First insights into the spatio-temporal ecology of sympatric large carnivores in Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal ROB I N HORI O N * 1 ,ZOE WOODGAT E 2 and MARINE DRO U I L L Y 1 , 3 , 4
Abstract Largecarnivoresplayacrucialroleintheir na- tive ecosystems, but their populations are rapidly de- clining across the African continent. West Africa is no exception, with large protected areas often forming the last strongholds for these species. Little is known about the population status and ecology of large carnivores in the region, hampering the design and implementation of effective conservation strategies. We conducted a cam- era-trap survey during the dry season in Niokolo-Koba National Park, the largest terrestrial protected area in Senegal and the second largest in West Africa, to investi- gate the spatio-temporal ecology of the four large carni- vores inhabiting the Park: the spotted hyaena Crocuta crocuta,leopard Panthera pardus,West African lion Panthera leo leo and African wild dog Lycaon pictus. Spotted hyaenas and leopards had thewidest spatial distri- bution and highest probability of site use. Spotted hyaena site use was positively associated with leopard relative abundance index and negatively associated with normal- ized difference vegetation index, whereas only distance to the nearest road influenced leopard site use. Distance to the Gambian River was the most important covariate positively affecting site use by lions. African wild dog site use was negatively associated with the relative abun- dance indices of lions and leopards. Lions, spotted hyae- nas and leopards showed strong overlap in their activity patterns. By providing new information on the ecology of large carnivores in West Africa, including where they range and which habitats are critical for their survival, our study will facilitate conservation planning. Our find- ings lay the foundations for future research to conserve these threatened species in West Africa effectively and to guide ranger patrol efforts, which are key for their long- term survival.
Keywords Activity pattern, African wild dog, large carni- vores, leopard, lion, occupancy, Senegal, spotted hyaena
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doi.org/10.1017/S0030605323001746
Introduction
which are acutely sensitive to anthropogenic impacts (Wolf & Ripple, 2014). Large carnivores are key species for successful protected area management as they occupy the highest trophic levels within ecosystems (Woodroffe, 2000), shaping community structure by controlling meso- predator (Soulé et al., 1988) and prey populations (Creel et al., 2018). In addition to their important ecological roles, charismatic carnivore species raise public awareness of protected areas and conservation efforts, indirectly pro- tecting other species by helping to generate tourismincome, funding opportunities and conservation actions (Carignan & Villard, 2002). West African protected areas suffer from a lack of base-
P
*Corresponding author,
robin.horion@gmail.com 1Panthera, Tambacounda, Senegal 2Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa, University of Cape Town,
Cape Town, South Africa 3Panthera, New York City, New York, USA 4Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Received 28 March 2023. Revision requested 16 June 2023. Accepted 13 November 2023. First published online 9 May 2024.
line research in comparison to those in East and Southern Africa (Bauer et al., 2021), largely because of limited finan- cial support from governments and international donors, lack of private-sector investment and minimal tourism op- portunities (Lindsey et al., 2017). Funding difficulties, com- bined with inconsistent management, hinder basic management practices such as long-term monitoring and law enforcement (de Boissieu et al., 2007), reducing the conservation effectiveness of protected areas in the region. As a result, some protected areas have been classified as so- called paper parks (Lindsey et al., 2018), which, despite their official protected status, lack effective management and fail to achieve desired conservation outcomes. These deficien- cies are directly affecting populations of large carnivores, which have suffered significant declines in the region for several decades (Brugière et al., 2015). African wild dogs Lycaon pictus have been extirpated from the W–Arly– Pendjari Complex, leaving the last remaining West African population in Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal (Woodroffe & Sillero-Zubiri, 2020). The Park also harbours one of the four remaining populations of the West African lion Panthera leo leo, which is categorized as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List (Henschel et al., 2014). Although a large population is located in Pendjari National Park, this faces significant threats
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. Oryx, 2024, 58(5), 664–675 © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605323001746
rotected areas are crucial for biodiversity conservation (Osipova et al., 2020), especially for large carnivores,
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