Seasonal movements of giraffes in Niger

Pendu, Yvonnick Le; Ciofolo, Isabelle

doi:10.1017/s0266467499000863

Cited by 47 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Crop vulnerability to damage Cowpeas in fields are less damaged in Dallol Bosso than in Fakara, where most giraffes are present during the rainy season (Le Pendu and Ciofolo 1999). The month of October, a critical period for cowpea damage, corresponds not only to harvesting time, but also to the end of the rainy season, when the vegetation of the highly productive tiger bush begins to dry out and the foliage becomes richer in tannins and less digestible.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The vegetation cover is then particularly dry and grazed or pruned by semi-nomadic pastoralists herders. Faidherbia albida trees loose their leaves and the old leaves of Combretum are too rich in tannins (Le Pendu and Ciofolo 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is due to the fact that giraffes move seasonally between the two sub-areas, the plateau (Fakara) and the fossil valley (Dallol Bosso) (Lependu et Ciofolo 1999). Fakara is preferentially occupied during the rainy season, whilst Dallol Bosso is home to the majority of the giraffes during the dry season.…”

Section: Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The last African white giraffes live in farmers’ fields

et al. 2009

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The giraffe population (Giraffa camelopardalis) in Niger is the last representative of the peralta sub-species which lived throughout West Africa at the beginning of the twentieth century. Protected since the 1970s, giraffes cohabit with humans in cultivated landscapes. This may not have appeared to pose many problems in the past, but the relationship between farmers and giraffes has deteriorated with the expansion of cultivated land and that of the giraffe population, with reported cases of giraffes damaging crops. A survey was conducted in all the affected villages in the Kouré area to establish the nature, severity and distribution of the damage and to evaluate the local populations' perception of the problem. Cowpeas are fed upon in the field at harvest time and in the granaries, as well as ripe mangoes, during the most critical period for giraffes' nutrition. The vast majority of farmers interviewed consider giraffes to be rather a problem in spite of tourism revenues they can obtain from them. This opinion has individually little correlation with damage rate on crops or easy access to tourism revenues. The damage risk factors are first and foremost considered as uncontrollable by the farmers, even if technical protection measures could easily be put in place locally. The inter-relationships between the socio-economic context and the way the problem is perceived are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The last African white giraffes live in farmers’ fields

et al. 2009

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“…OwenSmith (1988) regarded them as megaherbivores although females do not attain the megaherbivore threshold. Giraffes are described as non-territorial, seasonal movers, moving (3-6 km/day) in loose open herds, where individuals are frequently interchanged, without a specific leader or coordination of herd movements (Pratt & Anderson 1982, Le Pendu et al 2000, Leuthold & Leuthold 1978. Giraffes reproduce at any time of the year, after a pregnancy period of about 15 months (Pellew 1984, Bercovitch et al 2004, Dagg & Foster 1976).…”

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does illegal hunting skew Serengeti wildlife sex ratios?

et al. 2010

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In this article we show that the population of Serengeti Masai giraffes Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi is extremely female biased, particularly among newborns. Our results suggest that this might be a response to heavy illegal hunting and the continuous disturbance such activities cause on giraffes, as sex ratios were more female skewed in all age groups in areas with high risk of illegal hunting. Giraffes were also more vigilant and fled at longer distances in such areas. Such female skewed sex ratios have also been found in other Serengeti species such as the ostrich Struthio camelus, the impala Aepycerus melampus and the wildebeest Connochaetus taurinus. In all studies, the sex ratio was more female skewed in areas in which illegal hunting is common. We found that sex ratio in giraffe calves, particularly in areas with high risk of illegal hunting, were more female skewed than in subadults or adults, indicating a female biased sex ratio at birth. If wildlife species react to a constant human disturbance by conceiving female offspring, this might cause serious conservation challenges. Conservation managers must anyway take this into account when developing future hunting regimes, not only for giraffes but also for other ungulate species under constant stress. We discuss various hypotheses aiming at explaining the female biased sex ratio in giraffes. However, further studies are needed to disentangle the causes of the skewed sex ratio observed in our study.

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“…Fission-fusion or similar association patterns have been described in Thornicroft's giraffe (G. c. thornicrofti) in Zambia (Bercovitch and Berry, 2010, West African giraffe (G .c. peralta) from Niger Le Pendu and Ciofolo, 1999;Le Pendu et al, 2000), Angolan giraffe (G. c. angolensis) in Namibia (Carter et al, 2013b;Fennessy, 2009), Reticulated giraffe (G. c. reticulata) in Kenya (Shorrocks and Croft, 2009;VanderWaal et al, 2014). Mother-calf relationships were studied in wild Cape giraffe (G. c. giraffa) in South Africa (Langman, 1977).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Preferences of Translocated Giraffes (Giraffa Camelopardalis Giraffa) in Senegal: Evidence for Friendship Among Females?

Malyjurkova

Hejzlarova

Vymyslická³

et al. 2014

Agricultura Tropica Et Subtropica

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Giraffe social behaviour and relationships are currently in the period of scientific renaissance, changing the former ideas of nonexisting social bonds into understanding of complex social structures of giraffe herds. Different giraffe subspecies have been studied in the wild and only one was subject of detailed study in captivity. Our study focused on the neglected Cape giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa). We investigated the social preferences of 28 introduced giraffes in semi-captivity in Bandia reserve, Senegal. Our aim was to assess the group size of Cape giraffes outside their native range and describe their social relationships. Mean group size in Bandia was 7.22 ± 4.06 (range 2-17). The dyads were classified according to strength of relationship (weak, medium, strong) using the association index. We reported weak and medium relationships in all types of dyads except female-juvenile. The strongest bond was found in mother-calf dyads. Three of 21 possible female dyads also demonstrated strong relationships. Those three dyads included six of seven adult females, which we labelled as friends. Females associated more frequently with calves of their friends then with calves of non-friend females. The strength of the relationship between calves depended on the strength of relationship between their mothers. We concluded that Cape giraffes in new environment have shown similar group size and nonrandom preference for conspecifics as shown in wild and captive studies. The research was supported by CIGA 20135010, CIGA 2134217, IGA FTZ 20135123, ESF/MŠMT CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0040.

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Seasonal movements of giraffes in Niger

Cited by 47 publications

References 6 publications

The last African white giraffes live in farmers’ fields

The last African white giraffes live in farmers’ fields

Does illegal hunting skew Serengeti wildlife sex ratios?

Social Preferences of Translocated Giraffes (Giraffa Camelopardalis Giraffa) in Senegal: Evidence for Friendship Among Females?

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