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!
Alternatives to Studying Anthropogenic Foraging
As part of his fieldwork with us in 2021 , PhD student Ben Walton gathered data on crop-raiding primates (chacma baboons and vervet monkeys) to determine whether camera traps and field guards could work as an alternative to direct researcher observation. In areas like Limpopo, South Africa, farmland has increasingly encroached into wild spaces and crop-raiding behaviour continues to lead to human-wildlife conflict with a negative impact on both humans and wildlife. Direct researcher observation is a commonly applied method, but for large areas (such as commercial farmland) and for studies that are long-term, it is not always the most practical method. This study found that camera traps and field guard observations were able to predict crop loss on commercial farmland. Therefore, in the future, farmers and researchers might be able to utilise camera traps and their employed field guards to monitor anthropogenic foraging by wild species. Ben will be joining us for a second field season in May 2022. You can read the full article here as well as find the links for our other ongoing research here.
The short-term effectiveness of various deterrents designed to reduce crop foraging by primates
Crop foraging is a major driver of negative interactions between farmers and wildlife. In this new paper, we investigate the effectiveness of six different methods designed to deter primates from crop foraging on commercial farms in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. We tested rubber snakes, a leopard model, bioacoustics sounds, human sounds, bee sounds and an electric fence. The use of model snakes and bioacoustic sounds had no effect on the baboon visits and amount of time spent at the bait site. The leopard model and bee sounds reduced the foraging duration at bait stations of baboons and vervets. Human sounds may reduce the frequency of visits to bait stations. We found that only electric fence was effective at reducing crop foraging. However, the use of electric fences can have negative consequences for other wildlife species such as tortoises. Therefore, we suggest that modifications to electric fence designs are needed to reduce the number of wildlife mortalities before they can be recommended as an effective deterrent. Data collection for the deterrent trials were conducted by volunteers and we are grateful for their contribution to our ongoing research. If you’re interested in volunteering with us, or have an idea for a deterrent to test, please get in touch. To read the full article, please contact Dr. Leah Findlay l.*********@du****.uk or request on researchgate. To read more about our other research, here.
Hello 2022!
Hello 2022! January is an exciting month for us at AWCRC as we brace ourselves to say goodbye to several of our volunteers and students, whilst preparing for the arrival of fresh faces by the end of the month. In 2021, we welcomed volunteers and students from all over the world including the USA, UK, France, Italy, Sudan and Canada. Together, we had the enormous privilege of continuing to carry out primate and wildlife research on our farm and out in the community, whilst most others continued to ride out the pandemic under less fortunate circumstances. Throughout this past year, we began the hard work of habituating a wild troop of chacma baboons and continued to create a long-term dataset for our dump raiding baboons. We studied sleeping site selection, carried out snare sweeps, surveyed grass types for wildlife management, began researching the efficacy of livestock guardian dogs, had many vervet monkey break-ins, counted thousands of leaves and fruit pods, began teaching English in Alldays, mapped out a sea of baobab trees, and threw our hands in the air as the baboons continued to outsmart us. We can’t wait to see what 2022 has in store for us!
Christmas Fundraiser 2021
We would like to take this time to say a huge thank you to everyone who participated in and donated money towards our Christmas fundraiser for the children in Alldays. With the many generous donations, we reached our goal and raised £2,000! We would also like to say a huge thank you to Emma and Anthony Peniston for organising the Christmas event at their school, Briershof Primary School, and for providing the food, gifts, and more! Volunteers at AWCRC have been involved with the primary schools in Alldays since the research centre was founded in 2017. We have been incredibly lucky that as restrictions in South Africa have eased, we’ve been able to go back to the schools to teach English and environmental education! Working within Alldays helps us to gain a bigger picture of how local communities are being impacted by human-wildlife conflict. We are very grateful and happy to have been able to participate in this fundraising event. Happy holidays to everyone from AWCRC!
Raising Money for our Local Community!
It’s Christmas season at our research centre and we are helping to raise money for the children in our local community. Students and volunteers at AWCRC have been helping out in the Alldays community since the research centre was established in 2017. The pandemic brought an unfortunate end to community-led projects, but with restrictions easing in South Africa we are officially back in the community teaching English and environmental education. We are hoping to raise £2,000 with our Go Fund Me page. All of the money raised will go directly towards orphaned children, child-headed families, and HIV awareness. We are looking to raise £13 per child and this can help us buy important things like toothbrushes, sanitary products, and educational toys, for the children. This money will also help us to provide a hot Christmas dinner for the families in need, play games and music, and ensure that every child receives at least one Christmas gift this year. Such a small gesture can make an enormous difference to children who often go without, especially during the pandemic. We are aiming to raise this money by November 28. Please help us to raise money for this important cause by donating as much or as little as you like! Donations can be made on our Go Fund Me page, please share the page with anyone you know. And, if you would like to get involved in volunteering to teach, please visit our volunteer page for more information!