Page 88 - KGR 2020-21 Annual Report

WILDLIFE MOVEMENT DATA

ELEPHANT SATELLITE COLLARS
Satellite tracking collars allow for critical information on elephant movement, migration and habitat use to be
collected. This enables researchers and reserve management to gain knowledge into how elephants utilise the
landscape and provide insight in how they can better preserve the ecosystem around its largest inhabitants’ use. In
March 2020, the tail end of the last report period, two elephants, a bull and a cow, were chosen from a predetermined
section of Karingani Game Reserve. Elephant cows live in matriarchal groups, and by collaring one female, we can
gain understanding into the movement patterns of the entire herd. Bulls, on the other hand, tend to be solitary or
sometimes roam within small bachelor groups over vast distances giving insight on larger migratory patterns over
time.
The large-scale variation in the Karingani landscape results in a mixed distribution of resources such as habitat type,
water, and forage patches. In addition, the time frames over which these resources are available to an individual also
vary by season and are influenced by factors such as rainfall and temperature. Throughout the seasons, water levels
in temporal pans fluctuate from large sources of fresh drinking water down to completely drying up during the dry
season which ranges from April to October. This change in water availability causes elephants to migrate over large
distances in search of drinking water and vegetation for food. By collecting data on the movement of elephants over
time, connections can be quantified between seasonal variation in vegetation throughout the conservation area.

Male Elephant
Female Elephant

3 802 Km Distance moved by male elephant

(1 April 2020 - 31 March 2021)

3 300 Km Distance moved by female elephant

(1 April 2020 - 31 March 2021)

Note: GPS reports indicating movement out of KGR
are into adjoining protected areas.

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