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Aspects of the spatial and behavioural ecology of Hippopotamus amphibious in the Saint Lucia Estuary, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is endemic to Africa but threatened by range restriction, exploitation and competition with humans and domestic livestock for access to critical resources such as fresh water and grazing. Collectively these impacts have resulted in population declines...

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Main Author: Prinsloo, Alexa Simone
Other Authors: Pillay, Deena
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Biological Sciences 2016
Subjects:
Biological Sciences
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access_status_str Open Access
author Prinsloo, Alexa Simone
author2 Pillay, Deena
author_browse Pillay, Deena
Prinsloo, Alexa Simone
author_facet Pillay, Deena
Prinsloo, Alexa Simone
author_sort Prinsloo, Alexa Simone
collection Thesis
description The common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is endemic to Africa but threatened by range restriction, exploitation and competition with humans and domestic livestock for access to critical resources such as fresh water and grazing. Collectively these impacts have resulted in population declines throughout most of their range with the consequence that hippos are classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red list. Despite these threats to their persistence and their important ecological role as ecosystem engineers there have been surprisingly few studies concerning factors that influence their current distribution and habitat use. Such research is important for developing effective conservation and management plans to improve the protection of vulnerable and ecologically important species such as hippo. South Africa is home to one of a few growing hippo populations and one of the last persisting in an estuarine habitat. The St Lucia Estuary, one of three Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance located in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (itself a UNESCO World Heritage site), in northern KwaZulu-Natal is not only the largest estuarine system in Africa, but is also home to one of South Africa's largest hippo populations. In this study I explore aspects of the spatial and behavioural ecology of hippo within the St Lucia Estuary. More specifically, I investigate select abiotic and biotic predictors of hippo presence and the frequency with which they return to their diurnal lie-up sites. I used binary logistic regression models to evaluate the effects of the selected habitat features on hippo occurrence at two spatial scales (broad and fine). I used a negative binomial with log-link model to evaluate the effects of the selected habitat features on the frequency of use of sites (hippo persistence) in the fine-scale study. In addition, I employed both instantaneous scan sampling and continuous sampling methods in an attempt to determine the diurnal activity budgets and social interactions of a single group near the mouth of the St Lucia Estuary. I used non-parametric tests to evaluate differences in behaviour with daytime and across sampling days with a view to an improved understanding of how the environment influences the behaviour of hippo in an environment subject to ongoing human modification.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20433
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:07.122Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Department of Biological Sciences
publisherStr Department of Biological Sciences
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20433 Aspects of the spatial and behavioural ecology of Hippopotamus amphibious in the Saint Lucia Estuary, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Prinsloo, Alexa Simone Pillay, Deena O'Riain, M Justin Biological Sciences The common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is endemic to Africa but threatened by range restriction, exploitation and competition with humans and domestic livestock for access to critical resources such as fresh water and grazing. Collectively these impacts have resulted in population declines throughout most of their range with the consequence that hippos are classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red list. Despite these threats to their persistence and their important ecological role as ecosystem engineers there have been surprisingly few studies concerning factors that influence their current distribution and habitat use. Such research is important for developing effective conservation and management plans to improve the protection of vulnerable and ecologically important species such as hippo. South Africa is home to one of a few growing hippo populations and one of the last persisting in an estuarine habitat. The St Lucia Estuary, one of three Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance located in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (itself a UNESCO World Heritage site), in northern KwaZulu-Natal is not only the largest estuarine system in Africa, but is also home to one of South Africa's largest hippo populations. In this study I explore aspects of the spatial and behavioural ecology of hippo within the St Lucia Estuary. More specifically, I investigate select abiotic and biotic predictors of hippo presence and the frequency with which they return to their diurnal lie-up sites. I used binary logistic regression models to evaluate the effects of the selected habitat features on hippo occurrence at two spatial scales (broad and fine). I used a negative binomial with log-link model to evaluate the effects of the selected habitat features on the frequency of use of sites (hippo persistence) in the fine-scale study. In addition, I employed both instantaneous scan sampling and continuous sampling methods in an attempt to determine the diurnal activity budgets and social interactions of a single group near the mouth of the St Lucia Estuary. I used non-parametric tests to evaluate differences in behaviour with daytime and across sampling days with a view to an improved understanding of how the environment influences the behaviour of hippo in an environment subject to ongoing human modification. 2016-07-18T12:54:06Z 2016-07-18T12:54:06Z 2016 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20433 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Biological Sciences
Prinsloo, Alexa Simone
Aspects of the spatial and behavioural ecology of Hippopotamus amphibious in the Saint Lucia Estuary, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Aspects of the spatial and behavioural ecology of Hippopotamus amphibious in the Saint Lucia Estuary, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
title_full Aspects of the spatial and behavioural ecology of Hippopotamus amphibious in the Saint Lucia Estuary, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
title_fullStr Aspects of the spatial and behavioural ecology of Hippopotamus amphibious in the Saint Lucia Estuary, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Aspects of the spatial and behavioural ecology of Hippopotamus amphibious in the Saint Lucia Estuary, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
title_short Aspects of the spatial and behavioural ecology of Hippopotamus amphibious in the Saint Lucia Estuary, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
title_sort aspects of the spatial and behavioural ecology of hippopotamus amphibious in the saint lucia estuary kwazulu natal south africa
topic Biological Sciences
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20433
work_keys_str_mv AT prinslooalexasimone aspectsofthespatialandbehaviouralecologyofhippopotamusamphibiousinthesaintluciaestuarykwazulunatalsouthafrica

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