RESULTS - First Spoor Count
Robins and Sinamatella - Hwange National Park
The spoor count team (Nic, Byron, Godwin and Daniel) have completed the first count of leopard spoor and prey animals in the Robins/Sinamatella area of Hwange National Park. The count was conducted during the second two weeks in August and the team drove 218 km of transects altogether. The total distance driven by our team was 436 km in order to get to the different transects. Each of the transects was driven twice during the count.
The roads used were driven at between 10 and 15km/hr with a minimum of two observers. Daniel, an experience tracker, was seated on the front of the vehicle looking directly at the road ahead, while either Nic or Godwin were seated behind the steering wheel looking out the door of the jeep (our field vehicle). The spoor of all animals, both predators and prey, were recorded. When leopard spoor was detected, the vehicle was stopped and all team members present examined it for confirmation.
A total of 23 leopard tracks were seen during the count (see map for detail of location of these spoor, red stars indicate location of spoor) but some of these may belong to the same animal, given that transects were driven twice. The team identified each spoor seen as male, female and estimated whether it belonged to an adult or subabult. However, as with all spoor it is difficult to be absolutely certain that sex and age are correct.
The team is now using this data to calculate spoor density. It is spoor density, which we will be using to compare areas of different utilisation - in this case the Robins/Sinamatella area of Hwange to the Matetsi Safari area. Both areas occur in the same soil and habitat type and should, therefore, have similar spoor densities of leopards and prey animals. Once the spoor team has completed the spoor count of Matetsi (which they hope to do in August) we will be able to compare spoor densities.
What spoor density cannot tell us at the moment is how many leopards there are in northern Hwange. To give this figure we will need to calibrate a spoor density against a known number of leopard in a smaller subarea of northern Hwange. This is to assess the relationship between spoor density and actual density, which previous studies have shown to be highly correlated. We are working towards this goal by trying to raise funds for camera traps. These special "traps" take pictures of leopards, and if enough are used in an area we can get a very good idea of how many individual animals we have. This estimate can then be compared with the spoor density to understand the relationship between spoor density and actual number of animals.
But even with spoor densities we can begin to explore whether leopard populations between areas of different utilisation are showing differences. We will update this site as soon as we have the spoor density from Matetsi Safari Area.
