Summary Understanding resource selection and quantifying habitat connectivity are fundamental to conservation planning for both land‐use and species management plans. However, data sets available to management authorities for resource selection and connectivity analyses are often highly limited and fragmentary. As a result, measuring connectivity is challenging, and often poorly integrated within conservation planning and wildlife management. To exacerbate the challenge, scale‐dependent resource use makes inference across scales problematic, resource use is often modelled in areas where the species is not present, and connectivity is typically measured using a source‐to‐sink approach, erroneously assuming animals possess predefined destinations. Here, we used a large carnivore, the leopard Panthera pardus, to characterise resource use and landscape connectivity across a vast, biodiverse region of southern Africa. Using a range of data sets to counter data deficiencies inherent in carnivore management, we overcame methodological limitations by employing occupancy modelling and resource selection functions across three orders of selection, and estimated landscape‐scale habitat connectivity – independent of a priori source and sink locations – using circuit theory. We evaluated whether occupancy modelling on its own was capable of accurately informing habitat connectivity, and identified conservation priorities necessary for applied management. We detected markedly different scale‐dependent relationships across all selection orders. Our multi‐data, multi‐scale approach accurately predicted resource use across multiple scales and demonstrates how management authorities can more suitably utilise fragmentary data sets. We further developed an unbiased landscape‐scale depiction of habitat connectivity, and identified key linkages in need of targeted management. We did not find support for the use of occupancy modelling as a proxy for landscape‐scale habitat connectivity and further caution its use within a management context. Synthesis and applications. Maintaining habitat connectivity remains a fundamental component of wildlife management and conservation, yet data to inform these biological and ecological processes are often scarce. We present a robust approach that incorporates multi‐scale fragmentary data sets (e.g. mortality data, permit data, sightings data), routinely collected by management authorities, to inform wildlife management and land‐use planning. We recommend that management authorities employ a multi‐data, multi‐scale connectivity approach – as we present here – to identify management units at risk of low connectivity.

Compared to their main competitors, African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) have inferior competitive abilities and interspecific competition is a serious fitness-limiting factor. Lions (Panthera leo) are the dominant large carnivore in African savannah ecosystems and wild dogs avoid them both spatially and temporally. Wild dog young are particularly vulnerable and suffer high rates of mortality from lions. Since lions do not utilize all parts of the landscape with an equal intensity, spatial variation in lion densities can be exploited by wild dogs both during their general ranging behaviour, but more specifically when they are confined to a den with vulnerable young. Since patches of rugged terrain are associated with lower lion densities, we hypothesized that these comparatively safe habitats should be selected by wild dogs for denning. We investigated the relationship between the distribution of 100 wild dog den sites and the occurrence of rugged terrain in four wild dog populations located in Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa. A terrain ruggedness index was derived from a 90 m digital elevation model and used to map terrain ruggedness at each site. We compared characteristics of actual and potential (random) den sites to determine how wild dogs select den sites. The distributions of wild dog dens were strongly associated with rugged terrain and wild dogs actively selected terrain that was more rugged than that available on average. The likelihood of encountering lions is reduced in these habitats, minimizing the risk to both adults and pups. Our findings have important implications for the conservation management of the species, especially when assessing habitat suitability for potential reintroductions. The simple technique used to assess terrain ruggedness may be useful to investigate habitat suitability, and even predict highly suitable denning areas, across large landscapes.

Annual trends in numbers of ungulate species on a 15 km² reserve from 1993 to 1998, were evaluated in the context of lion Panthera leo reintroduction during 1996, and subsequent predation by them. The ungulate prey base was enumerated annually by aerial counts and a road count that took place during 1998. The lion prey record was obtained from direct observations of a radio-located pride of eight lions and daily reserve management records. All ungulate species that underwent precipituous declines were also the most important prey to lions, comprising over 80 % of their prey, and they were preyed upon according to their availability. Lion predation was causal for the declines in wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus, Blesbok Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi and Warthog Phacochoerus africana, while the decline in Kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros was only partly ascribed to lions, as other non-lion related mortality sources were identified. The only ungulate species to increase subsequent to lion reintroduction was the Impala Aepyceros melampus, which was furthermore under-selected by lions. The uncontrolled population growth of Impala could have elicited ecological degradation, and it was advised to either not stock Impala, or otherwise control their numbers if lions are unable to do so. Lion hunting success and kill rate, were 21 % (n = 63) and 1 kill/4.4 days, respectively. Three bushpigs Potamochoerus larvatus were killed but not utilised,and this finding is corroborated by an intensive study in Kwazulu-Natal, and this aversion is discussed. Predators can cause unprecedented declines of their prey where the prey are confined to small reserves that have no refuge from predation. On an annual basis, prey may need to be augmented to sustain predators on small reserves

1. Leopards are often translocated away from where they are caught as non-lethal human-wildlife conflict mitigation. It is alleged that leopards fail to settle where they are translocated to, owing to territoriality. We address the need to publish more accounts of successful repatriation of leopards, but also include novel applications aimed at orphans and confiscated leopards. 2. We satellite collared 16 leopards which included a mixture of relocated and translocated leopards, of which the latter included conventional damage causing animals (DCAs, viz 'problem animals'), orphans and confiscations. We determined standard home-range metrics and assessed home-range stabilization as a means of determining site fidelity. Premature mortality and site infidelity, that is homing back to origins, were considered failures. We looked at range stabilization by examining successive monthly ranges against that of the preceding month, that is utilization distribution overlap indices (UDOIs). 3. Relocations turned out to be residents (˜3 km, n = 3), while they were immune to intervention, while translocations resulted in 50% success (n = 12), which were invariably confiscated adults of unknown origin, and simulations of natal dispersals of orphans (˜25 km, n = 3). DCAs never settled where released (˜90 km, n = 5). Resident leopards showed high monthly UDOIs, and for those translocated a minimum of 0.15 was benchmarked to suggest range stability, which also reflected large spatial ranging. 4. Success in home-range establishment was associated with landscapes which were unsaturated by other leopards, but anthropogenic threats still persisted, such that survival after a year was˜45%, but was not different to the normal background mortality of areas outside protected areas in the country. Operations are costly, particularly that to do with veterinary treatment, immobilization, collars and temporary keeping, but such costs can be carried by public interest groups. 5. All adults (>3 years) of known origin should be relocated (transported distance < home-range diameter), while subadults (1-3 years) can be considered for translocations (transported distance > home-range diameter), while heeding This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

As landscapes continue to fall under human influence through habitat loss and fragmentation, fencing is increasingly being used to mitigate anthropogenic threats and enhance the commercial value of wildlife. Subsequent intensification of management potentially erodes wildness by disembodying populations from landscape‐level processes, thereby disconnecting species from natural selection. Tools are needed to measure the degree to which populations of large vertebrate species in formally protected and privately owned wildlife areas are self‐sustaining and free to adapt. We devised a framework to measure such wildness based on 6 attributes relating to the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of vertebrates (space, disease and parasite resistance, exposure to predation, exposure to limitations and fluctuations of food and water supply, and reproduction). For each attribute, we set empirical, species‐specific thresholds between 5 wildness states based on quantifiable management interventions. We analysed data from 205 private wildlife properties with management objectives spanning ecotourism to consumptive utilization to test the framework on 6 herbivore species representing a range of conservation statuses and commercial values. Wildness scores among species differed significantly, and the proportion of populations identified as wild ranged from 12% to 84%, which indicates the tool detected site‐scale differences both among populations of different species and populations of the same species under different management regimes. By quantifying wildness, this framework provides practitioners with standardized measurement units that link biodiversity with the sustainable use of wildlife. Applications include informing species management plans at local scales; standardizing the inclusion of managed populations in red‐list assessments; and providing a platform for certification and regulation of wildlife‐based economies. Applying this framework may help embed wildness as a normative value in policy and mitigate the shifting baseline of what it means to truly conserve a species.