Maintaining key ecological processes is a strong argument for conserving biodiversity, and this should extend to preventing the local extinction of keystone species that are otherwise common. Seed dispersal is such a process and chacma baboons (Papio ursinus ursinus) may facilitate seed dispersal, but currently suffer range contractions in South Africa. Between April 2016 and February 2017, we collected a total of 122 chacma baboon scat samples in a semi-arid subtropical thicket, South Africa, and identified food items and seeds from the scats. We show that chacma baboons are omnivores, able to disperse at least 24 different seed species. This is a wider range of seed species than those dispersed by a broad range of birds, reptiles or other mammals in subtropical thicket, and nearly five times that dispersed by domestic goats (Capra hircus). This suggests that baboons are key seed dispersers, whose role might not be substituted by goats. We believe that baboons may become more important seed dispersers in arid subtropical thicket as climate change alters the distributional ranges of plant communities. This important role as endo-zoochores highlights the need to conserve, rather than persecute, chacma baboons.

Artificial waterholes are a widely used, yet contested wildlife management practice in semi-arid environments. We evaluated wildlife water provisioning at four artificial waterholes in the southern region of the Kruger National Park. We documented daily waterhole visitation patterns of mammals during the wet and dry seasons using camera-traps. We recorded 26 mammal species at the waterholes, with African elephants (Loxodonta africana) and impalas (Aepyceros melampus) being the most abundant. We used generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) to determine which variables (season, time of day, water quality, and the presence of carnivores or elephants) would affect animal visitation. Waterhole visitation patterns differed according to time of day, but this effect remained relatively constant between seasons. More animals visited waterholes in the dry season compared to the wet season. Carnivore presence negatively affected impala abundance. Elephant presence did not affect impala and white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) visits to waterholes. Water quality also appeared to play a role in determining animal abundance. Based on our results, though obtained from a limited sample size, we suggest some management practices to be considered when deciding which waterholes should be closed down or left open.

In most marginalized rural areas of developing countries, where employment opportunities and income channels are limited, illegal hunting of wildlife for subsistence and commercial purposes often prevails. Rapid human population growth and the rising demand for bushmeat, particularly in cities where bushmeat has become a popular delicacy, has increased illegal bushmeat harvesting. The extent and drivers of illegal hunting of two important habitat specialists and keystone species in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, South Africa, namely oribi (Ourebia ourebi) and serval (Leptailurus serval), are relatively poorly understood. Thus, we interviewed community members in the region (n = 271 interviews) and found that most respondents hunted illegally to acquire meat (82%), as bushmeat was perceived to taste better than domestic meat (46%). However, illegal bushmeat hunting in the region did not represent an important source of livelihood. Oribi were hunted for meat while serval were sought after for the purposes of traditional medicine and for the skin trade. The consideration of site-specific socio-economic drivers of illegal resource use is vital in ensuring effective conservation management for these two species. Our results also provide support for conservation initiatives addressing a wide range of wild animals affected by illegal hunting in this region.

Productivity of herbivores depends on their success in attaining protein and fat stores above survival and reproductive thresholds. Populations in semi-arid regions depend on mobility to access resources that are spatiotemporally heterogeneous. The potentially isolated wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), gemsbok (Oryx gazella) and springbok (Antidorcus marsupialis) populations in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) depend on high-quality grasslands, a limited and important vegetation type. We used microhistological analyses of dung samples from these ungulates to estimate their seasonal diet composition. Results showed that forage quality and availability drive wet season diet composition. Protein-rich short grasses on pans were important for all ungulates in the wet season. Wildebeest, gemsbok and springbok diets overlapped in the wet season. The favoured grasses were depleted during the dry season and the ungulates shifted their diet likely as an adaptive mechanism to maintain intake rates. Wildebeest fed on lower-quality grasses while springbok and gemsbok fed on dicotyledons when more preferred forage was scarce. Our findings demonstrate the importance of access to heterogeneity of vegetation types that provide high-quality resources in the wet season (saline pan grassland habitats) and dry season reserves of forage (woodland habitats).

As human populations and developments expand, it is inevitable that interactions between wildlife and electrical infrastructure will increase. Such is the case in protected areas, where mammal electrocutions often occur as a result of damaged electrical infrastructure. In a previous study, a camera trap survey along a power line in the Kruger National Park (Kruger) revealed that large mammals [particularly Cape buffalo, Syncerus caffer, rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum and Diceros bicornis) and African elephant, Loxodonta africana] damaged wooden utility poles by rubbing or pushing against them. Such interactions can result in poles breaking, creating high electrocution risks to wildlife. In this study, we tested four mitigation measures (steel sleeve, VB Rhino, Grating box and Polefix industrial cast) for their effectiveness in reducing damaging contact between these four large mammals and wooden electrical poles. Camera traps were set up along the Foskor-Kruger 22 kV power line in the Kruger over 16 months to monitor wildlife interactions at experimentally treated (n = 14) and control (n = 8) utility poles. Direct contact between large mammals (buffalo: 64%, rhino: 23%, elephant: 11%) and poles made up 71% of pole–wildlife interactions. A cost– benefit analysis was undertaken to determine the most cost-effective mitigation measure. Our findings suggest that implementing mitigation measures can reduce wildlife-pole interactions and subsequently reduce the risk of wildlife electrocutions in protected areas. Based on both its effectiveness, advantages and cost, we recommend using the Grating box mitigation method to reduce large mammal damage to poles in the Kruger.

Large carnivores are key drivers of ecosystem structure and function, yet their populations are declining worldwide. African lion (Panthera leo) populations have decreased significantly in recent decades with an estimated 23 000 lions left in Africa. Successful conservation efforts rely on a sound understanding of how animals utilize their surrounding habitat. We used movement data from GPS collars to investigate patterns and drivers of seasonal space use by free-roaming lions in the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area (GM-TFCA). We developed individual and population-level resource utilization functions (RUF) from 2008 to 2015. RUFs relate non-uniform space use within a home range to landscape metrics in a multiple regression framework. We identified six landscape features hypothesized a priori to be good predictors of lion space use: land use, land cover, elevation, terrain ruggedness, distance to human settlements and rivers. Only elevation during the dry season was a significant factor detected for lion space use ( ± S.E.) (-0.278 ± 0.107, CI = -0.4881, -0.0676). Across seasons, lions varied in their avoidance of human settlements, but 12 of 18 (67%) individuals selected areas within their home ranges that were farther from human settlements. Lions moved randomly across the landscape independent of vegetation type regardless of season. In season-specific analyses, some lions avoided human settlements (dry season: 45%, [n = 10] utilized areas farther from settlements; wet season: 50% [n = 9]). The lack of avoidance of settlements by some lions in our study also confirms that individual variation among lions can lead to human—wildlife conflicts. Perhaps the most critical observation from our study is that individual lions acted very differently as they used the landscape, which suggests the need for management plans to be landscape and case-specific.