Tracing the Source of the Elephant And Hippopotamus Ivory from ...

Tchamba and Seme (1993) likewise reported on the feeding behavior and diet of
the ‘forest’ elephant in the Santchou Reserve in western Cameroon. The habitat of the
reserve is also a tropical closed canopy forest with 1750 mm rainfall a year and 700-800
m altitude. Here, unlike Bia National Park, the main component of the elephants’ diet
was grass, particularly Pennisetum purpureum, and the woody material (leaves and
stems) only made up a small fraction of the diet. Fruit was also very important to the
diet, with 22 varieties being represented. Also contrasting with Short’s study, Tchamba
and Seme found that the elephants exploited the habitat types (closed forest, swamp
forest, savanna, farmland) in direct proportion to their occurrence. Taking these factors
into consideration, the authors propose that the Santchou elephants’ diet and feeding
behavior are more similar to the results from East African studies (i.e. Wing and Buss
1970 and Field 1971) than West African ones (i.e. Short 1981).
Thus, while sufficient browse is available in East Africa, grass generally accounts
for 80-90% of the bulk diet for elephants of this region. The diet of the Santchou
elephants agrees with eastern Africa findings, but the diet of the Bia elephants agrees
with southern Africa research, such as that of Williamson (1975; cited by Short 1981:
181). Consequently, research conducted in South Africa is the next region to be
considered.
South Africa
Williamson (1975) found that browse constituted the bulk of the diet for South
African elephants, except during the wet season (Short 1981: 181). Steyn and Stalmans
(2001) found in the Songimvelo Game Reserve in the Barberton Mountains, South
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