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The Ecology and Behaviour of the Masai Ostrich

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The Ecology and Behaviour of the Masai Ostrich i. Preface This study has been possible through the academic and technical support of the Department of Zoology and Wildlife Conservation of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Thanks are due to the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) and the Ministry of Natural resources and Tourism (MNRT) for their permission to conduct research in Serengeti. Special thanks to the World Bank sponsored Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Project (LKEMP) for funding this study. I am highly indebted to my main academic supervisor Professor Eivin Røskaft who inspired, advised and guided me throughout the period of my study. Thanks are due to my second supervisor, Dr. Charles Mlingwa for his guidance especially in the development of my PhD study proposal. I am also grateful to my co-authors Tomas Holmern, Sigbjørn Stokke, Bård Stokke, Børge Moe and Grayson Mwakalebe. I am thankful to the NTNU’s Biology Department staff including Tove Tronvold, Jasenka Zvizdic, Ingunn Yttersian, Åsa Krøkje, Lisbeth Anne, Hans Jakob Jakobsen and Inger for their support. I am highly indebted to the TAWIRI staff for their hospitality and assistance. I would also like to thank people working with Lion, Hyena, Carnivore disease projects and Frankfurt Zoological Society for their cooperation during my stay in Serengeti. Thanks are also due to John Kaaya, Asanterabi Lowassa, Hassan Nkya and Honory Maliti for their helpful relevant information on my study. I am grateful to Grayson Mwakalebe, Noel Massawe, Wilfred Marealle, Joshua Kabondo, Elias Kalumbwa and Onesmo Mwakabejela for their excellent field assistance. Special thanks to Regina Maliki and Jane Kabondo for taking care of me during my stay in Serengeti. I would also like to extend my appreciations to Emmanuel Gereta, Julius Nyahongo, Vedasto Ndibalema, Claudia Melis, Mark Keith, Craig Jackson, Trine Hay Setsaas, Hassan Shombe, Jafari Kideghesho and Iddi Mfunda for fruitful discussions and comments. A special thank to Ragna Sortland for being my field associate and for sharing many thoughts and ideas about ostrich research. My thanks also go to Nina Bjørken, Håkan Hytteborn, Brita Hytteborn, Berit Røskaft and Graciela Rusch for the company, social activities and sometimes assistance in the field in Serengeti that have served as an important source of inspiration and motivation. Finally, many thanks to my mother, Dorica Magige for being a good mother and for taking care of my kids, Brian and Dorica, while abroad for my studies. Special thanks to my beloved husband, Agathon Kipandula and my whole family for moral support, patience and endurance of my absence. Trondheim 2007 Flora Magige 2 Table of contents I. PREFACE......................................................................................................................................1 II. LIST OF PAPERS ........................................................................................................................4 III. SUMMARY ..............................................................................................................................5 1. INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................8 1.1 BREEDING BIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR ECOLOGY ..................................................................10 1.2 SEX RATIO AND GROUP DYNAMICS .......................................................................................12 1.3 HUMAN DISTURBANCE ON OSTRICHES..................................................................................13 2. AIMS OF THE THESIS.............................................................................................................14 3. METHODS..................................................................................................................................14 3.1 STUDY AREA ........................................................................................................................14 3.2 STUDY SPECIES.....................................................................................................................16 3.3 DATA COLLECTION...............................................................................................................18 4. SUMMARY OF RESULTS........................................................................................................19 4.1 PAPER I ................................................................................................................................19 4.2 PAPER II ...............................................................................................................................19 4.3 PAPER III..............................................................................................................................20 4.4 PAPER IV .............................................................................................................................20 4.5 PAPER V...............................................................................................................................21 5. DISCUSSION ..............................................................................................................................21 5.1 BREEDING BIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR ECOLOGY ..................................................................21 5.2 SEX RATIO AND GROUP DYNAMICS .......................................................................................23 5.3 EFFECT OF ILLEGAL HUNTING ON OSTRICH DENSITY AND BEHAVIOUR .................................24 6. IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION.....................................25 7. FUTURE PROSPECTS..............................................................................................................26 8. REFERENCES............................................................................................................................27 3 ii. List of papers This thesis is based on the following five papers: I. Magige, F.J., Stokke, B.G., Sortland, R. Røskaft, E. (Submitted). Breeding biology of ostriches (Struthio camelus) in the Serengeti ecosystem. II. Magige, F.J., Moe, B., Røskaft, E., 2008. The white colour of the ostrich (Struthio camelus) egg is a trade-off between predation and overheating. Journal of Ornithology DOI 10.1007/s10336-088-0273-2 III. Magige, F.J., Stokke, B.G., Røskaft, E., (Submitted). Do ostriches (Struthio camelus) recognise their own eggs? IV. Magige, F.J., Mwakalebe, G., Røskaft, E., (Submitted). Sex ratios and group dynamics in ostriches (Struthio camelus) in the Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania. V. Magige, F.J., Holmern, T., Stokke, S., Mlingwa, C., Røskaft, E., (Manuscript). Does illegal hunting affect density and behaviour of African grassland bird species? A case study on ostrich. 4 iii. Summary This thesis focuses on the ecology and behaviour of the ostrich (Struthio camelus massaicus) in the Serengeti Ecosystem, Tanzania. Ostrich is a large, flightless, cursorial, communal breeding bird, endemic to a variety of open habitat types of Africa. It is classified as ‘Least Concern’ under the IUCN Red List. Nevertheless, wild ostrich populations have been declining and considered ecologically extinct in most parts of western and northern Africa due to habitat loss, egg collection and illegal hunting. The first section of this thesis (Paper I) investigates the effect of topography, rainfall and predation on breeding success of ostriches in the Serengeti ecosystem. Differences in the altitude and amount of rainfall in the ecosystem affect the breeding success of the ostriches. In the low altitude western area, ostriches laid eggs earlier than in the high altitude eastern area. The differences could be attributed to the rainfall and food gradients, which increase towards western area. In addition, high breeding success observed in the western area could be atrributed to the vegetation type that conceals the nests. Following this section, the Paper II and III of the thesis examines the possible biological reasons why ostrich eggs are white in colour and whether female ostriches are able to recognise their own eggs when confronted by intraspecific brood parasitism. During the egg laying period, ostriches leave their eggs unattended for approximately two weeks before the incubation start. In this period the eggs are exposed to high levels of predation due to their conspicuousness. The reasoning of the eggs being white has been attributed to reduce and overcome heat stress. The temperature experiments on painted and control eggs revealed that the inner temperature of the brown painted eggs reached lethal temperatures. Developing embryos would die, should ostrich eggs have been brown in colour. White painted and control eggs were below the threshold temperature where the embryo mortality starts to increase, indicating that white eggs prevents overheating. However, white colour increases predation risks due to high visibility. In addition, following communal nesting behaviour of ostriches, nests commonly end up with many more eggs than can be incubated. Since the ostrich can only incubate less than 20 eggs, at the onset of incubation the ‘major’ female (the first female to lay the egg in the nest and subsequently undertakes guarding and incubation), ejects some of the eggs. The ejected eggs are presumed to belong to the ‘minor’ females (females that subsequently 5 lay eggs on the same nest). There was
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