conservation – Alldays Wildlife and Communities Research Centre

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 andContinue reading “The short-term effectiveness of various deterrents designed to reduce crop foraging by primates”

Alternatives to Studying Anthropogenic Foraging

As part of his fieldwork with us last year, 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-raidingContinue reading “Alternatives to Studying Anthropogenic Foraging”

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 classifiedContinue reading “Using camera traps to assess waterhole activity”

Baboon Crop Preferences

Intern, Constance, joined our long-term project assessing baboon crop preference. Constance completed a five-month internship with us from Agrocampus Ouest, France. Crop preference is an experimental project that aims to determine which crops are preferred by baboons and consequently may be more vulnerable to raiding. To do this we are running a series of experimentsContinue reading “Baboon Crop Preferences”

Anthropogenic Influence and Baboons

Anthropogenic Influence and Baboons Last month, we said goodbye to Valentin, who arrived with us from Belgium late last year. Valentin completed a four-month university internship and aimed to assess human-wildlife conflict in chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) using our fully habituated dump-raiding baboons, Lahala Troop. He aimed to understand two impactful research questions: Do naturalContinue reading “Anthropogenic Influence and Baboons”