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Effects of age and sex on site fidelity, movement ranges and home ranges of white and black rhinoceros translocated to the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Evaluating translocation success is essential for wildlife management and conservation; short‐term success can be evaluated by analysing settlement behaviour after release. We analysed GPS collar data from 47 white (Ceratotherimum simum simum, Burchell, 1817) and 25 black (Diceros bicornis minor, Dr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:African journal of ecology 2022-09, Vol.60 (3), p.344-356
Main Authors: Pfannerstill, Vera, Signer, Johannes, Fitt, Michael, Burger, Kyle, Balkenhol, Niko, Bennitt, Emily
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Evaluating translocation success is essential for wildlife management and conservation; short‐term success can be evaluated by analysing settlement behaviour after release. We analysed GPS collar data from 47 white (Ceratotherimum simum simum, Burchell, 1817) and 25 black (Diceros bicornis minor, Drummond, 1876) rhinoceros translocated to the Okavango Delta in Botswana between 2014 and 2018. We tested for effects of age and sex on site fidelity and compared movement ranges after translocations between different release sites and between newly released and established individuals. White rhinoceros adults displayed higher site fidelity than subadults and males higher than females. Adults may therefore be better translocation candidates. Site fidelity of black rhinoceros did not differ between sexes or ages. Established rhinoceros movement ranges were smaller than those of newly released ones, pointing towards extended post‐translocation exploratory movements and later settlement in smaller home ranges. Movement ranges of white rhinoceros released on an island were significantly smaller than others, which shows together with annual home range sizes compared with the literature that reserve size and rhinoceros density affect home range size. All rhinoceros in this study survived for more than 1‐year post‐translocation, so these translocations can be deemed successful in the short term. Résumé L'évaluation du succès d'une translocation est essentielle pour la gestion et la conservation de la faune sauvage. Le succès à court terme peut être évalué en analysant le comportement de l’établissement sur site après la libération. Nous avons analysé les données des colliers GPS de 47 rhinocéros blancs (Ceratotherimum simum simum, Burchell, 1817) et 25 rhinocéros noirs (Diceros bicornis minor, Drummond, 1876) transloqués dans le delta de l'Okavango au Botswana entre 2014 et 2018. Nous avons testé les effets de l'âge et du sexe sur la fidélité au site et comparé les domaines de mouvement après les translocations entre différents sites de relâchement et entre les individus nouvellement relâchés et les individus établis. Les rhinocéros blancs adultes ont affiché une fidélité au site plus élevée que les subadultes et les mâles plus élevée que les femelles. Les adultes pourraient donc être de meilleurs candidats à la translocation. La fidélité au site des rhinocéros noirs ne différait pas entre les sexes ou les âges. Les domaines de mouvement des rhinocéros établis étaient p
ISSN:0141-6707
1365-2028
DOI:10.1111/aje.13011