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The Impact of Wildlife Tourism on Elephants, Loxodonta Africana, in South Africa

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The Impact of Wildlife Tourism on Elephants, Loxodonta Africana, in South Africa The impact of wildlife tourism on elephants, Loxodonta africana, in South Africa Isabelle Dominique Szott January 2020 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Liverpool John Moores University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy This research programme was carried out in collaboration with the University of Pretoria. “Finally I saw that the very land itself had risen, that the sunbaked land had taken form as something vast and alive and was in motion. The land walked as multitudes, their strides so utterly of the earth that they seemed the source of the very dust. The cloud they raised engulfed us, seeped into every pore, coated our teeth, sifted into our minds. Both flesh and metaphor. That big. And you could see their heads, like warriors‘ shields. Their great breaths, gushing in and out, resonant in the halls of their lungs. The skin as they moved, wrinkled with time and wear, batiked with the walk of ages, as if they lived within the creased maps of the lives they’d travelled. [...] Their rumbles rolled through the air like distant thunder approaching, vibrating through the undulating ground and the roots of trees, rallying families and friends from the hills and rivers, sending among themselves greetings and recognitions and news of where they had been; sending to us a sign of something coming.“ Carl Safina, Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel 1 Abstract Wildlife tourism may aid in the protection of species and habitat and contributes to countries’ economies. However, wildlife tourism has also been identified as a potential stressor in many species, affecting individuals’ survival, reproduction, welfare, and behaviour. We can investigate whether something elicits a stress response in an individual by studying its behaviour, movement, and faecal glucocorticoid concentrations. African elephants, Loxodonta africana, are mega-herbivores threatened by poaching and habitat loss. Simultaneously, they are iconic animals which tourists are keen to observe in their natural habitat. Nevertheless, studies assessing wildlife tourism impacts on African elephants are scarce. I studied a population of approximately 1200 free-ranging elephants in Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa, over a period of 15 months from April 2016 to June 2017. I investigated whether wildlife tourism affected elephants’ faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) concentrations, vigilance or aggressive behaviour, or the direction of herd movement in relation to tourist vehicles present. I further investigated whether wildlife tourism impacted on elephant space use, in the form of home range size and journey length. Wildlife tourism was either defined as tourist pressure (the total number of tourists in Madikwe per month), or as immediate tourist presence (in form of number of game drive vehicles present during an observation). I used a mixed model approach, controlling for age, sex, habitat and herd type (such as lone males, bull, cow-calf or mixed groups), as well as a proxy of plant productivity, season, temperature, and time of day throughout those analyses. High tourist pressure was significantly related to increased fGCM concentrations. Elephants were more likely to display conspecific-directed aggression during times of high tourist pressure. During game drive vehicle presence, the likelihood of elephant herds moving away from vehicles increased with increasing numbers of vehicles present. Elephants’ home range size and journey length were not affected by wildlife tourism. The results presented in this thesis 2 suggest that wildlife tourism is a stressor for free-ranging elephants in fenced reserves. I present management recommendations to improve elephant welfare and increase tourist safety: to introduce a maximum speed of approach and minimum distance between vehicles and elephants, as well as establishment of an area with limited tourist activity. 3 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank Nicola, for giving me an opportunity that has changed my life. You have been a truly fabulous Director of Studies! You managed to find the balance between advice and support, criticism, and encouragement. You were able to point me into the right direction whilst letting me make my own decisions. I am amazed by the amount of patience you have. Any student to have you as their supervisor, mentor or DoS is a lucky one. Mike, for feeding me copious amounts of sushi, putting up with my mood swings, giving me a hug without asking questions and always encouraging me when I thought it was all hopeless. How lucky am I to have someone willing to give up his city-speed internet connection to go life in the bush with his crazy, poo-collecting girlfriend! As always, I have to thank my mum. You have managed to juggle raising a child (plus some extra ones) and working more than full-time. Thanks for the priceless gift of believing that I can achieve whatever I set my mind to. There is nothing more valuable than having someone who believes in you and supports your decisions, even when the mother-instinct tells her not to. To my family, for being who you are. For not asking me too often whether I have a job yet, being welcoming and loving whenever I return home, laughing with me and encouraging me. A special mention goes to the matriarchs in my family, past, present, and future. In all your generations, you have shown how you stand up for yourselves, have taken risks, moved to a new country, defied the norm and what was ‘expected’, have stayed true to your own self and make your ways through life at your own terms. Yolanda, thank you for taking on a young woman, whom you never met, to help her with your connections to find a project. Your passion for elephants is inspirational and I am grateful for the opportunity to find my feet in the world of elephant research. To Piet Nel, Moremi Keabetswe, Peter Leitner, and Declan Hofmeyr. Thank you for letting me work in ‘your office’. Piet, thank you for all your support in all things elephant and car related, you went far beyond what was your job! Declan, thank you for letting me prove you wrong. Peter, for originally allowing me to come to Madikwe and welcoming me, and Moremi, for not kicking me out, always putting a smile on my face and your kind support throughout. And thank you to Steve Dell and the team at Pilanesberg for allowing me to join some of your fantastic students in the field and sharing your stories and experiences. I have to thank all of the Madikwe lodges and their guides for supporting me, special thanks go to Charis and Craig, Phil, Vicky and Neal, Nadia and Mark. You have brought me sandwiches, have taken me along on conservation work, have invited me over, have helped me get access to funding, have shared your Tequila, let me cuddle your dogs, welcomed my family, and have invited me along to bush lane, an experience I will never forget and a highlight of my time in 4 Madikwe! And further thank you to the many unnamed ‘partners in crime’ for many long nights filled with laughter and great memories. To Koos and everyone at Etali, especially my ‘room-mate’ Angie. Thank you for your incredible generosity and kindness. Not many people would welcome a stranger with such open arms! You were the ones who showed me that Madikwe isn’t a park, but a home! To all the guys at Tswasa: thank you so much for being the best neighbours I could have asked for. You have been like brothers and made me feel safe there! Thank you for sharing your knowledge, your culture, your braais, and your laughs with me! Of course, this extends to all the anti- poaching team in Madikwe, who risk their lives to protect the animals in their care. All of you welcomed me, helped me, and always made me smile! To Sam: I hope you found peace. To all the Parks Board staff at Vleisfontein. Thank you for lending me cutlery, pots, and washing powder when I moved in. Thank you for climbing the roof to retrieve my passport from the locked room when I forgot it! Thank you for not stealing my Mike ;) and for the many conversations and hugs! To the Madikwe Concessionaires Fund and the Morukuru Goodwill Foundation who supported me with funds towards diesel and hormone analysis. Your generosity was incredible and truly appreciated. And in line with this I thank Jaci’s Lodge, Kukama, Leopard Rock, Madikwe Hills, Madikwe Safari Lodge, Mateya, Molori, Morukuru, Nkurru, and Rhulani, and a huge number of tourists that let me join them on their game drives to tell them all about my research and the elephants, in return for financial donations. In Pretoria, I have to thank Kobus and his team at JJ Velddienste, as well as Piet, for helping me find a car that made it through a flood, didn’t get stuck once, and never bailed on me. I would have been hopelessly lost without your help! And to the 1322 Hostel Team, especially Monique, for treating me like family and making me feel at home. To Stefanie and Andre Ganswindt and their team at UP. Stefanie, for being so kind and always helping me out with everything, and Andre for great feedback on publication drafts! Thank you to Jo, for your kindness, hospitality, support, and positivity! To the Blood and Biscuit gang, Harriet, Ed, Kas, James, Sandra, David, and Simon. If my future colleagues are half as sound as you guys, I would be lucky. Thank you for the many laughs, the discussions about work, the shared frustration, the support, and the banter. I will miss you guys! And lastly, to the elephants that allowed me to stalk them all day long, didn’t give me weird looks when I collected their poop, and didn’t ever attempt to kill me.
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