Three articles worth reading...
Pissing on the Maasai Mara
Wycliffe Muga visits Kenya's most famous National Reserve for wildlife and stumbles across controversies and turf wars.
What's Really Happening in the Mara
IT is generally acknowledged that the Maasai Mara National Reserve owes its very existence to the local Maasai communities, and that if the Maasai of Narok were to decide that this fabled game park did not serve their interests, there is nothing the government could do to stop them from wiping out the entire wildlife population of the Mara.
Impunity in Maasai Mara
THE Maasai Mara is Kenya's premier tourist attraction but it is sadly abused. It has lost half its wildlife in five years. In another ten years foreign tourists may no longer be interested in going there.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Amanda's Interview
At a spring protected by the Mara River Water User's Association with funding from USAID and Coca Cola.
Kennedy's Interview
The manager of the Mara River Water User's Association being interviewed by Carl Kesser.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Mara River Flows Newsletter - February 2010
Now available, the February issue of the Mara River Flows Newsletter.
Read it and discover the answers to the following questions and more...
Read it and discover the answers to the following questions and more...
- How are recent events at Lake Naivasha related to the Mara River?
- Why would new lodge construction next to the river really have that much of an impact?
- What research is currently ongoing in the upper catchment?
- Why is the Mara River Water User's Association important to the protection and conservation of the Mara River?
Download it now. Email us if you would rather receive it directly by email each month.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Great Paper from the Mara Hyena Folks.
Professor Kay Holekamp from Michigan State University has had a long term research program in the Masai Mara studying the spotted hyenas. We've been fortunate enough to know some of the great researchers that she has working for her. Their group has just published an enlightening paper. The abstract states:
We evaluated long-term patterns of human-caused mortality among free-living spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in a Kenyan game reserve and also assessed nonlethal anthropogenic effects on hyena behavior. We monitored naturally occurring vigilance in 2 clans of hyenas, 1 disturbed and the other undisturbed. The disturbed clan, living on the edge of the reserve, experienced much human disturbance from both tour vehicles and livestock grazing, whereas the undisturbed clan, living in the center of the reserve, also experienced tour vehicles but no livestock grazing. The proportion of all deaths with known causes that could be attributed to humans increased between 1988 and 2006 in the disturbed population; humans caused no mortality in the undisturbed population. Disturbed hyenas were more than twice as vigilant when resting, and they nursed their young closer to bushes, than undisturbed hyenas. Disturbed hyenas also were most vigilant on days when livestock were present in their territory, but we observed no effects of tourism on hyena vigilance. We next conducted playback experiments in which we used cowbells as treatment sounds and church bells as control sounds to determine whether hyenas from the 2 clans responded differently. After hearing cowbells, disturbed hyenas increased their vigilance more than did undisturbed hyenas. However, disturbed hyenas also increased their vigilance after hearing church bells, suggesting that disturbed hyenas may exhibit heightened responsiveness to a wide array of anthropogenic sound stimuli. Our findings suggest that human activities related to pastoralism are having measurable effects on hyena mortality, and that hyenas appear to be responding to this threat by modifying their behavior. DOI: 10.1644/08-MAMM-A-359R.1.
Just published in the Journal of Mammalogy. Get the full article here.
We evaluated long-term patterns of human-caused mortality among free-living spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in a Kenyan game reserve and also assessed nonlethal anthropogenic effects on hyena behavior. We monitored naturally occurring vigilance in 2 clans of hyenas, 1 disturbed and the other undisturbed. The disturbed clan, living on the edge of the reserve, experienced much human disturbance from both tour vehicles and livestock grazing, whereas the undisturbed clan, living in the center of the reserve, also experienced tour vehicles but no livestock grazing. The proportion of all deaths with known causes that could be attributed to humans increased between 1988 and 2006 in the disturbed population; humans caused no mortality in the undisturbed population. Disturbed hyenas were more than twice as vigilant when resting, and they nursed their young closer to bushes, than undisturbed hyenas. Disturbed hyenas also were most vigilant on days when livestock were present in their territory, but we observed no effects of tourism on hyena vigilance. We next conducted playback experiments in which we used cowbells as treatment sounds and church bells as control sounds to determine whether hyenas from the 2 clans responded differently. After hearing cowbells, disturbed hyenas increased their vigilance more than did undisturbed hyenas. However, disturbed hyenas also increased their vigilance after hearing church bells, suggesting that disturbed hyenas may exhibit heightened responsiveness to a wide array of anthropogenic sound stimuli. Our findings suggest that human activities related to pastoralism are having measurable effects on hyena mortality, and that hyenas appear to be responding to this threat by modifying their behavior. DOI: 10.1644/08-MAMM-A-359R.1.
Just published in the Journal of Mammalogy. Get the full article here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)