Migration and activity of the eastern black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas schmidtii) in Ol Pejeta, Kenya

This study examined the effects of weather during the day and illumination at night on the migration activity of the eastern black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas schmidtii) in Ol Pejeta, a wildlife conservancy in Kenya, from October 2015 to December 2019. Jackal ecology is an understudied subject w...

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Autor principal: Hedman Wallin, Julia
Formato: H2
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: SLU/Dept. of Animal Environment and Health (until 231231) 2022
Materias:
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author Hedman Wallin, Julia
author_browse Hedman Wallin, Julia
author_facet Hedman Wallin, Julia
author_sort Hedman Wallin, Julia
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description This study examined the effects of weather during the day and illumination at night on the migration activity of the eastern black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas schmidtii) in Ol Pejeta, a wildlife conservancy in Kenya, from October 2015 to December 2019. Jackal ecology is an understudied subject where focus has been directed to a sub-specie of black-backed jackals in southern Africa, with different animals, seasons, and habitats than to those in Ol Pejeta and eastern Africa. Black-backed jackals are important mesopredator in areas they live in and can even be beneficial to livestock farmers due to their ability to supress certain herbivore populations. Migration activity was investigated by using camera trap footage from three wildlife corridors along the northern conservancy boarder. Jackals were found active between 19:00 to 06:00 with two activity peaks, and observations found jackals to be active inside the conservancy during low activity hours at the corridors. Daily average temperature, cloud cover and rainfall were ranked into 3 categories from low, medium to high and were found to be significant together for corridor activity (p = 0.016, p = 0.009 and p < 0.001). Temperature as a factor alone did not show any significance activity changes between the 3 ranks (p = 0.124) but activity increased slightly percentwise with increased temperatures. However, both cloud cover and rainfall significantly (p < 0.001 & p < 0.001) decreased activity with higher amount of cloud cover and rainfall. Illumination from the moon at nights did have a significant effect (p = 0.024) on jackal activity where activity was significant (p = 0.021) between 5 ranks, while cloud cover did not (p = 0.756), Only the ranks between new moon and full moon showed a significant (p = 0.008) activity increase. These results provide a much needed and updated insight into jackal ecology, as well as to increase the already lacking research on the eastern black-backed jackal.
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institution Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
language Inglés
publishDate 2022
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spelling RepoSLU180172022-07-13T01:02:01Z Migration and activity of the eastern black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas schmidtii) in Ol Pejeta, Kenya Migration och aktivitet hos den östra svartryggade schakalen (Canis mesomelas schmidtii) i Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya Hedman Wallin, Julia black-backed jackals Kenya activity weather moon illumination This study examined the effects of weather during the day and illumination at night on the migration activity of the eastern black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas schmidtii) in Ol Pejeta, a wildlife conservancy in Kenya, from October 2015 to December 2019. Jackal ecology is an understudied subject where focus has been directed to a sub-specie of black-backed jackals in southern Africa, with different animals, seasons, and habitats than to those in Ol Pejeta and eastern Africa. Black-backed jackals are important mesopredator in areas they live in and can even be beneficial to livestock farmers due to their ability to supress certain herbivore populations. Migration activity was investigated by using camera trap footage from three wildlife corridors along the northern conservancy boarder. Jackals were found active between 19:00 to 06:00 with two activity peaks, and observations found jackals to be active inside the conservancy during low activity hours at the corridors. Daily average temperature, cloud cover and rainfall were ranked into 3 categories from low, medium to high and were found to be significant together for corridor activity (p = 0.016, p = 0.009 and p < 0.001). Temperature as a factor alone did not show any significance activity changes between the 3 ranks (p = 0.124) but activity increased slightly percentwise with increased temperatures. However, both cloud cover and rainfall significantly (p < 0.001 & p < 0.001) decreased activity with higher amount of cloud cover and rainfall. Illumination from the moon at nights did have a significant effect (p = 0.024) on jackal activity where activity was significant (p = 0.021) between 5 ranks, while cloud cover did not (p = 0.756), Only the ranks between new moon and full moon showed a significant (p = 0.008) activity increase. These results provide a much needed and updated insight into jackal ecology, as well as to increase the already lacking research on the eastern black-backed jackal. SLU/Dept. of Animal Environment and Health (until 231231) 2022 H2 eng https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/18017/
spellingShingle black-backed jackals
Kenya
activity
weather
moon
illumination
Hedman Wallin, Julia
Migration and activity of the eastern black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas schmidtii) in Ol Pejeta, Kenya
title Migration and activity of the eastern black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas schmidtii) in Ol Pejeta, Kenya
title_full Migration and activity of the eastern black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas schmidtii) in Ol Pejeta, Kenya
title_fullStr Migration and activity of the eastern black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas schmidtii) in Ol Pejeta, Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Migration and activity of the eastern black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas schmidtii) in Ol Pejeta, Kenya
title_short Migration and activity of the eastern black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas schmidtii) in Ol Pejeta, Kenya
title_sort migration and activity of the eastern black-backed jackal (canis mesomelas schmidtii) in ol pejeta, kenya
topic black-backed jackals
Kenya
activity
weather
moon
illumination