Estimating Population Size, Density, and Occupancy of Lions (panthera leo), Leopards (p. Pardus), and Servals (leptailurus serval) Using Camera Traps in the Niokolo Koba National Park in Senegal, West Africa Mamadou Daha Kane Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science In Fish and Wildlife Conservation Marcella J. Kelly, Chair Sarah Karpanty William M. Ford July 11, 2014 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: Camera-trapping, capture-recapture, spatially explicit capture-recapture, mark- resight, spatial mark-resight, occupancy, lion, leopard, serval, large carnivores, West Africa, Niokolo Koba, Senegal Copyright © 2014, Mamadou D. Kane Estimating Population Size, Density, and Occupancy of Lions (Panthera leo), Leopards (P. pardus) and Servals (Leptailurus serval) Using Camera Traps in the Niokolo Koba National Park in Senegal, West Africa Mamadou Daha Kane Abstract Carnivore are undoubtedly among the most threatened of the mammal species in Africa because of the low density at which they occur and their large home range requirements that do not match with human propensity to develop and alter wildlife habitat. However, the degree of threat is unevenly distributed within the continent, with western and central African carnivores being the most threatened and the least studied. I estimated population size, density, and proportion of area occupied in relation to environmental factors of one medium-size (serval – Leptailurus serval) and two large carnivores (lion – Panthera leo and leopard – P. pardus) in the Niokolo Koba National Park, Senegal, West Africa, using remote camera surveys and both traditional (CR), spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) techniques for servals and leopards, and non-spatial (MR) and spatial mark resight (SMR) methods for lions. Lions selected optimal sites with both high tree density and prey activity; leopards occupied areas with high tree density but with less prey activity; and servals selected habitats with more dense canopy cover where leopards were absent. The presence of lions was favorable to serval presence, as we presume leopards avoid lions, although we did not have strong evidence to support it. Moreover, the half mean maximum distance moved (½ MMDM) method under CR methods appeared to overestimate leopard and serval density while full MMDM estimates were close to SECR methods density estimates. For lions, both ½ MMDM and full MMDM methods in MR framework overestimated density whereas the SMR method resulted in more reasonable estimates, especially in light of previous assessments of lion densities in West Africa.. These results are of high importance for conservation and management purposes of the imperiled Niokolo Koba carnivore community. Dedications Praise be to Allah, the merciful; peace and blessings upon his Prophet Muhammad. I would like to dedicate this work to my wife Fama and kids Mahmoud and Amina, to my parents, and my brothers and sisters. It was very hard to be far from you all these years. I know it was hard for you too, particularly for my son and daughter who always asked me when I would be back. I love you so much! iii Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to the Senegalese government through the Department of National Parks (DPNS) and to my funder, United States Aagency for International Development/Wula Nafaa Project for selecting and trusting my modest person to pursue this Master degree. I would particularly to thank the former and current Directors of the DPNS, Colonels M. B. Gueye and S. Ndiaye, and the USAID/Wula Nafaa staff, J. J. Povolny, B. S. Gueye and K. Dakono for their constant support throughout this journey. I am also grateful to the Virginia Tech Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation who provided me a one-year assistantship to complete this degree. I want to thank, and sincerely thank my advisor Marcella Kelly who is the architect of all of this. She was very instrumental in my acceptance into the Department, and was always there when I needed her. I know I tortured her with my “Frenglish” but she has always been patient, and always gave me the right advice. Thank you very much Marcella. I also would like to thank my Committee members, Drs. Sarah Karpanty and William Ford for your patience, you advice and inputs throughout the process. Sarah, I loved your ‘Population Ecology and Management’ class where I learned a lot about critical thinking. Yours and Marcella’s quantitative classes (where I learned to think outside the box) will help me a lot in addressing future wildlife management challenges in Senegal. I am also very thankful to all the professors, staff, and fellow graduate students of the Department for their educational and social support. Particularly, I am grateful to: Christine Proctor who oriented me when I first joined the WHAPA lab, Dana Morin who ‘cracked the R code’ for me and helped me a lot in SECR modeling, Claudia Wultsch and Bruiser who initiated me in some wildlife field techniques and DNA sampling and ran all the genetics samples, Lupita Bravo-Vinaja, Zach Farris, Chris Rowe, Anne Hilborn, Kanchan and Amrita Thapa, David Montague, Bernardo Mesa my roommate, Lindsey Rich, Erin Poor and Asia Murphy. It was a pleasure to share room 318 Cheatham Hall, guys. I am also grateful to the institutions who provided funds for my fieldworks: USAID/Wula Nafaa, the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, the Rufford Small Grant Fund, and the International Graduate Student Scholarship of Virginia Tech. iv Thanks to DPNS and the Niokolo Koba staffs, specifically Captains M. Gueye and family, IG, I. Ndao, and A. Diongue, and my “Mission Carnivore” team (Lieutenants E. Thiaw, R. Balahira, Kébé, S. Diagne, O. Ndiaye, M. Mbaye, Sergents M. Ndiaye, O. Djitté, and S. Bindia, Caporal A. Seydi, and GPN Traoré) in Linguekountou and Niokolo guard posts. We had very tough, but also very pleasant moments that I will never forget. Last but not least, I am grateful to all my fellow Senegalese with whom I passed very pleasant ‘Senegalese moments’ in Blacksburg. Thanks to all those I did not cite and who contributed directly or indirectly in this achievement. Hokie for life, Hokie forever! v Table of contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Dedications .................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of contents ............................................................................................................................ vi List of tables ................................................................................................................................... ix List of figures ................................................................................................................................ xii Chapter 1: Introduction, background, and status of carnivores and carnivore research, with particular focus on 3 target species, in the Niokolo Koba National Park, Senegal ........................ 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Study site ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Target species .............................................................................................................................. 6 Lion: Panthera l. leo................................................................................................................. 6 Leopard: Panthera p. pardus .................................................................................................... 7 Serval: Leptailurus serval ........................................................................................................ 8 Status of the target species in Senegal ........................................................................................ 9 Review of carnivore estimates in the NKNP .............................................................................. 9 Camera-trapping techniques and CMR models ........................................................................ 12 Spatially Explicit Capture-Recapture (SECR) models.............................................................. 13 Non-spatial and Spatial Mark-Resight Models ......................................................................... 14 Occupancy estimation ............................................................................................................... 15 Pilot study .................................................................................................................................. 16 References ................................................................................................................................. 18 Chapter 2: Lion (Panthera leo), leopard (P. pardus) and serval (Leptailurus serval) occupancy across the Niokolo Koba National Park in Senegal ...................................................................... 34 Abstract ....................................................................................................................................