Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Hi folks, After a brief interlude to discuss why we need collars, I thought I’d better fill you in on the new den site we found last week. It’s on a ranch called Mapari Ranch, and we hadn’t been allowed on there since the beginning of the denning season because they were hunting. They had a one week break from hunting when they said we could go onto the property…. On day 1 Misheck found the new den and we cleared a vehicle access route to it. On day 2 we went in the car to see the wild dogs, on day 3 we were incredibly lucky and managed to fit a GPS collar onto one of the dogs and on day 4 when we went back to check on the newly collared dog, we even managed to see the puppies!! Wonderful to have been able to do all that so quickly, as we now aren’t allowed back on that property until the end of October! At least the collar will be collecting movement information for us. Here are a couple of pictures of the dogs at the new den. There are at least 4 adults, and at least 6 pups. I think the very white dog (Luckybean) is especially beautiful.
The dog we collared (Sandy) is below. She is also a very striking individual I think - with very few black or white markings.
And very nice teeth!
All dogs were doing well when we last saw them and the pups were still very small (probably only about 6 weeks old) so they will still be at the den for a while. I’ll keep you posted with their news when we are allowed back on the property to check up on them again. Back soon, Rosemary
Hi guys, Paula raised a very good point in her comment to the last post. Effectively - why do we need collars and how do they help conservation? This is a very good question, because all too often people will put collars on because it seems like a good thing to do, or just because they want some data for a paper they are writing. Now the latter isn’t necessarily a bad thing - sound conservation depends heavily on good background research which can often be written into papers. The problem is if the work stops there - the researcher has got their paper out and then leaves the animal collared with no further follow up. Unfortunately that happens all too often and it makes me mad too Paula! I would like to reassure you however that the Zimbabwe wild dog project is 100% a conservation project (I have finished my PhD and so am not even looking to collect data for a thesis at the same time!). All aspects of project work towards the conservation of this incredibly endangered species, in a very hands on way. So why do we need collars? Well - firstly because any realistic conservation measures need a certain amount of basic background information such as numbers of individuals, distribution of packs, litter sizes, pups survival and causes of adult mortality etc. All such information requires observations of the dogs and quite simply, wild dogs are virtually impossible to find without collars! They can have home ranges of up to 1500km2, which is a HUGE area of wilderness in which to look for the dogs, especially given the vast distances they can move on a daily basis. Although the home ranges in the Save Valley Conservancy are quite a bit smaller (between 400-1000km2) the area is still far too big to be able to locate the dogs regularly without collars. As well as collecting the data outlined above, frequent observations of all packs are important to pick up any early signs of disease (e.g. rabies/canine distemper) so that measures can be taken to prevent, control or cure the disease. Collars also help to locate carcasses of dogs so we can look into causes of death. The GPS collars provide extra information on habitat useage, daily movement patterns, hunting times and patterns etc, all of which helps us understand the dogs ecological requirements so that we can better conserve them. All collared dogs in this project are followed up regularly. We do not collar dogs unless we have the time, equipment and personnel to locate and observe them frequently. And although it doesnt make it any better when you see collared animals, there have been studies done which show there is no long term adverse effect on the animal from being collared. In fact in our study, one of the collared males became the alpha male of the pack after being collared, which at the very least shows that his fitness, strength and ‘attractiveness’ where not negatively affected by the collar in the slightest. I hope that answers your concerns Paula. It is an extremely important point you raised and one I feel very strongly about too. I think at the end of the day, collars can be an extremely valuable conservation tool if used properly, but should by no means be deployed without very good reasons. Rosemary
Hi guys, A very rushed post today as I am flat out with field work. Just wanted to let you know that we found a new den a few days ago (yipee!!) and managed to put 2 more GPS collars onto dogs. One on a female in the new pack and one on a male dog in a pack we already have collared, but we are hoping the pack will split when they stop denning. All very exciting and a great relief to have those collars so, since I am about to go away for a week or two… Anyway, I have LOADS of exciting pictures to post and will tell you all about the new den when I am somewhere with a decent internet connection and time to write more. The new den has at least 6 very small pups, so should still be denning for a while - good news! Back soon, Rosemary xx
Hi guys, HUGE APOLOGIES to everyone who has been commenting on this blog and receiving no response from me. I just discovered that there were a zillion comments in the admin part of the blog “awaiting moderation” or somesuch nonsense, which I had to approve before they were posted. So my apologies to Christine, Annie, Chris, Amy, Seamus, Jim, Emma, Darryl, Maina and Masumi. Thank you so much for your comments and support and please keep them coming. It makes a massive difference to know people are reading and enjoying the blog (I was getting a bit despondent with only 1 or 2 comments on each post!), and I promise to respond to any queries posted. Emma - I’ll respond to you about wild dog sizes very soon, and Darryl - yes, I have been keeping some of these crazy Zim notes, so re-post your email address and I’ll get in touch. Rosemary
Hi guys, We discovered something very interesting yesterday, so I thought I’d share it with you. I’ve mentioned before a pack of 3 adult dogs who have 6 pups…. Every time we see them, we see three adults only - and have done ever since we discovered the den over a month ago. However, when these dogs were seen in February, they were with a fourth dog (a very white one), who was heavily pregnant. Since that dog had since been seen alone, and never once with the other three dogs, we presumed she had been separated from the pack, or killed. However…. then…. we put a camera trap at the den for a week and who did we see on the picture but the very white female! Amazing - she has clearly been there all the time (is most likely the mother of the 6 pups) and we have never seen her! So - Sheryl, since I said I would name the Alpha female Mina - I guess that’s her new name! I’ve posted a picture of her below. Mina, the secret alpha female of the Nyarushanga pack
And - just because I think they are very cool - I’ve posted below a picture of an aardvark caught on the same camera trap…
Back soon, Rosemary
Hi folks, As requested here is a picture of the newly collared ‘Racoon’. And Sheryl - I’ll post pics of Mina soon. I’ve had a camera trap up at the den for a week or so, and have lots of pictures of her and her 6 pups. Racoon - young adult female in the Bedford Pack
I also wanted to post this picture of the pups we saw yesterday - all 14 in a big pile!
Interestingly we also saw 2 very small pups in a new den for this pack. Seems like at least one if not two of the subordinate females are breeding as well… So it’ll be a pretty big pack soon: 13 or 14 adults, 14 big pups and an unknown quantity of other pups! A whole bundle of dogs… Anyway, I’ve only got a very limited time on the internet today, so I’ll write more in a day or two - so much has been going on here! Rosemary PS - By the way - please feel free to request anything specific you want to see photos of, or get information about. I’ve got thousands of photos of all sorts of things, so when you get bored of looking at wild dogs (!), feel free to suggest what you’d like me to write about or post pictures on….
Hi folks, I’m in Harare at the moment: they just knocked 10 zeros off our currency, so things that used to cost 10 trillion dollars now cost 1,000 dollars. All mightily confusing, especially now they have bought coins back in. So we’ve gone from 100 billion dollar notes to 10 dollar coins… Anyway, on the subject of naming the recently collared wild dog, Sherri S suggested Racoon for the stripey tail, and I must admit to liking that a lot. Sheryl suggested Mina and I also like that very much (Sheryl - is it pronounced Meeena or M’eye’na??). Since this dog’s tail is particularly characteristic, I’m going to name her racoon; but I’m going to use Mina for the Alpha female in our new den site. So thanks guys - I’ll be sure to ask you again when I need more names! Before I came up to Harare I was working on that new pack - we’ve decided to call it the Nyarushanga pack after the small river that runs close by. That’s the one with only three adults: the alpha female (Mina) and two males, but with 6 pups. I’ve been trying to get them to come to bait so we have a chance of darting them, but no luck so far. Will get back to it on Monday when I’m back down in the Conservancy, and let you know if we have any luck darting them. Cheers for now, Rosemary
Hi guys, A very quick post today just to let you know we managed to collar another wild dog today. We put a VHF collar onto a female in the Jacana pack - to pair with the GPS data logger collar we put on last month. I think we were just in time: the pups are big enough now to follow the dogs when they move, so they are no longer sticking close to the den, where it is easy to find them. Rosemary & Misheck fitting a collar onto a female in the Jacana pack
The whole immobilisation procedure went very smoothly and the dog rejoined her pack after coming round after the administration of the antidote. She’s a healthy, fairly young adult female dog: I dont have a name for her yet though, so if any of you have any suggestions, let me know. Below is a photo of her before the collaring - names tend to be easier to remember if they relate to a particular charactersitic or marking on the dog. This dog has a particularly noticable tail (stripy), but so far a suitable name escapes me. All suggestions welcome!
Back soon, Rosemary
I mentioned in the last post about putting a camera trap up at one of the den sites. As it happened, we put it there at a very interesting time. Not only did we catch wild dogs on it, but also a spotted hyanea… The dogs were nowhere near the den when I went to collect the camera, and the next time I went down I found they had moved their den. I guess I have a pretty good idea why they did that, thanks to the camera trap! Spotted hyaenas do not often kill wild dogs or even puppies, but they have been known to do so and would certainly be considered a very real threat by the dogs. Wild dogs and spotted hyaena at the den site
Unfortunately I cant put out more camera traps at the dens because we don’t have any for the project – I had borrowed this one from another ecologist, but he usually uses them at leopard baits and cant spare them. I’d love to get some camera traps for the wild dog project, as I think they would provide very valuable information, so I’m going to do that terrible thing and put out a plea for funding… If any of you feel able to donate something towards the purchase of camera traps, we’d be very grateful. They cost around $150 each, and ideally we’d need 4 (eventually) so we can put two at each of two den sites and rotate them. I’ll start raising funds now for these, and every little bit will help. Inconveniently, the dogs’ new den site is much further off the road through very thick mopane woodland so won’t be easy to get a vehicle to. Going in on foot is not an option: they are extremely wary of people on foot and when I walked in before to find the new den, I got barked at all the way back to the car! They really were seeing me off well and truly, but as soon as I got in the car and started to drive off, they were all around me lying on the road and playing. Crazy dogs! Back soon, Rosemary
Hi guys, I just wanted to let you know more about this new den we found: It has six puppies and three adults. Whilst six is a fairly small litter size, it’s not bad for such a small pack of adults, and I only hope they manage to rear them successfully. It is fairly uncommon for wild dogs in a pack smaller than 5 or 6 to successfully rear a litter. However a colleague of mine doing a leopard study in the area keeps reporting the dogs eating from his leopard baits, so at least that is adding to whatever they manage to hunt!! We think the dogs are the Ingwe pack: I’ve managed to positively identify one of the individuals as belonging to that pack, but havent yet got decent pics of the others. Being such a small pack they are very wary of vehicles and are hard to get close to. The terrain around the den is also very rough - lots of boulders and trees and car-breaking stumps, so it’s not the easiest place to get close to. But with the help of the scouts we’ve cleared a rough track there so can get the vehicle in at least. It’s going to be a tricky pack to collar though, that’s for sure! I put a camera trap up at the Maera den site the other day, to see what goes on there at night, so I’ll report on the findings from that at the next post. Back soon, Rosemary |
|
