Spotted hyaena space use in relation to human infrastructure inside a protected area

Abstract

Increasing human population growth has led to elevated levels of human-carnivore conflict. However, some carnivore populations have adapted to urban environments and the resources they supply. Such associations may influence carnivore ecology, behaviour and life-history. Pockets of urbanisation sometimes occur within protected areas, so that anthropogenic influences on carnivore biology are not necessarily confined to unprotected areas. In this study we evaluated associations between human infrastructure and related activity and space use of spotted hyaenas within one of the largest protected areas in South Africa, the Kruger National Park. Home range size was smaller for the dominant female of a clan living in close proximity to humans than that of the dominant female of a clan without direct access to human infrastructure. The home range including human infrastructure was also used less evenly during the night, presumably when the animals were active. Within this home range, a village area was preferred during the night, when the least modified areas within the village were preferred and administration and highly modified areas were avoided. During the day, however, there were no preference or avoidance of the village area, but all habitats except unmodified habitats within the village area were avoided. We suggest that human infrastructure and associated activity influenced hyaena space use, primarily through alterations in the spatial distribution of food. However, these effects may have been indirectly caused by habitat modification that generated favourable hunting habitat rather than a direct effect caused by access to human food such as garbage. Because of the often pivotal effects of apex predators in terrestrial ecosystems, we encourage further work aimed to quantify how human presence influences large carnivores and associated ecosystem processes within protected areas.

Spotted hyaena visitation at anthropogenic sites in the Kruger National Park, South Africa

“…and have previously been observed both in spotted hyaenas (Benson-Amram and Holekamp 2012) and in other carnivores (Bekoff 1989). Such an interpretation supports parallel studies in the KNP which have pointed to limited direct benefits from anthropogenic food (Belton et al 2016;Belton et al 2018a). We found no effect of social rank on visitation probabilities at the two anthropogenic sites, and our observations suggested that juveniles and to some extent subadults had the highest probabilities of visiting the anthropogenic sites, but primarily during one season.…”

“…. The SK clan had free access to the unfenced staff village consisting of 250 houses, an enclosed staff compound, a golf course, a shop, communal areas, as well as administrative buildings beside an enclosed area with tourist accommodation (Belton et al 2016). The staff area combined with the rest camp covers 4.3 km 2 and houses approximately 2300 staff (Foxcroft et al 2008).…”

“…To allow for temporal independence between observations we allowed a minimum of one week between each observation period at each site. Although this probably is a larger time interval than what can be regarded as independent sampling based on hyaena movement patterns (e.g., Belton et al 2016), we preferred to keep this long interval between our observation to ensure that we did not included any temporal dependencies in our data. At Skukuza, a 400 meter section of the camp fence perimeter adjacent to a camping area was selected for observation.…”

Risk‐taking in free‐living spotted hyenas is associated with anthropogenic disturbance, predicts survivorship, and is consistent across experimental contexts

“…Alternatively, this difference between small animals and hyenas might be because most small mammals and birds are released from predation pressures in urban environments and other habitats heavily disturbed by humans, whereas predators become more exposed to threats from humans in such environments due to conflicts over resources desired by both parties (Bell, Rader, Peck, & Sih, ; Ripple et al, ). For instance, urbanized coyotes ( Canis latrans ), bobcats ( Lynx rufus ), and hyenas explicitly try to avoid these conflicts by primarily entering urban areas during the night and spending daylight hours in more natural settings (Belton, Cameron, & Dalerum, ; Lowry, Lill, & Wong, ).…”

“…The species’ range covers most of sub‐Saharan Africa, and they are top predators, along with lions, in most African ecosystems (Mills & Hofer, ). Human disturbance is known to increase their stress hormone concentrations and to affect several aspects of their behavior, including daily activity rhythms, den use, social interactions, vigilance, feeding habits, and habitat preferences (Belton, Cameron, & Dalerum, , , , ; Boydston, Kapheim, Watts, Szykman, & Holekamp, ; Kolowski & Holekamp, ; Pangle & Holekamp, ; Van Meter et al, ; Yirga et al, , ). Furthermore, earlier research suggests a high degree of variation in boldness and exploration traits in this species, both within and between populations; this variation is apparent even among very young individuals and occurs both when hyenas encounter lions and when they interact with novel stimuli at dens (Greenberg & Holekamp, ; Yoshida, Van Meter, & Holekamp, ).…”