the amount of time spent by an elephant per unit area providing more fine-scaled

insight of elephants spatial and temporal use across a landscape, allowing to focus, protect and manage key

areas.

The following maps of each individual elephant shows their Time-Density Home-Range as percent of total hours

tracked. The values range from green to red - red representing the most time the elephant has spent in one

area. The 50% a-locoh areas have been encircled in black for better visualisation.

It is immediately apparent which areas elephant streak through and in which they spend more time whether

they are dictated by vegetation distribution, water availibilty, social interaction or other.

WET (Oct 2017-Mar 2018) DRY (Apr-Sept 2018)

Bocha has spent most of the wet and dry season in Klaserie, with a slight shift of most time spend further north

during the dry season.


Charlise (above) and Elon (below) are good examples of how the dry season restricts exploration behaviour

when comparing their movements between the 2 seasons.



Khumo’s movement are very similar between the the 2 seaons, going back and forth between Jejane and

Thornybush, 2 newly joined areas of the APNR showing interesting exploratry behaviour for new areas.


Nthaba has shifted his home range slightly south and has not visited Kruger during the dry season as he was

probably restricted by water and food availability as expected during these times.


Dex stayed in the APNR during the dry season and stayed in his usual “APNR home range”during the dry season.


Induna is still up in Northern Kruger and hasn’t come back “home” just yet, unless home is Northern Kruger and

we collared him on a visit to the APNR. Only time will tell. He is concentrating his movement where the river

network seems to be more dense and will probably stay there until the first rain. We are keeping a keen eye on

this young explorer!


Lekotla has returned from Letaba Ranch back to the APNR, where he is spending most of his time in the Klaserie.

Following are maps of the newly collared elephants to see what they have been up to so far:

This male (ST2010-3033) has similar movements to Khumo and is also spending time in Thornybush at the

moment.

This male (ST2010-3031) is currently in Kruger after suddenly missioning from Klaserie to Kruger where he is

spending time in the riverbeds.

Bambuti is a male that was recorded by the team back in 2010 ! It is very exciting to be able to collar an elephant

we have been following for a while.

Bambuti in 2018

Bambuti in 2011

This female (ST2010-3037) is also spending most of her time in Balule and is currently moving south.

Whereas this female (ST2010-3035) is moving back and forth between the Klaserie and Balule.

Anka Bedetti - Elephants Aliveelephantsalive.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/March2018_YPO-2nd... · YPO MONTHLY REPORT Wet Season Report – Oct 2017-March 2018 OVERVIEW OF THE COLLARED

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