IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Begg, C.; Begg, K. | |
| Trophy monitoring in Niassa National Reserve, Mozambique: lion, leopard, buffalo, hippo and crocodile | |
| 2007 Full Book | |
SRN (the management authority of the NNR) aims to secure, manage and develop the biodiversity of the Niassa National Reserve (NNR) and provide a quality eco-tourism and sport hunting experience to generate a local economy to finance NNR management activities (SRN Management Plan, 2006). Six sport hunting concession are currently operational within the NNR protected area boundary situated as a buffer area around a core area. The aim is to maximise trophy quality and economic returns while maintaining the viability and growth of wildlife populations through ecologically sustainable hunting practises. Monitoring of trophy quality and hunt effort provides an indirect, relatively inexpensive means of determining whether current quota size and off-take are sustainable. In 2006, all five hunting operators within NNR agreed to be research consortium members of Savannas Forever (SF), a regional conservation imitative that aims to improve the conservation effectiveness of sport hunting companies through a third party certification program that will verify sustainable hunting practises and measure outcomes for key species. SF complements SRN management objectives. Six key species were monitored in 2006: lion, leopard, buffalo, hippo and crocodile. All hunting operators cooperated fully with the monitoring program. Lion trophies are aged according to tooth wear, closure of the pulp cavity, mane development, nose pigmentation and general body condition. Only 33% of the lion trophies taken in 2006 (35% over the last three years) were considered acceptable trophies over the minimum age of six years. As a result, two concessions should receive a decrease in quota of one lion in 2007 and one concession should receive an increase of one lion as calculated by the SRN lion regulations and point system for quota allocation. The continued shooting of underage lions in NNR is of significant concern. Validation of visual aging cues shows that mane development can be used by PHs in NNR to place a lion in a broad age category (< 4 yrs, 4-6yrs; > 6 yrs) before it is shot with additional information provided by nose pigmentation. Leopard are on Appendix I of CITES and trophy monitoring is essential to comply with CITES criteria. Assessment of tooth wear and closure of the pulp cavity suggest that only one (6%) of the leopards was significantly over four years of age. This is of particular concern and needs to be investigated further given that male age at first reproduction is 2-3 years. However, aging criteria still need to be validated against known age leopards in NNR and the results are preliminary. Utilization of buffalo has increased steadily over the last five years, with 56% of the allocated quota taken in 2006. Results suggest that horn size is not an accurate indication of age and encourages the shooting of young animals. Only male buffalo with a hardened boss are considered acceptable mature trophy animals and the hunting of males in breeding herds is discouraged. An aerial census to specifically investigate buffalo numbers is recommended as a high priority. Hippo densities and distribution were surveyed for the first time in 2006. Results suggest that while the NNR hippo population is viable and can probably support the overall current quota, their patchy distribution requires a reallocation of the quota between the concessions. For crocodiles, 60% of the allocated quota was used, which is a significant increase from 2005 (36%). Given the inherent difficulties in accurately censusing the adult crocodile population and the indication that adult crocodile numbers are low and patchily distributed, it is recommended that only adult crocodiles over a minimum size of 3.7m (12ft) should be considered acceptable trophies given that adult male crocodiles reach sexual maturity at 10ft. Specific guidelines and recommendations for all the key species are provided. |
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