From the Archives : Away we go!
Originally published on January 22, 2018 The Primate and Predator Project has recently received a grant from the Earthwatch Institute that has allowed us to extend our research base. In 2011, Dr Leah Findlay began her PhD on human-primate conflict, focusing on working with farmers who suffer crop damage from baboons and vervet monkeys. In order to do this, she moved off the Soutpansberg Mountains down into the Alldays area, where there were more crop farmers to work with. The main aim of the PhD was to gather information on the crop raiding problem and provide farmers with non-lethal ways to keep primates from entering crop fields. Although Leah’s PhD made progress toward this end, we felt that the research needed to continue in order to reach real solutions. With that in mind and the help from the Earthwatch Institute, we have now set up a second research site in the Alldays area. Through the data, we have collected so far, and our interactions with the local farming community, we have established a number of deterrent methods that we will test out to determine whether they are effective at keeping primates out of crop fields. As you can imagine, this can be a pretty difficult task, and we expect to have to trial a fair few ideas before we come up with anything successful. If you have any ideas of your own, please do send them to us in the comments below! As well as these mitigation trials, we also hope to help local livestock farmers that come into conflict with predators, through spreading the work of Philip Faure, our Community Engagement Officer at the Lajuma Research Centre. We will also be getting involved with the local community and increasing our target zones for our environmental education programme. The Alldays Wildlife and Communities Research Centre is located on Campfornis Game Farm, about 5 km outside of Alldays and is run by Dr Leah Findlay. Through the grant provided by Earthwatch, we have also been able to employ another member of staff – Peet Botes, who is our Farm Trials Assistant. As with our site up at Lajuma Research Centre, we will continue to take on volunteers and students to help us conduct our research – which will mainly be focused on human-wildlife conflict. If you would like information on the positions available at this new site, simply visit our volunteers’ page
Using camera traps to assess waterhole activity
Intern, Isuare, developed and conducted her own project looking at waterhole activity on AWCRC using camera trap data. Isuare joined us from Agrocampus Ouest, France and completed a five-month internship. Using camera traps placed at waterholes on the property, Isuare decided to focus on the presence and activity of the Mountain Reedbuck, a species classified as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List. Isuare tagged camera trap images recorded during her internship and then conducted her analysis on R. For her report, the daily activity of Mountain Reedbuck and overlap with other species was assessed, developing data analysis skills. In total, 24 different species were recorded visiting the waterholes including baboons, bushbuck, common warthog, cape porcupine, sable, greater kudu, gemsbok, black backed jackal, African civet, brown hyena and leopard. Mountain Reedbuck were not recorded at all waterholes suggesting habitat preference closer to mountainous areas of the property. They were most active at waterholes at 9am, 12pm and 5pm. Using overlap graphs, Isaure found that Mountain Reedbuck came to the waterholes approximately at the same hours as the other herbivores and primates but avoided times with higher predator activity. The findings provide an insight into the diversity of species found on AWCRC and the behaviour patterns of the Mountain Reedbuck on private land. As well as working on her own project, Isuare was able to assist with some of our long-term research projects such as the habituation of a baboon troop and learnt a variety of different research techniques. If you’re interested in doing an internship or placement abroad and would like the opportunity to develop your own project, we would be very interested to hear from you!
