Katonga Wildlife Reserve - Frontier-publications.co.uk

Katonga Wildlife Reserve 263.0 LARGE MAMMAL SURVEY (Lee Stewart & Karen L. Zwick)3.1 SummaryA large mammal survey of the Katonga Wildlife Reserve was carried out between April andSeptember 1996. All 207 1km UTM grid squares within the reserve were sampled at asampling intensity of about 10%. Twenty-eight species of large mammal from 15 familieswere identified, bring the total number of large mammal species recorded in the reserve to 30.Most are typical of the locality and vegetation types. Distribution maps and information onhabitat use are presented, and the conservation status of each species discussed. Althoughthere has been a drastic decline in numbers of animals over the past 40 years, and many arestill under threat, there are still populations of primates, small carnivores, hyena, leopard,aardvark, warthog, bushpig, bushbuck, blue duiker, common duiker, waterbuck, andreedbuck, which, given adequate protection, are very likely to be viable. Furthermore, thereserve is also home to several species of international and national conservation interest,such as elephant, zebra, hippopotamus, buffalo, sitatunga, and porcupine, albeit in very smallnumbers, and it is important nationally for typically Tanzanian savannah species such aszebra and dwarf mongoose, which are not widely distributed in Uganda.3.2 Introduction3.2.1 AimsThe large mammal survey aims to:• collect baseline data on the presence, distribution, and habitat use of the large mammalspecies found within the reserve.These data, obtained through ground survey techniques, will complement the 1995 aerialsurvey of the reserve (Lamprey & Michelmore, 1996).Distribution records are submitted to the National Biodiversity Data Bank at the MakerereUniversity Institute of Environment and Natural Resources. Tissue (DNA) samples from deadanimals are submitted to the Institute of Population Biology at the University of Copenhagen.3.2.2 Previous studiesApart from internal Game Department reports there is little published data on the largemammal fauna of the reserve. In 1982 an aerial survey revealed the presence of almost 11,000cattle in the reserve, but no wildlife other than a small herd of plain’s zebra (Equus burchelli)(Eltringham et al., 1992), reflecting a rather dire situation. However, in 1994 the Frontier-Uganda Game Reserves Project (as the current project was then known) conducted a groundsurvey of the reserve (Allan, 1995) which recorded 20 species of large mammals: vervetmonkey (Cercopithecus aethiops), olive baboon (Papio anubis), black-and-white colobus(Colobus guereza), African clawless otter (Aonyx capensis), genet sp. (Genetta sp.), bandedmongoose (Mungos mungo), spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), African elephant (Loxodontaafricana), aardvark (Orycteropus afer), warthog (Phacochoerus africanus), bushpig(Potamochoerus porcus), hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), bushbuck (Tragelaphusscriptus), sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii), blue duiker (Cephalophus monticola), commonduiker (Sylvicapra grimmia), oribi (Ourebia ourebi), waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus),Frontier-Uganda Wildlife Protected Areas Project September 1997Baseline Surveys Programme Report No. 9