Lion (Panthera leo) movements in a multiuse area of the eastern Panhandle of the Okavango Delta, Botswana

As global large carnivore populations continue to decline due to human actions, maintaining viable populations beyond protected area (PA) borders is critical. African lions (Panthera leo) ranging beyond PA borders regularly prey on domestic livestock causing humans to retaliate or even preemptively kill lions to minimize impacts of lost livestock. To understand how lions navigate high-conflict areas in human-dominated landscapes, lions were observed and monitored in the eastern Panhandle of the Okavango Delta between October 2014 and December 2016, and five lions were fitted with GPS satellite collars from August 2015 to December 2016. Lion prides and coalitions were small, with all prides having four or fewer females and all coalitions having two or fewer males. Home range size varied between the sexes but was not statistically different (males: x ¯ = 584 km2, n = 3; females: x ¯ = 319 km2, n = 2). There was considerable spatial overlap in home ranges as nonassociating, neighboring collared individuals utilized high levels of shared space (female-female overlap = 152 km2, representing 41-56% of respective home ranges; male-male overlap = 125-132 km2, representing 16-31% of respective home ranges). However, neighboring lions varied use of shared space temporally as evidenced by low coefficients of association (< 0.08), avoiding potentially costly interactions with neighboring individuals. Highest levels of overlap occurred during the wet and early dry seasons when flood waters minimized the amount of available land area. All collared individuals minimized time in close proximity (< 3 km) to human habitation, but some individuals were able to rely heavily on areas where unmonitored livestock grazed. While most lions exist within PAs, anthropogenic impacts beyond PA boundaries can impact critical populations within PAs. Studying systems beyond park boundaries with high levels of human-lion conflict while also establishing conservation programs that account for both ecological and sociocultural dimensions will better aid lion conservation efforts moving forward.

Conservation Management of the Endangered Asiatic Lions in Gujarat, India, Using GPS Satellite Telemetry

Endangered Asiatic lions (Panthera leo persica) are found in the Asiatic Lion Landscape, Gujarat, which includes protected areas and a multi-use land matrix. Therefore, monitoring lions' space-use and spatio-temporal location is vital for managing various facets of human-lion interaction. Our study demonstrates how this was achieved by tracking lions using GPS radio-collars, triggering prompt action via an efficient communication network across political and forest administrative boundaries. We monitored the movement of 19 individual lions for 436.5 ± 32 days and also derived the mean daily activity from three-axis accelerometer-based activity-sensing feature of a radio-collar. We also monitored geofence breaches. We proposed that immobility and movement are two aspects that generate management action on the ground. While the movement is related to ranging and dispersal, immobility is a situation related to either the animal's feeding or its health status. From a management standpoint, we discussed the efficacy of the virtual geofence in preventing accidents when lions moved and also presented the advantages of being able to track dispersal through a case study of sub-adult lions. To strengthen our response to lion immobility, we developed a predictive model that specifically highlights an individual lion's health status and makes the alert response more precise. In conclusion, we critically reviewed the capabilities provided by GPS telemetry and provide protocols that help in the conservation management of lions and that will also have a wider application.

Defining practical and robust study designs for interventions targeted at terrestrial mammalian predators

Conflicts between humans and mammalian predators are globally widespread and increasing, creating a long-lasting challenge for conservation and local livelihoods. Protection interventions, which are essential to conflict mitigation, should be based on solid evidence of effectiveness produced by robust study designs. Yet, it is unclear what study designs have been used in predator-targeted interventions and how they can be improved to provide best practices for replications. I examined how applications of five study designs (before-after, before-after-control-impact, control-impact, crossover [i.e., the same randomly assigned study units acting as treatments and controls during alternating trials], and randomized controlled trial) have changed over time and how these changes are related to authors, predator species, countries, and intervention types (aversion, husbandry, mixed interventions, invasive management, lethal control, and noninvasive management). I applied multinomial regression modeling to 434 cases (28 predator species and 45 countries) from 244 studies published from 1955 to 2020. Study design was related only to intervention type. Less reliable before-after and control-impact studies were the most common (47.7% and 38.2% of cases, respectively), and their use increased over years as did all interventions. The contribution of the most robust before-after-control-impact (7.4%), randomized controlled trial (5.3%), and crossover designs (1.4%) remained minor over time. Crossover is suitable for aversion, most husbandry techniques, and a few other interventions, but crossover interventions also have the most limitations in terms of applicability. Randomized controlled trial is generally applicable, but impractical or inappropriate for some interventions, and before-after-control-impact appears to be the most widely applicable study design for predator-targeted interventions.

Identifying conservation technology needs, barriers, and opportunities

Amid accelerating threats to species and ecosystems, technology advancements to monitor, protect, and conserve biodiversity have taken on increased importance. While most innovations stem from adaptation of off-the-shelf devices, these tools can fail to meet the specialized needs of conservation and research or lack the support to scale beyond a single site. Despite calls from the conservation community for its importance, a shift to bottom-up innovation driven by conservation professionals remains limited. We surveyed practitioners, academic researchers, and technologists to understand the factors contributing to or inhibiting engagement in the collaborative process of technology development and adoption for field use and identify emerging technology needs. High cost was the main barrier to technology use across occupations, while development of new technologies faced barriers of cost and partner communication. Automated processing of data streams was the largest emerging need, and respondents focused mainly on applications for individual-level monitoring and automated image processing. Cross-discipline collaborations and expanded funding networks that encourage cyclical development and continued technical support are needed to address current limitations and meet the growing need for conservation technologies.

Using Machine Learning for Remote Behaviour Classification-Verifying Acceleration Data to Infer Feeding Events in Free-Ranging Cheetahs

Behavioural studies of elusive wildlife species are challenging but important when they are threatened and involved in human-wildlife conflicts. Accelerometers (ACCs) and supervised machine learning algorithms (MLAs) are valuable tools to remotely determine behaviours. Here we used five captive cheetahs in Namibia to test the applicability of ACC data in identifying six behaviours by using six MLAs on data we ground-truthed by direct observations. We included two ensemble learning approaches and a probability threshold to improve prediction accuracy. We used the model to then identify the behaviours in four free-ranging cheetah males. Feeding behaviours identified by the model and matched with corresponding GPS clusters were verified with previously identified kill sites in the field. The MLAs and the two ensemble learning approaches in the captive cheetahs achieved precision (recall) ranging from 80.1% to 100.0% (87.3% to 99.2%) for resting, walking and trotting/running behaviour, from 74.4% to 81.6% (54.8% and 82.4%) for feeding behaviour and from 0.0% to 97.1% (0.0% and 56.2%) for drinking and grooming behaviour. The model application to the ACC data of the free-ranging cheetahs successfully identified all nine kill sites and 17 of the 18 feeding events of the two brother groups. We demonstrated that our behavioural model reliably detects feeding events of free-ranging cheetahs. This has useful applications for the determination of cheetah kill sites and helping to mitigate human-cheetah conflicts.

Real-Time Extensive Livestock Monitoring Using LPWAN Smart Wearable and Infrastructure

Extensive unsupervised livestock farming is a habitual technique in many places around the globe. Animal release can be done for months, in large areas and with different species packing and behaving very differently. Nevertheless, the farmer’s needs are similar: where livestock is (and where has been) and how healthy they are. The geographical areas involved usually have difficult access with harsh orography and lack of communications infrastructure. This paper presents the design of a solution for extensive livestock monitoring in these areas. Our proposal is based in a wearable equipped with inertial sensors, global positioning system and wireless communications; and a Low-Power Wide Area Network infrastructure that can run with and without internet connection. Using adaptive analysis and data compression, we provide real-time monitoring and logging of cattle’s position and activities. Hardware and firmware design achieve very low energy consumption allowing months of battery life. We have thoroughly tested the devices in different laboratory setups and evaluated the system performance in real scenarios in the mountains and in the forest.

Communication hubs of an asocial cat are the source of a human-carnivore conflict and key to its solution

The cheetah is a prominent example for human–carnivore conflicts and mitigation challenges. Its global population suffered a substantial decline throughout its range. Here, we present an in-depth and new understanding of the socio-spatial organization of the cheetah. We show that cheetahs maintain a network of communication hubs distributed in a regular pattern across the landscape, not contiguous with each other and separated by a surrounding matrix. Cheetahs spend a substantial amount of their time in these hubs, resulting in high local cheetah activity, which represents a high local predation risk for livestock. Implementing this knowledge, farmers were able to reduce livestock losses by 86%.

Human–wildlife conflicts occur worldwide. Although many nonlethal mitigation solutions are available, they rarely use the behavioral ecology of the conflict species to derive effective and long-lasting solutions. Here, we use a long-term study with 106 GPS-collared free-ranging cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) to demonstrate how new insights into the socio-spatial organization of this species provide the key for such a solution. GPS-collared territory holders marked and defended communication hubs (CHs) in the core area of their territories. The CHs/territories were distributed in a regular pattern across the landscape such that they were not contiguous with each other but separated by a surrounding matrix. They were kept in this way by successive territory holders, thus maintaining this overdispersed distribution. The CHs were also visited by nonterritorial cheetah males and females for information exchange, thus forming hotspots of cheetah activity and presence. We hypothesized that the CHs pose an increased predation risk to young calves for cattle farmers in Namibia. In an experimental approach, farmers shifted cattle herds away from the CHs during the calving season. This drastically reduced their calf losses by cheetahs because cheetahs did not follow the herds but instead preyed on naturally occurring local wildlife prey in the CHs. This implies that in the cheetah system, there are “problem areas,” the CHs, rather than “problem individuals.” The incorporation of the behavioral ecology of conflict species opens promising areas to search for solutions in other conflict species with nonhomogenous space use.

Towards a unified generic framework to define and observe contacts between livestock and wildlife: a systematic review

Wild animals are the source of many pathogens of livestock and humans. Concerns about the potential transmission of economically important and zoonotic diseases from wildlife have led to increased surveillance at the livestock-wildlife interface. Knowledge of the types, frequency and duration of contacts between livestock and wildlife is necessary to identify risk factors for disease transmission and to design possible mitigation strategies. Observing the behaviour of many wildlife species is challenging due to their cryptic nature and avoidance of humans, meaning there are relatively few studies in this area. Further, a consensus on the definition of what constitutes a 'contact' between wildlife and livestock is lacking. A systematic review was conducted to investigate which livestock-wildlife contacts have been studied and why, as well as the methods used to observe each species. Over 30,000 publications were screened, of which 122 fulfilled specific criteria for inclusion in the analysis. The majority of studies examined cattle contacts with badgers or with deer; studies involving wild pig contacts with cattle or with domestic pigs were the next most frequent. There was a range of observational methods including motion-activated cameras and global positioning system collars. As a result of the wide variation and lack of consensus in the definitions of direct and indirect contacts, we developed a unified framework to define livestock-wildlife contacts that is sufficiently flexible to be applied to most wildlife and livestock species for non-vector-borne diseases. We hope this framework will help standardise the collection and reporting of contact data; a valuable step towards being able to compare the efficacy of wildlife-livestock observation methods. In doing so, it may aid the development of better disease transmission models and improve the design and effectiveness of interventions to reduce or prevent disease transmission.

Emergent conservation outcomes of shared risk perception in human-wildlife systems

Human perception of risks related to economic damages caused by nearby wildlife can be transmitted through social networks. Understanding how sharing risk information within a human community alters the spatial dynamics of human-wildlife interactions has important implications for the design and implementation of effective conservation actions. We developed an agent-based model that simulates farmer livelihood decisions and activities in an agricultural landscape shared with a population of a generic wildlife species (wildlife-human interactions in shared landscapes [WHISL]). In the model, based on risk perception and economic information, farmers decide how much labor to allocate to farming and whether and where to exclude wildlife from their farms (e.g., through fencing, trenches, or vegetation thinning). In scenarios where the risk perception of farmers was strongly influenced by other farmers, exclusion of wildlife was widespread, resulting in decreased quality of wildlife habitat and frequency of wildlife damages across the landscape. When economic losses from encounters with wildlife were high, perception of risk increased and led to highly synchronous behaviors by farmers in space and time. Interactions between wildlife and farmers sometimes led to a spillover effect of wildlife damage displaced from socially and spatially connected communities to less connected neighboring farms. The WHISL model is a useful conservation-planning tool because it provides a test bed for theories and predictions about human-wildlife dynamics across a range of different agricultural landscapes.

Lions Panthera leo Prefer Killing Certain Cattle Bos taurus Types

Lion predation on cattle causes severe human-wildlife conflict that results in retaliatory persecution throughout the lion's geographic range. Cattle closely resemble the body size, shape, and herding patterns of preferred lion prey species. We studied cattle depredation patterns in Botswana's Okavango Delta and tested whether lions exhibited specific preferences based on cattle demographic characteristics (sex and age), as well as morphological traits (body mass, horn length, and pelage patterns). We also tested whether human disturbance of kills influenced lion energy intake and whether depredation circumstances influenced loss levels. Lions predominantly killed cattle at night (87.1%) and exhibited no preference for either sex. Overall, bulls and calves were most preferred, whereas heifers were significantly avoided, as were cattle with uniform colour patterns. Cattle with mottled pelage patterns were most preferred, especially among free-roaming herds. Preferences were context-specific, with lions preferring inexperienced calves during enclosure attacks (including multiple cases of surplus killing) and free-roaming bulls and oxen. About 13% of adult cattle had no horns, and these were preferentially targeted by lions, while cattle with short horns were killed in accordance with their availability and long horned cattle were highly avoided. The contemporary morphology of Tswana cattle that resulted from unnatural selective pressures during domestication does not offer effective antipredatory protection. Human disturbance of feeding soon after kills occurred reduced cattle carcass consumption by >40% (or about 30 kg per carcass per lion). Lions killed significantly more cattle in nonfortified enclosures than in the veldt, although this was influenced by surplus killing. Our results suggest that cattle predation by lions is driven by availability and cavalier husbandry practices, coupled with morphological features associated with facilitating easy husbandry. Cattle no longer exhibit the key features that enabled their ancestors to coexist with large predators and are now reliant upon humans to perform critical antipredator activities. Hence, the responsibility for mitigating human-wildlife conflict involving lions and cattle lies with people in either breeding traits that minimise predation or adequately protecting their cattle.