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19 February 2021 Swayne's hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus swaynei): home range and activity patterns in Maze National Park, Ethiopia
Misganaw Tamrat, Anagaw Atickem, Diress Tsegaye, Peter J. Fashing, Paul Evangelista, Afework Bekele, Nils Chr. Stenseth
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Abstract

Home range and activity patterns of animals are important elements for wildlife management and conservation practices. We examined seasonal home range and daily activity patterns of the endangered Swayne's hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus swaynei) in Maze National Park, Ethiopia. We tracked two groups of Swayne's hartebeests in open grassland for 1 year. Each group's daily activities (0700–1900 h) and GPS locations were recorded at 15-min intervals on 5 days every month. Activities were grouped into five behavioral categories: feeding, resting, traveling, vigilance, and other. In addition, we carried out nocturnal monitoring during full moon periods to further document movements patterns. We produced 95% and 50% kernel density estimates (KDE) of home range sizes for each group. Home range estimates did not vary across seasons. Feeding and traveling peaked during the early morning and late afternoon, whereas resting occurred most frequently during the midday hours in both seasons. The proportion of time spent feeding was higher during the dry season, whereas a greater proportion of time was spent resting during the wet season. Vigilance behavior occurred consistently throughout the day during both seasons. Time spent feeding and traveling did not vary significantly between seasons. Activity patterns of Swayne's hartebeests are strongly influenced both by time of day and season, while home range size is less influenced by seasonality and may instead reflect temporal variation in food availability. Our findings will help to inform management strategies and conserve one of the last two extant populations of Swayne's hartebeests.

© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Mammalogists, www.mammalogy.org.
Misganaw Tamrat, Anagaw Atickem, Diress Tsegaye, Peter J. Fashing, Paul Evangelista, Afework Bekele, and Nils Chr. Stenseth "Swayne's hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus swaynei): home range and activity patterns in Maze National Park, Ethiopia," Journal of Mammalogy 102(2), 396-403, (19 February 2021). https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyaa185
Received: 16 March 2020; Accepted: 30 December 2020; Published: 19 February 2021
KEYWORDS
activity budgets
behavior
open grassland
seasonal variation
space use
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