We used data from 245 kills and 74 faecal samples. The lions of Botswana have the widest range of large prey species than anywhere else on the continent. View our recommended safaris for inspiration and get ready to plan your dream safari, Contact us or fill out an enquiry form and one of our travel experts will help you tailor make your perfect safari, Enjoy an authentic African experience, with peace of mind, Namibia Cameroons location on the atlantic coast in central africa between latitude 2 and 13north, has a huge and diversified water resources potential. Cameroon What Are The Specific Water Sources The Lions Exploit? In semi-arid ecosystems, herbivore distribution is generally more homogeneous in the wet season, when surface water is abundant, than in the dry season when only permanent sources remain. For females, some seasonal differences were detected due to the lower contribution of buffalo to female diet in the early dry season, compensated for by an increase in secondary prey consumption, mainly kudu and medium Bovidae. Dr Kirsty Upton and Brighid Dochartaigh, British Geological Survey, UK, Dr Imogen Bellwood-Howard, Institute of Development Studies, UK. . The basin is shared by Chad, Niger, the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria, Sudan and Libya. It provides fresh water for an entire community. Cameroon, a country located in Central Africa, is one of those places. In Hwange, the vegetation is primarily woodland and bushland and open grassland areas are scarce but often associated with waterhole areas [49]. Finally, faecal analyses revealed a significant proportional occurrence of small antelopes in lion diet (17%). Per Capita in 2000 : 19 192 m 3 /year. This allows conversations they can hear for 100km further than normal. The majority of the population is employed in agriculture, much of it at subsistence scale with surplus produce sold in local markets. First, seasonal importance of each species was assessed by (i) investigating, for lion males and females separately, the frequency of occurrence of prey species at kills, and (ii) comparing seasonal results from faecal data with no sex differentiation. 1). Further, it revealed the opportunistic hunting behaviour of lions for prey as diverse as elephants and mice, with elephants taken mostly as juveniles at the end of the dry season during droughts. Africa Groundwater Atlas >> Hydrogeology by country, Cameroon. feeding locations) of African lions in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, a semi-arid African savanna structured by artificial waterholes. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Your email address will not be published. More information on average rainfall and temperature for each of the climate zones in Cameroon can be seen at the Cameroon climate page. In recognising this, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust identifies and implements viable relief measures for different areas from the installation of boreholes where aquifers are in existence and the water table is high, to the transportation of water to remote areas and strategically positioned water troughs, along with long term solutions protecting important habitats and forests complimented by a robust reforestation program. The Democratic Republic . What water sources do lions exploit in zimbabwemaryland lacrosse camps 2021 Subscribe to the texas a&m today newsletter for the latest news and stories every week. Composed mainly of Cretaceous marine sandstones and limestones, which are 1000 to 2000 m thick. In our case this is particularly true for the class small antelopes. Surface water. Vernal pools are a type of wetlands - sometimes resembling larger puddles. In: Groundwater quality in Africa, ed. Three seasons are distinguished: the wet season (November-February), with long-term mean rainfall of 513.6160.0 mm, wide spread surface-water availability and abundant, high quality browse and grazing; the early dry season (March-June), long-term mean rainfall of 111.172.8 mm with decreasing fodder quality and surface-water availability; and the late dry season (JulyOctober), long-term mean rainfall of 25.026.6 mm with surface-water restricted to artificial waterholes and very few natural pans, while deciduous trees lose their foliage and both browse and grazing is of the lowest quality during the year. The following references provide more information on the geology and hydrogeology of Cameroon. Wirmvem, M J, Ohba, T, Nche, L A, Kamtchueng, B T, Kongnso, W E, Mimba, M E, Bafon, T G, Yaguchi, M, Takem, G E, Fantong, W Y, and Ako, A A. Boxes show medians, 25% and 75% quartiles. Equatorial conditions in the south create no flood peaks per season (i.e., Lobe and Nyong). This is due to the lower contribution of buffalo to female diet in the early dry season which is compensated by an increase in other species consumption (Table 1). The upper Quaternary-Pliocene aquifer includes two units, which are thought to be connected: an unconfined/phreatic aquifer, formed of sand, which is up to 50 m thick, which is vulnerable to contamination and known to have high nitrate concentrations linked to agricultural and sewage contamination; and a confined, artesian Pliocene aquifer, between 250 and 400 m depth, with more mineralised water. The distance between 215 lion kills and the nearest water source was analyzed using generalized linear models. The Lake Chad Basin Aquifer System. The main water source for the Tsavo West national park is Lake Jipe, which sradles the border with Tanzania, according to Kipongoso, its level had dropped 10 meters (33 feet) in a decade. broad scope, and wide readership a perfect fit for your research every time. Lion kills were located in a preferentially selected zone around artificial waterholes, suggesting that these scarce resources form passive traps for ungulate prey. View our Cookie Policy. Then-Gov. More information is available in the report Groundwater in North and West Africa: Cameroon (1988) (see References section, below). The consequence of consumption of such poor quality water is the spread of related diseases such as cholera and typhoid. Lake Jipe provides water for the wildlife species in the park like the lions, elephants and among others when they are thirsty. Overall, juveniles represented one third of the zebra carcasses found. Our safari planners aren't available now. Once biomass consumption was estimated, buffalo contributed the most to lion dietary intake (58% for males and 39% for females), followed by elephant (23% for males and 20% for females) and giraffe (7% for males and 18% for females), collectively accounting for 88% and 77% of the prey biomass consumed for males and females respectively (Table 3). "Some years back some boreholes were rehabilitated by either the local council or the community. PLoS ONE 8(2): A pint-sized antelope, often no taller than a big coffee-table book, with a squeaky cry and a zig-zagging escape tactic. Map developed from World Wildlife Fund HydroSHEDS; Digital Chart of the World drainage; and FAO Inland Water Bodies. Mambele residents have been drinking from this never-drying source for as long as the local residents can remember. In our study, lions preyed mainly on elephant juveniles at the end of the dry season of a very dry year (October-November 2005), supporting previous findings that young elephants make up an unusually large proportion of lion prey in Hwange in the dry season during years of low rainfall [19]. e55182. Manufacturing industry accounted for some 30% of GDP in 2009. Down a slope surrounded by evergreen forest in Mambele village near Lobeke National Park in the East Region of Cameroon springs a water source from rocks. 2015) of groundwater. Marion Valeix, Affiliation: UN Human Development Index (HDI) [highest = 1] (2014)*. Contrastingly during wet seasons, pools of water are more available throughout the landscape and herbivore distributions more homogeneous and dispersed. The prey items detected were categorised similarly to the prey detected from the kills. Further water and related statistics can be accessed at the Aquastat Main Database. There is a coastal plain that extends 15-150 km inland; the south Cameroon plateau that rises from the coastal plain to more than 600 m; the Cameroon chain of mountains, hills and plateaus that extends from Mount Cameroon on the coast (Cameroon's highest point at 4,095 m) almost to Lake Chad on the northern border; the Adamawa Plateau in the centre of the country, with an average elevation of 1,100 m; and a northern lowland region, which extends from the edge of the Adamawa Plateau to Lake Chad, with an elevation of around 300 m. The climate varies across the country, controlled by topography. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: ZD MV. Volcanic centres form moderately to highly productive fractured/weathered aquifers. The study was conducted between 2005 and 2007 in the northern sector of Hwange National Park (Hwange), north-western Zimbabwe, latitudes 1830 and 1950 S and longitudes 2545 and 2730 E. The study area covers c. 7554 km2 of dystrophic woodland savanna. Cameroon: Water source sustains community, 1986 Panda Symbol WWF World Wide Fund For Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund). The upland regions have highland forest type vegetation. It is used to supplement the domestic and industrial water demand of Douala (Mafany and Fantong 2006). Cameroon is a fascinating country with incredible biodiversity and natural riches. Seasonal geographic information on waterholes was available and allowed us to calculate for each kill the distance to the nearest waterhole containing water (distance-to-water) using ArcView 3.2 nearest neighbour extensions (ESRI 2004). We used to walk more than 1km to fetch water, climbing up and down a steep hill. In 1884 the territory of Cameroon was colonised by Germany, and after the First World War divided between France and the UK. Jacobs index finally revealed a very strong preference for kills within 2 km from a waterhole for all prey species, except small antelopes, in all seasons. Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Australia, Received: October 1, 2012; Accepted: December 19, 2012; Published: February 6, 2013. The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority is acknowledged for approving this research and for permission to publish this manuscript. For more information see the climate resource page. Jacobs index also revealed that buffalo was the most intensively selected species throughout the year. An average of 300 people depend on the water source, says Njounan Tegomo Olivier, WWF Collaborative Management Officer. However, much of the shallow groundwater is vulnerable to contamination. Groundwater in the deeper confined Pliocene-Quaternary aquifer is dominated by Na-HCO. doi.org/10.2166/wpt.2020.004, Return to the index pages: Cameroon lies in central-west Africa, with the Gulf of Guinea forming its western coast. Groundwater in the deeper Cretaceous sandstone aquifer is dominated by K/Na-HCO3 types, and typically of good quality. 3B). Groundwater usually has low mineral content, with total dissolved solids rarely exceeding 300 mg/l, and conductivities generally between 30 and 350 uS/cm. Water Supply and Sanitation in Cameroon. Artificial waterholes act as powerful hubs of predation activity throughout the year. They can survive days or even weeks without drinking water. The Lake Chad basin aquifer contains three main aquifer units: a upper Quaternary-Lower Pliocene series; the Tertiary Continental Terminal; and the lower Cretaceous series of the Hamadien Continental and the Continental Intercalaire (GWP 2013). "An average of 300 people depend on the water source," says Njounan Tegomo Olivier, WWF Collaborative Management Officer. Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, Oxford University, Tubney House, Abingdon, United Kingdom, Chari has a length of 590 miles, part of which forms international border between Chad and Cameroon. The kill sites were single kill events. Twelve-year-old Akoela Francis Kame and his younger brother walk one-kilometer each day to fetch water here. Values >0 indicate preference, values <0 suggest use but avoidance. Lion prey species found in faecal samples classified in 10 groups and their respective proportions relative to frequency of occurrence. Samples were collected during kill site investigations, air dried and stored in paper bags for later analysis. 1 being water and season. 1). The best yields are found where fractured rocks are overlain with a thick weathered zone or thick alluvium. Groundwater from volcanic aquifers is widely used by the bottled water industry. Boreholes are between 60 and 200 m deep (UN 1988). The importance of buffalo was more pronounced for male lions, which corroborates findings from other studies [39]. and common mice (Mus spp.). Windhoek, Affordable Chobe & Okavango Delta Safari Review, Registered Members of these Organizations, 2nd floor, Tygervalley 2). From buffalo to hippo and even adult elephant the there are prides that have adapted to preying on all. Average distance-to-water revealed that lions typically kill between 1 and 4 km from a waterhole, with elephant and giraffe being the species killed most often the closest to a waterhole, and kudu and small antelopes killed the furthest away (Fig. Buffalo consistently emerged as the most frequently utilised prey in all seasons by both male (56%) and female (33%) lions, contributing the most to lion dietary biomass. Recharge occurs to the confined aquifer only in limited areas (GWP 2013). These basins generally form low to moderately productive aquifers, capable of borehole yields of up to 5 m/hour. Water Resources in Cameroon This is the sum of renewable groundwater and renewable surface water resources (both internal and external) Renewable Water Resources 283 billion m/year Total Renewable Water Resources (2017) Water Resources per Capita 11,769 m/person/year Renewable Water per Inhabitant (2017) Water Dependency 4 % Etosha In Hwange, previous findings have shown that lion home range size was influenced by buffalo density in the late dry season ([40]). The river is an important fishing ground for local communities. Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe. When more than one prey species is available, predators are able to shift prey selection depending on relative prey availability [21]. 2018. The geology map shows a simplified version of the geology at a national scale (see the Geology resources page for more details). In communities where neither springs nor stand taps are unavailable, the population drink from open streams that also serve for laundry and bathing. It is covered by 6 of the 8 main climatic units encountered in Cameroon (Kpoumi 2015) which are: (1) altitudinal tropical climate of the Adamawa; (2) mountainous tropical climate of the West;. _____ _____ abiotic factor environmental conditions biotic factor. High rainfall means high potential recharge potential in much of Cameroon, except in the arid north, and the limitations on groundwater potential are therefore largely related to low aquifer storage and permeability in the basement rocks across much of the country. Generally, flow patterns of all Cameroon rivers are typified by rainfall. It was in Etosha that a study proved that elephant can communicate using infrasonic sounds; they literally bounce these off a thermal inversion layer in the atmosphere. Chambers One, 27 Willie van 7 Stunning African Honeymoon Destinations. Consequently, waterhole areas are attractive for all herbivores in the dry season and attractive for grazers in the wet season, which corresponds to the period when most grazers have their young. Once biomass consumption was estimated, buffalo contributed the most to lion dietary intake (33%), followed by giraffe (20%), medium Bovidae (18%), and kudu (14%) and collectively accounting for 85% of the prey biomass consumed (Table 3). Water sources are also considered crucial in lion habitat selection in the Serengeti [47] and thought to act as passive traps for ungulates in the Kruger ecosystem [5], [48]. Hence, lions appear to respond to the high abundance of megaherbivores in this ecosystem. Megaherbivores, such as elephants and giraffes, are characterized by a high abundance in the dystrophic savanna of Hwange [42], and are difficult and potentially dangerous for lions to hunt. Nasilele mubita says her family was always complaining of diarrhoea as they shared a water source. The MCP method is the oldest one used among home range analysis methods ( Burt, 1943; Mohr, 1947), being the smallest convex polygon that encompasses all the lion locations, either using all the locations (MCP100%) or by first removing 5% of the outliers in the dataset (MCP95%) ( Powell, 2000 ). Where multi-species classes were defined, biomass was calculated as the average mass of the species included. We then converted the frequency of occurrence into biomass estimates using the average adult male and female mass (from [1], [34]). Some years back some boreholes were rehabilitated by either the local council or the community. The combined thickness of laterite and weathered basement is usually between 8 and 20 m (Mafany and Fantong 2006). Aggregation of herbivores at waterholes in the late dry season and wet season dispersion of herbivore herds, and particularly of buffalo herds, were expected to lead to pronounced seasonal foraging patterns for lions. Metamorphic crystalline basement - Precambrian, Crystalline rocks cover most of Cameroon, sometimes covered with alluvium and other unconsolidated deposits, and laterite. Annual rainfall was 330 mm in 20042005, 683 mm in 20052006 and 703 mm in 20062007. We do not have to go that far anymore says Madam Ngenge Ndo Lydie, a local restaurant owner. Others walk over two kilometres to get the precious liquid. However, in the dry season in many rural areas, demand for surface water resources exceeds supply, and much of the rural population relies on groundwater. This section provides a summary of the geology of Cameroon. Performed the experiments: ZD JEH FVK. Required fields are marked *. The largest is Lake Chad, of which 800 km2 (Little Chad phase) to 1 800 km2 (Normal Chad phase) are Cameroon territory, or 840% of the lake area, depending on the floods (Welcomme, 1979). https://earthwise.bgs.ac.uk/index.php/Hydrogeology_of_Cameroon. They typically form small, local aquifers, limited to areas where the rock has been fractured and weathered to increase its permeability. Values>0 indicate preference, values<0 suggest use but avoidance. The Project was supported by the Eppley Foundation, Panthera Foundation and the kind generosity of Rivington and Joan Winant, Adrian Gardiner and the Lilian Jean Kaplan Foundation. Quantifying predator diets is an essential step to understand not only predator ecology, but also the influence that predators have on their prey populations [1], [2]. Lion prey species found at kills classified in 8 groups and their respective proportions relative to frequency of occurrence. Water resources in northern Cameroon have continuously been reducing over the past years. Climate, Hydrology and Water Resources in Cameroon. Analyzed the data: ZD MV. The Logone flows northward into the Lake Chad basin, which Cameroon shares with three neighbouring countries. Prey moves between the islands and lions have to cross the water to follow. However, water quality in Cameroon has improved in the last decade. Temperatures vary drastically in the Kalahari, going below zero on winter nights and reaching as high as 40 degrees Celsius during summer days. There is no perennial water in Hwange, and rain fed pans hold water throughout the year only in high rainfall years. In neighbouring Yenga community (20 km from Mambele) where WWF also rehabilitated a stand tap, some residents cover a distance of more than 3 km to get water. Our results showed that lions are opportunist hunters with prey ranging from mice to elephant. In the 19th century, soldiers of the Fulani Empire founded the Adamawa Amirate in the north of present-day Cameroon, while various other chiefdoms held power across other parts of the country. 2). Funding: The work was supported by the Darwin Initiative for Biodiversity, Disney Wildlife Conservation Foundation, SAVE Foundation, Regina B. Frankenberg Foundation the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation and Instalite Contracting Bulawayo. Water is artificially supplied to some waterholes during the dry season (40 in the study area). Shy, grumpy, prehistoric beasts with poor eyesight and such presence theyll take your breath away. In African semi-arid savannas, surface-water is a heterogeneously distributed, limiting resource which becomes scarcer as the dry season progresses. Jacobss indices based on kills also revealed that female lions showed also a preference for kudu, medium Bovidae and Suidae in all seasons (Fig. This brochure contains only modifications / changes, undertaken on the longitudinal 7 RIVERS AND WATERFALLS Three other major rivers are the Djrem, Bnuo, and Nyong. Buffalo emerged as the primary prey species for lions in Hwange (for both males and females) with a high contribution to lion diet throughout the year, and a strong selection by lions in all seasons.
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