506 O. Sievert et al.
Therefore, careful monitoring of early post-release move- ments and population establishment is crucial to assess re- introduction success (Armstrong & Seddon, 2007). Cheetahs were extirpated in Malawi by the early 1990s
(Purchase & Purchase, 2007). In 2015 a public–private part- nership between African Parks and the Malawi Department of National Parks and Wildlife to manage Liwonde National Park (hereafter Liwonde) made reintroductions of large carnivores possible. Liwonde was selected to be the first protected area to reintroduce cheetahs in Malawi as it was well protected and harboured an abundant prey base (7,296 small to medium-sized antelopes counted in a 2016 aerial survey; C. Reid, pers. comm., 2019) and depleted com- petitor populations (an estimated 25 spotted hyenas Crocuta crocuta, and initially no lions or leopards Panthera pardus; C. Reid, pers. comm., 2019). Here, we investigated the early post-release movements, settlement, survival and repro- duction of seven cheetahs reintroduced to Liwonde. We expected distances of daily movements to be highest im- mediately after release, with a decrease over time and subsequent stability. Stabilization of daily movement dis- tances, and movements within a gradually more confined area are indicative of home range development (Börger & Fryxell, 2012) and thus indicate settlement. We also com- pared survival and reproduction parameters to those of source populations to examine population establishment and early-stage reintroduction success.
Study area
We monitored post-release movements of reintroduced cheetahs in Liwonde National Park in southern Malawi (Fig. 1). The Park covers 548 km2 and its boundary is fenced with a 2.4-m high fence (Bonnox, Johannesburg, South Africa) consisting of eight electric wires. Maximum tem- perature ranges from 28 °C in July to 40 °C in November, and mean annual rainfall is 944 mm, primarily occurring during December–March (Bhima & Dudley, 1996). In the wet season, the perennial Shire River, which runs through the Park, creates extensive lagoons and marshlands on its floodplains. Only a few pools of water remain scattered throughout the Park by September, the peak of the dry season. Dry deciduous woodland with Colophospermum mopane occupies the majority of the Park.
Methods
Pre-release management A total of seven cheetahs (four males and three females; Table 1) were released in Liwonde in various combinations on four occasions during June 2017–February
2018.To ensure genetic diversity of the founder population, cheetahs
FIG. 1 (a) Location of the study area in Malawi. (b) Liwonde National Park and Mangochi Forest Reserve, and relevant water bodies.
were sourced from five protected areas in South Africa through the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Cheetah Meta- population Project. Prior to release, three females and two males were fitted with Pinnacle LITE GPS satellite collars (465 g; Sirtrack, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand), and one male within a coalition of two related males was fitted with a VHF tracking collar (253 g; African Wildlife Tracking, Pretoria, South Africa). Collars weighed 0.4–1.3% of the animals’ body weight. All individuals were kept in temporary holding enclosures (bomas; 50 × 50 m) for 23–58 days before being released into the reserve. A group of three siblings was held together in a boma, as were two non-sibling individuals, CF1 and
CM1.CF1 had been orphaned and subsequently captured for relocation at a young age, and it was hoped the bonding afforded by co-housing with CM1 would facilitate reintroduction success for CF1. Once individuals no longer demonstrated stress behaviours such as pacing, they were released from the boma through coaxing with a final feed, and the gate was closed to ensure they did not return to the boma. Animals were not fed post-release.
Post-release monitoring
We tracked the cheetahs’ post-release movements during June 2017–July 2019. GPS collars collected a minimum of three GPS fixes per day (at 05.00, 06.00, 12.00). Frequency of GPS fixes was increased when animals had cubs or were injured, to monitor them more closely during these periods. To assess survival, we checked physical condition at least
Oryx, 2022, 56(4), 505–513 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605321000788
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