Science Snippets
Using an Ethogram as a guide to understanding Hooded Vulture breeding behaviour
Lindy Thompson, the EWT’s Birds of Prey Programme
Most vulture species are highly threatened, and their populations are declining. Researchers have been focusing more on vultures in recent years, and certain topics, such as their movements, are becoming well studied. However, other topics, such as how diseases affect vultures, and behavioural studies on vultures, have not been as popular. These areas need more attention because understanding all aspects of a species’ behaviour can help inform conservation efforts.
Studies on an animal’s behaviour can be enhanced using an ‘ethogram’. An ethogram clearly defines, describes, and classifies distinct behaviours commonly exhibited by a species. Researchers use ethograms as templates to record and understand the species’ behaviour. Importantly, ethograms can help to standardise data collection across different studies, which increases objectivity, and allows comparisons of results from different researcher teams.
Researchers from the Endangered Wildlife Trust and the University of KwaZulu-Natal recently produced the first ethogram describing the nesting and breeding behaviours of the Critically Endangered Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus). They gleaned information from 14 Hooded Vulture nests in South Africa’s Lowveld region, from direct observations and over 400,000 camera photographs. The team described 28 behaviours exhibited by Hooded Vultures at their nests, and they grouped these behaviours into five categories: ‘Body Care’, ‘Movement’, ‘Nesting’, ‘Resting’ and ‘Social’. In their ethogram, the researchers also provided photographic records of each behaviour for researchers to use as references. Many of the behaviours exhibited by Hooded Vultures may be common to other tree-nesting vulture species, so this ethogram should be helpful for other research teams studying the breeding of other vulture species globally. It will also be used for further investigating the behaviour of Hooded Vultures in South Africa, and the next step is to look at activity budgets.
A juvenile Hooded Vulture on its nest in a Jackalberry tree. © L. Thompson/UKZN
The research team comprised the EWT’s Dr Lindy Thompson (the camera trap photos we used were collected during Lindy’s postdoctoral studies on Hooded Vultures), Prof. Colleen Downs (who supervised Lindy’s postdoc from the University of KwaZulu-Natal), and Fiona Fern, who is soon to start her PhD on raptor health with the EWT’s Birds of Prey Programme.
The study was funded by the Rufford Small Grants Foundation, GreenMatter, and the National Research Foundation (ZA).
The study was titled ‘An ethogram for the nesting and breeding behaviour of the Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus’, and you can access it here: https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2022.2072965
A campaign to raise awareness about wildlife on roads in the Overberg
Most people are familiar with the sad sight of dead animals on the side of the road, and many vehicle accidents in South Africa involve a collision with wildlife. Insurance claims suggest that approximately R82.5 million is paid each year in damages as a result of wildlife associated vehicle collisions. While actual collisions are the most obvious impact of roads on wildlife, other negative consequences include reduced air quality due to vehicle emissions, noise interference, and physical barriers to animal movement caused by the position of the road itself. Temporary road closures, wildlife crossings and bridges are means of improving safety for wildlife near roads, but the most common method is the use of roadside signs to warn motorists and mitigate wildlife-vehicle collisions. Signs installed in areas of high animal activity can help make drivers more aware of wildlife presence and ideally modify driving behaviour. With this in mind, the Cape Leopard Trust (CLT) and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) have launched the ‘Spotted on the Road’ campaign to raise awareness about wildlife on roads in the Overberg. The campaign is part of the collaborative Tale of Two Leopards project (see links at the end of this document to read more), which focuses on two iconic species found in the Overberg region – the leopard and the Western Leopard Toad (WLT). Leopards and WLTs find themselves in an increasingly urbanised environment and must navigate through this transformed landscape, including crossing roads. The Endangered toads move en masse during their breeding season from July – September and when juveniles disperse in October. It is during these times that they are most vulnerable on roads. Leopards in the Cape have huge home ranges that are intersected by many roads, and leopards often cross roads in mountainous and natural areas, especially at night, putting them at risk of collisions with vehicles. The Tale of Two Leopards Spotted on the Road campaign worked with Cape Town-based artist Bryan Little to create reflective road signs of WLTs and leopards in an innovative move to alert motorists to slow down for these, and other animals on the roads, especially at night. The signs have been installed at five strategic locations in the Overberg, based on where WLT mortality by vehicles has been recorded previously and areas where camera traps have confirmed leopard movement. The locations vary between public and private land and tarred and dirt roads to maximise their reach. The signs were introduced to the public at an informal evening event held at Ou Meul Bakery and Café in Stanford on Saturday,16 July 2022. The Spotted on the Road evening featured an informative presentation, the unveiling of the signs, and an outdoor frogging experience at the Willem Appelsdam in Stanford. Contrary to the usual wet and windy weather that accompanies the Cape’s winters, the evening turned out to be calm, sunny and warm – perfect conditions for a nature walk to view the new reflective signs while listening out for different toad and frog calls around the dam. The CLT and the EWT sincerely thank the various landowners and the Overstrand Municipality who granted permission to host the new signs, as well Ou Meul Stanford for hosting the event, and Mountain Falls Spring Water for sponsoring its locally bottled water. The reflective road signs now join the interpretive Tale of Two Leopards information signboards to remind residents and travellers of the Overberg region’s amazing biodiversity. Please join us in our mission to protect it by making the roads of the Overberg safer for all wildlife!
Spotted on the Road Call to Action – How Can You Help?
- Drive slowly, especially at night
- Be on the lookout for animals on the roads
- Don’t swerve, but avoid collisions by reducing speed
- Help a toad cross a road (in the same direction in which it is travelling)
Be a citizen scientist and submit information!
- Contribute to leopard research by submitting photos of leopard sightings, signs like spoor or droppings, and threats to leopards to the CLT Western Cape leopard database: app.capeleopard.org.za
- As we move deeper into winter, the Western Leopard Toad breeding season is in full swing. This is an amazing time in the Overberg to see and hear this Endangered toad. Please share your WLT sightings with the EWT: inaturalist.org/projects/leopard-toads-of-the-overberg
Tale of Two Leopards news links:
Introducing the Tale of Two Leopards at the Tip of Africa Camera trapping for Overberg leopards in full swing! Overberg camera survey – success & highlights! Camera trapping in the Overberg – hefty hippos, baby birds & spotted cats! The Tale of Two Leopards in the Overberg – information signs & wildlife wines Released by the Cape Leopard Trust and the Endangered Wildlife Trust
For general / media information, contact:
Jeannie Hayward, CLT Communications and Media Manager, communications@capeleopard.org.za Emily Taylor, EWT Communications and Marketing Manager, emilyt@ewt.org.za
For research information, contact
Dr Katy Williams, CLT Research & Conservation Director, rcdirector@capeleopard.org.za Dr Jeanne Tarrant, EWT Threatened Amphibian Programme Manager, jeannet@ewt.org.za
Combatting climate change and crane-crop damage
Sarah Kugonza, ACCP Uganda Conservation Intern
Climate change has manifested in erratic weather patterns and significantly prolonged drought seasons in Southcentral Uganda. The drought hit the Lwengo region in one of Uganda’s cattle corridors particularly hard. Farmers in Lwengo have suffered serious losses over the dry season; their crops dried up and withered over the harvest period. Maise, beans, peas, and other cash crops have also done poorly during the dry planting season. The water sources in most villages and part of the Kiyanja-Kaku wetland (a precious wetland conserved by the ICF/EWT projects) have dried up, and animals and households no longer have enough water to drink and use for domestic purposes. The dry season also affected irrigation projects, rendering irrigation impossible at the household level and reduced food security and the general well-being of the communities. The Kiyanja-Kaku wetland and its catchment also provide breeding and flocking habitat for the Endangered Grey Crowned Crane – one of Uganda’s iconic wetland species.
Unfortunately, cranes are eating more of the crops due to shortages in natural food sources, feeding on germinating seedlings and mature crops, eating all the corn, and leaving empty combs. The most affected crops in the area included maize, beans, and ground nuts. On top of the drought and deflating market prices, this has caused significant losses to the farmers, and they have resorted to poisoning cranes – 118 poisoned to date this season.
What are we doing to help communities weather the storm?
The ICF/EWT’s crane and wetlands conservation project supports some communities in establishing crane deterrent measures in various homesteads to address food insecurity caused by cranes and climate change. The measures range from the erection of human-mimicking scarecrows to the use of reflective materials, usually from non-recyclable waste products, around the crops. The measures have proven successful as there have since been no crane sightings in these areas, and crop damage has reduced to some extent.
Next steps
Since the project has established an integrated approach of deterrent measures, effectively preventing cranes from damaging crops, we need to upscale the deterrent measures and extend the approach to all affected villages. This way, we will keep crops and cranes safe. The project continues to engage farmers in establishing interventions that can also address the impacts of climate change on food security.
Science Snippets: Where Frogs Flourish
Comparing frogs and habitats in KwaZulu Natal
Cherise Acker, EWT’s Threatened Amphibian Programme, Cherisea@ewt.org.za
Wetlands are important ecosystems that supply essential ecological goods and services (EGS) for wildlife and people. They supply clean water and fertile soil for plants, filter water from upstream, regulate water flow to prevent flooding, store water to ease drought periods, and reduce the effects of climate change, improving ecological and social resilience. Protection and conservation of wetlands are essential to support communities through environmental disasters caused by climate change.
Wetland health and ecological goods and service quality assessments are valuable in determining the ecological state of wetlands to inform conservation management actions. The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s (EWT) Threatened Amphibian Programme (TAP) aims to show the link between amphibian diversity (i.e. healthy amphibian populations) and wetland habitat health. In other words, if wetlands are in a poor ecological state, amphibian diversity decreases and vice versa. Indirectly, better species and ecological health also support healthy human populations. To this end, we started long-term monitoring protocols in 2016 to determine habitat health and identify amphibian species diversity at four project sites in eThekwini Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, where the threatened Pickersgill’s Reed Frog (Hyperolius pickersgilli) occurs.
These sites included Adams Mission, Mt Moreland’s Froggy Pond, Widenham, and Isipingo. Wetland health scores, EGS scores, and amphibian diversity from each site were compared to determine whether amphibian species richness increases or decreases under different habitat conditions.
Figure 1: Diagram illustrating the correlation between amphibian species diversity and wetland health.
The data showed a significant positive relationship between the amphibian species diversity and Wetland Health assessment scores between the four sites (P-Value 0.04077) (Social Statistics, 2022), as illustrated in Figure 1.
Species composition for each site showed that some species were found across all sites (Figure 2). These included Hyperolius tuberlinguis, Hyperolius marmoratus, Leptopelis natalensis (Figure 3), and Hyperolius pickersgilli was also present at all four sites, but Hyperolius pickersgilli was one of the site selection criteria and as such, expected to be present at all the sites.
Figure 2: Species present according to the number of sites, i.e. Hyperolius tuberilenguis occurs in all four sites while Natalobatractus bonebergi, only occurs in one site.
Figure 4: Hyperolius tuberlinguis (top left), Hyperolius pickersgilli (top right), Leptopelis natalensis (bottom left) Hyperolius marmoratus (bottom right)
The study’s results indicate a statistically significant positive relationship between these two variables, demonstrating that amphibian species diversity will decrease as wetland health decreases and vice versa. Reinforcing the value of amphibian species diversity in indicating wetland health. Amphibians may be an effective monitoring tool for managing wetlands within the eThekwini Municipality. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that improving habitat health through restoration or rehabilitation could positively impact amphibian species diversity.
Integrated Farming the missing piece for communal farmers
Samson Phakathi, the EWT’s African Crane Conservation Programme Senior Community Project Officer, Samsonp@ewt.org.za
Integrated farming promotes the responsible use of natural resources and farming practices that use fewer external resources, making farming more sustainable. The concept is particularly well suited to communal land where land degradation and the resultant soil erosion and spread of encroaching plant species tend to be quite prevalent. Moreover, it is becoming evident that there is often an imbalance between livestock ratios and the availability of food and water for the animals in these landscapes. The Integrated Farm Planning (IFP) training thus came at a time when most of the community farmers desperately needed assistance to improve their management practices.
Through the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) funding, the Endangered Wildlife Trust engaged with 35 emerging farmers from the Cedarville area in the Eastern Cape. Our goal was to assist them with implementing integrated farm planning (IFP) by hosting a training day in the field that we published an article on in May 2022.
Through the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) funding, the Endangered Wildlife Trust hosted 35 emerging farmers from the Cedarville area to to discuss integrated farm planning (IFP)
The emerging farmers were carefully selected from areas within hotspots of the distribution of the three threatened crane species. These areas contain wetlands and grasslands required for the Endangered Grey Crowned Cranes, Critically Endangered Wattled Cranes, and Near Threatened Blue Cranes. Unfortunately, these habitats are highly threatened by poor rangeland management. The IFP training was designed to upskill emerging farmers to identify management-related challenges in areas where they graze their livestock. The farmers then formulate practical solutions, incorporating local knowledge and capacity to address issues. The IFP training was eye-opening to emerging farmers, who now appreciate that rangeland management is key to the sustainability of communal lands in terms of grazing, water conservation, and community livelihoods. The training emphasized the importance of species diversity in grazing lands and the need to conserve species through improved grazing management.
Emerging famers from Cedarville on an Integrated Farm Planning trip visit to learn from the Black Diamond Community in the Ukhahlamba Mountain Range
After successfully organizing and facilitating the well-attended IFP and sustainable grazing management training, the EWT arranged for a community exchange visit for the Cedarville emerging farmers to the Black Diamond Community situated in the Ukhahlamba mountain range. The Black Diamond community is quite progressive regarding practical rangeland management initiatives. The exchange visit was thus key as it allowed the Cedarville emerging farmers to interact with the Black Diamond community and draw lessons on what can be duplicated, adopted, or adapted to the Cedarville context.
The exchange visit ran from 18–19 April 2022, with over 70 people attending. The Cedarville and Black Diamond communities’ engagements and discussions were quite constructive. What stood out was the ability of the Cedarville emerging farmers to interpret the Black Diamond grazing camps using the IFP training concept, showing that the messaging resonated with the emerging farmers. More emphasis was also placed on encouraging the Cedarville emerging farmers to look at their available local capacity and resources as they improve their rangeland management. This is important, especially if self-sustaining communities with local knowledge and capacity can encourage others to address these issues. The exchange visit was also attended by key stakeholders, including a government department, another NGO, the ward councillor, and a local King.
From the project initiation phase, where robust engagements about the community’s vision for their land and how IFP can complement their activities, to the actual training session and the community exchange visit, we observed the communities taking the lead in identifying local issues, formulating intervention measures, mobilizing resources and capacity, and implementing solutions. The IFP training seemed to be the missing piece, providing the solutions for farmers to succeed, especially in highly strained communal lands in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. This paradigm shift to grazing management in communities can only benefit species diversity, livestock, and, more importantly, the stability of soils, vegetation, and the resultant positive spin-offs in the form of community livelihoods.
This training was made possible with funds from the National Lotteries Commission. The NLC relies on funds from the proceeds of the National Lottery. The Lotteries Act and regulations guide the way in which NLC funding may be allocated. The NLC wants the grants to make a difference in the lives of all South Africans, especially those more vulnerable, and to improve the sustainability of the beneficiary organizations. Available funds are distributed to registered and qualifying non-profit organizations in the fields of charities; arts, culture, and national heritage; and sport and recreation. By placing its emphasis on areas of greatest need and potential, the NLC contributes to South Africa’s development.
