The Republic of Namibia recently lost a High Court case preventing the sale of antelope that were selectively bred and intensively managed to produce traits that are uncommon in the wild. This paper looks at the foundations that the Namibian government may draw on to develop a policy context which would enable the country to redraft and amend existing legislation. The Namibian Nature Conservation Ordinance has exceeded its usefulness, in that it is ill-equipped to maintain and protect the countrys' wildlife and its traditional enclosed extensive wildlife systems on private farms - and the Ordinance should be replaced. It is further concluded that the provisions of the Maputo Convention and the Nagoya Protocol apply to selective breeding and intensive management of wildlife. Caution is raised that provisions of these agreements, when read in isolation with the definition of biodiversity in the Namibian Environmental Management Act, may be interpreted in a manner contrary to the conservation of this resource. It is concluded that a formal inclusion of the public trust doctrine into the Namibian environmental jurisprudence, as has occurred in many African and countries elsewhere, would provide the necessary omnibus to address current and future challenges to the country's wildlife and other components of the environment.

Adaptive governance and network governance theory provide a useful conceptual framework to guide the conservation of threatened species in complex multi-actor, multijurisdictional social ecological systems. We use principles from this theory to assess strengths and weaknesses in (1) national legislation, and (2) the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Regulations applicable to the conservation of the Cape mountain zebra (Equus zebra zebra) (CMZ) in South Africa. A legislated conservation tool, Biodiversity Management Plans for Species (BMP-S), establishes a collaborative network of role players and facilitates the important principles of collaborative learning and adaptation. Effective governance of this network is critical to success, but challenging because of a mandate gap and limited capacity in government to provide essential network-level competencies. National regulations governing human use of CMZ (Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS) Regulations) accords with the principles of (1) being developed in consultation with stakeholders and (2) open to revision and adaptation. CITES Regulations also provide adequately for adaptation. Poor alignment of regulations between different regulatory authorities in South Africa and limited capacity for implementation of regulations seriously constrain learning and adaptation.

To obtain more insights into the prevalence and diversity of species-specific Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) strains in naturally occurring felid species, 26 leopards (Panthera pardus) from the Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa, were sampled. Prevalence was determined using a PCR protocol designed to target a 577 bp fragment in the pol-RT gene. Overall prevalence of FIV_Ppa was estimated at 73%, with no difference in prevalence between male and female leopards. Consistent with previous FIV studies on other felid species, prevalence appears to increase with age (adult = 84%; subadult = 43%). Phylogenetic analyses of these novel sequences were conducted against a revised FIV pol-RT species-specific reference dataset using both Bayesian and maximum likelihood methods. Within FIV_Ppa two distinct evolutionary groupings are present, which suggests the possibility of geographic variation within FIV_Ppa and the possibility of distinct subtypes, similar to what has been found in lions (Panthera leo) and domestic cats (Felis catus). The larger FIV_Ppa dataset provides newinsights into the epidemiology of this under-studied FIV strain and with such high prevalence rates, further studies should focus on immunological and clinical consequences of FIV in wild felids.

Estimating the distribution and status of animal populations is crucial in various fields of biology. Monitoring species via their tracks is controversial due to unreliable recording techniques, manipulator bias and substrate variation. Furthermore, subjective identification of the foot that produces each track can lead to significant errors, for example, when assigning tracks made by different feet from the same individual to different individuals. The aim of this research was to develop an accurate, consistent and objective algorithm to identify the anteroposterior (hind/front) and mediolateral (right/left) position from digital threedimensional (3D) models of African lion (Panthera leo) paws and tracks using geometric morphometrics. We manually positioned 12 fixed landmarks on 132 paws and 182 tracks recorded in 3D using digital close-range photogrammetry. We used geometric morphometrics to evaluate and visualize the shape variation between paws and between tracks along the anteroposterior and mediolateral axes, and between paws and tracks. The identification algorithm using linear discriminant analysis with jack-knifed predictions reached a maximum accuracy of 95.45% and 91.21% for paws and tracks, respectively. We recommend the use of this objective position identification algorithm in future studies where tracks are compared between individual African lions.

The largest area of the South African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) distribution occurs outside formally protected areas, making cheetahs vulnerable to conflict-related killings. This conflict is assumed to be related to negative attitudes of landowners towards predators. Our study assessed the socio-economic factors influencing landowner attitudes towards cheetahs on private properties adjacent to the Kruger National Park (Kruger), South Africa. We used structured questionnaires to interview 199 landowners. Attitudes of landowners towards cheetahs were generally positive; 58% of landowners had attitude index scores between eight and 11. However, 11% had fairly negative or low scores (scores between -2 and 4). First language, land use and respondent knowledge of cheetahs were key drivers of attitude. English speaking landowners (49.8%) were more likely to display positive attitudes towards cheetahs than Afrikaans first-language speakers (46.8%). In addition, the likelihood of having a more positive attitude increased significantly as respondent knowledge of cheetahs increased. Attitudes were also influenced by land use, with wildlife ranchers or ecotourism ventures having a significantly higher probability of having more positive attitudes than livestock farmers. With the Kruger being a stronghold for cheetah conservation in Africa, and large carnivores being vulnerable to edge effects in protected areas, it is important to understand the factors driving conflict so that mitigation efforts can be targeted for maximum impact.

A diverse range of techniques have been used to survey mammals. Spoor counts and camera trapping are increasingly common survey tools used to detect the presence of species of interest in an area (occupancy). Given the significant time and financial investments in such surveys, and the management decisions based on their conclusions, it is imperative that confidence can be assigned to the results. It is therefore important to increase our understanding of the accuracy and constraints of each technique to allow managers and researchers to select the most suitable method for each situation. Here we compare results collected simultaneously using spoor and camera-trap surveys at a human—wildlife interface in northern Botswana. While our spoor survey and camera-trap surveys detected a similar number of mammal species (17 and 15, respectively), the species detected by each method differed. Of the 21 species detected overall, only about half (52.4%) were detected by both methods, and these co-detected species had significantly higher occupancy estimates than those species detected by only one method. Moreover, the direct comparison showed that some tracks were missed or misidentified by the spoor survey. Our results suggest that over short time frames, neither method is ideal for detecting species at low densities, and that researchers should consider combining multiple methods in such circumstances.

The non-invasive nature of faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) assessment means that sample collection is on an opportunistic basis and samples cannot always be collected immediately upon defection during field studies. Faeces that have been exposed to heat and moisturemay not accurately reflect levels of FGM. Our study exposed male (n = 3) and female (n = 3) Grevy's zebra (Equus grevyi) faeces to six environmental conditions to simulate a range of weather and seasonal patterns (temperate climate, high heat, high heat and rainfall, temperate climate and rainfall, high heat/temperate climate and freeze/thaw) over a period of five days. FGMs were quantified using an enzyme linked immunoassay. Results showed that environmental conditions do impact upon FGM levels over time, particularly in conditions that include high heat; however, regardless of environmental exposure, metabolites remain similar to baseline levels for up to 8 h. We recommend that the investigation of environmental factors on sample integrity should be carried out as a validatory step when planning studies involving FGM analysis in any species.