Shelter availability and human attitudes as drivers of rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) expansion along a rural–urban gradient

Abstract

While anthropogenic land-use changes threaten wildlife globally, some species take advantage of such changes and disperse into urban areas. The wildlife in urban areas often promotes conflicts with humans, notably when the animals are associated with the spread of zoonotic diseases. In Israel, current urban invasion of rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis) draws public attention, since the species is a reservoir host of cutaneous leishmaniasis, a serious skin disease. The rock hyrax, however, has seldom been studied in densely populated areas, and the drivers for its urban expansion, as well as its abilities to live and spread in core urban areas, are relatively unknown.Here, we explore the rock hyrax expansion to urban areas process by examining the availability, characteristics and use of shelter along an urban gradient. Our findings suggest that a series of factors determines shelter availability and quality for the rock hyrax, which facilitates its dispersion across the urban gradient. We found that rock hyraxes from the Judean Desert expand to the peri-urban region of Jerusalem by colonizing new rocky shelters formed as by-products of urban development. With their populations reaching extreme densities in this area and saturating the available shelters, there is some spill over to the adjacent core urban areas where they colonize littered sites, which are made available due to the local socio-economic conditions and cultural norms of waste disposal and illegal placement of temporary structures.Our work emphasizes the significance of the urban gradient approach for studying the mechanisms promoting wildlife expansion to cities. Our findings suggest that changes in shelter availability and quality due to urban development, and cultural norms promote shifts of the hyrax population by pushing from the already established areas and pulling into new environment across the urban gradient. K E Y W O R D S invasion biology, Leishmania tropica, urban wildlife, zoonotic diseases | 4045 BEN-MOSHE aNd IWaMURa

Land‐use changes interact with geology to facilitate dispersal of the rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) and leishmaniasis across Israel and the West Bank

“…We used the ‘thin’ function in the r package spThin (Aiello‐Lammens et al, 2015 ) to reduce the biases in sampling efforts or samples of the same hyrax colony. Based on the preliminary observations (Ben‐Moshe & Iwamura, 2020 ), we found that hyraxes were rarely spotted at distances greater than 120 m from their shelters. Consequently, a minimum distance of 150 m between records was used to obtain 607 “thinned” observations (out of a total 1162 hyrax observations), one third and two thirds of which had occurred before and after 1991, respectively.…”

“…Hyraxes were previously known as native only on the lower reaches of the eastern slopes of the Judean Mountains, with no documentation of their presence on the ridgeline area or the western slopes prior to the 1990s (Meltzer & Livneh, 1982 ; Mendelson & Yom‐Tov, 1988 ). The ridge lies at an altitude of 800–1000 m and is characterized by a moderate topography with very few natural refugia suitable for hyraxes (Ben‐Moshe & Iwamura, 2020 ). It probably acts as a climatic barrier as hyraxes are sensitive to cold weather and have not been found above 700 m in the study area or in other high mountainous regions of Israel (preliminary analysis of hyrax observations in the Galilee and Mt.…”

“…Rock hyraxes ( Procavia capensis ) are medium‐sized mammals that inhabit crevices in rock mounds or outcrops, where they find refuge from predators and extreme weather conditions (Hoeck & Bloomer, 2003 ). Native to Israel and the Palestinian Territories, their distribution has been expanding in the last few decades, correlated to land‐use changes associated with rock excavation and the creation of artificial rock piles (Ben‐Moshe & Iwamura, 2020 ; Mendelssohn & Yom‐Tov, 1999 ; Moran et al, 1987 ; Salah et al, 2020 ; Waitz et al, 2019 ). Their expansion near human settlements is considered a risk to human health as the hyrax is a reservoir host of Leishmania tropica , a pathogenic protozoon causing leishmaniosis which can be transmitted to humans via sandflies (Jaffe et al, 2004 ; Talmi‐Frank et al, 2010 ).…”

Transmission patterns of Leishmania tropica around the Mediterranean basin: Could Morocco be impacted by a zoonotic spillover?

“…More recently, natural infection with L. tropica was reported from small wild rodents of Turkey [54]. In Israel, Rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis) are now considered as a reservoir [55]. Higher prevalence of the disease was linked to the expansion of hyrax populations in peri-urban areas [56].…”

Pulmonary silicosis in 2 rock hyraxes, and literature review

“…Rock hyraxes ( Procavia capensis ) are small social mammals that live throughout semiarid and arid areas of Africa, specifically in locations with cliffs and rock formations. 2,14 Rock hyraxes can also be found invading residential areas in South Africa where they are considered a pest species. 20 Although rock hyraxes phenotypically resemble rodents, they are phylogenetically more closely related to elephants and manatees.…”