Vulture community ecology
in Africa Program: Student Education and Research:Status: Active, started in 2003
Goals:
To understand the effect of direct (such as poisoning and disturbance) and indirect (such as wildlife declines) human activities on the abundance, foraging, and nesting behavior of scavenging raptors to assess their risk of extinction and better establish the causes of their declines.
Background:
Surveys conducted by The Peregrine Fund from 2003-2005 demonstrated that populations of vultures and other scavenging raptors have declined by up to 60% in the last thirty years in and around Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. While Furadan poisoning is suspected as the primary cause of the decline (pastoralists have been found to put Furadan on carrion sources to try and kill lions and hyenas after loss of livestock), little is known about the influence of human activities on avian scavengers or about their likely exposure to poisoning. Given the important role of scavengers in decomposition and disease control, losses can have severe economic and ecological effects; thus, preserving these species is essential.
Recent Results:
In 2010, roadside surveys and carcass counts were conducted in and around Masai Mara National Reserve to establish the influence of human disturbance and wildlife density on habitat use and foraging behavior of scavenging raptors. Nearly 2350 km of roads were surveyed and sixty experimental carcasses were put out in four areas that varied in their human settlement and wildlife density during both the wet and dry season. Preliminary results from this research suggest that Hooded vulture and Tawny eagles preferentially use areas of high settlement and low wildlife density and may thus have higher exposure to Furadan-poisoned carcasses, while Bateleurs, Ruppell’s vultures, and Lappet-faced vultures showed greater sensitivity to human settlement, which may limit available habitat but should reduce their risk of poisoning. Finally African white-backed vultures showed high reliance on each other both to find and feed at carcasses and may thus be unable to survive as their own numbers and the quality of their habitat continue to decline.
In addition, 25 GSM-GPS transmitters (based on cell-phone technology) were attached to Ruppell’s vultures, African white-backed vultures, and Lappet-faced vulture to continue monitoring of vulture movement. Findings from these transmitters will be combined with those from birds tagged in 2009 to assess movement patterns in relation to land use, season, and climatic patterns as well as establish mortality rates in relation to poisoning and other causes.
In 2011, a study of nest site characteristics and availability was initiated to assess the influence of human disturbance on nesting behavior for all the scavenging raptors found in Masai Mara National Reserve.
Challenges:
Project Links:
| Project History | Notes From The Field |
| Publications and Data | Other Information |
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Location Note:
Study takes place primarily in and around Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, but tagged vultures use areas throughout Kenya and Tanzania and are thus representative of the larger East African vulture populations.
Species involved
People involved in this project:
Cooperating Partners:
- Busch Gardens and SeaWorld Conservation Fund
- Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
- National Museums of Kenya
- Princeton University
- The Explorer's Club
Combined Federal Campaign # 10639
