Trophy hunting in Africa: long-term trends in antelope horn size

Trophy hunting in ungulates may favour individuals with smaller horns. A decrease in horn/antler size may jeopardize the conservation potential of hunting areas, which would be a major concern in Africa where hunting zones represent over half of the total area of protected lands. We investigated hor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnimal conservation Vol. 16; no. 6; pp. 648 - 660
Main Authors Crosmary, W.-G., Loveridge, A. J., Ndaimani, H., Lebel, S., Booth, V., Côté, S. D., Fritz, H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2013
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects
Aepyceros melampus
African ungulates
Hippotragus niger
horn size
Hunting
selective harvest
Tragelaphus strepsiceros
trophy hunting
Ungulates
Wildlife tourism
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Africa
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Summary:Trophy hunting in ungulates may favour individuals with smaller horns. A decrease in horn/antler size may jeopardize the conservation potential of hunting areas, which would be a major concern in Africa where hunting zones represent over half of the total area of protected lands. We investigated horn length trends of harvested male impalas Aepyceros melampus, greater kudus Tragelaphus strepsiceros and sable antelopes Hippotragus niger, from 1974 to 2008 in Matetsi Safari Area, Zimbabwe. Horn length declined by 4% in impalas, partly because male harvest age decreased. In greater kudus, surprisingly, horn length increased by 14%, while mean age of harvested male greater kudus increased during the study period. Reduced hunting pressure on this species during the study may have allowed males to live longer and to grow longer horns before being harvested. Horn length declined by 6% in sable antelopes, independent of age, suggesting that trophy hunting selected male sable antelopes with smaller horns through time, provided that horn length is heritable. Hunting pressure and trophy value were higher for sable antelopes than for impalas and greater kudus. Accordingly, the decline of horn length in this species was more pronounced. More valuable trophy species, such as sable antelopes, require special attention because they may be exposed to higher hunting pressure, and are therefore more likely to experience a decrease in horn size.
Bibliography:Ministère des Affaires Etrangères
Soutien aux Cotutelles Internationales de thèses de l'Université Claude Bernard Lyon1
CNRS
French 'Agence Nationale de Recherche' - No. ANR-05-BDIV-013-01
IFB 'Global Change and Biodiversity'
ark:/67375/WNG-CK6NWK13-F
ArticleID:ACV12043
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery
Figure S1. Temporal trends of (a) trophy hunting pressure (i.e. number of adult males harvested / estimated number of adult males in the population), and (b) population densities in hunting units one to five of Matetsi Safari Area, Zimbabwe, from 1978 to 2008, for (1) impala, (2) greater kudu, and (3) sable antelope. Data points indicate annual mean values of trophy hunting pressure and densities. Box plots represent hunting pressure or population densities averaged over the study period for each species across the five hunting units. The horizontal line within the box represents the median, the box illustrates the range between the 25th and 75th percentiles, the two dotted segments outside the box represent the 10th and 90th percentiles, and the black dots are the observation <10th or >90th percentiles. Averaged hunting pressures and population densities are compared among hunting units for each species. Different letters indicate hunting pressures or population densities different at P < 0.05.Figure S2. Temporal trends of NDVI in hunting units one to five of Matetsi Safari Area, Zimbabwe, from 1986 to 2008. Data points indicate annual mean values of NDVI per year.Table S1. Model selection procedure to investigate trends in horn length of harvested males in impala, sable antelope, and greater kudu over the years in Matetsi Safari, Zimbabwe. The dependant environmental co-variables are distance to national parks (i.e. distance NP), average densities of conspecifics (i.e. density), average metabolic biomass of potential competitors (i.e. competitors), and vegetation productivity (i.e. productivity). The age of harvested males could be accounted for in impala and sable antelope, but not in greater kudu. Selected models for each species and each dataset, are indicated in bold letters.
Ambassade de France au Zimbabwe
CIRAD
istex:18586DA975B2D0B3B396E35D1861120EE761432F
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1367-9430
1469-1795
DOI:10.1111/acv.12043