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- Title
Feeding and habitat use of buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer) in the Nama-Karoo, South Africa.
- Authors
Venter, Jan A.; Watson, Laurence H.
- Abstract
Here we studied the the diet and habitat use of buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer) on Doornkloof Nature Reserve (DNR) in the Nama-Karoo, South Africa. The buffalo were predominantly grazers. Only seven grass species formed the bulk of their diet and marked seasonal shifts were observed in the contribution of these species to the diet of buffalo. Eragrostis lehmanniana and Sporobolus fimbriatusformed most of the food eaten in the wet seasons but contributed little to the diet in the dry season. By contrast, T. triandracontributed little to the diet in the wet seasons but formed the bulk of the diet in the dry season. This pattern appears to be related to the distribution of and to the seasonal changes in the acceptability of these grass species to buffalo. In the wet seasons the buffalo mainly foraged in the lowland habitats adjacent to riverine thickets containing E. lehmanniana and S. fimbriatus which were favoured by buffalo at this time. This pattern changed in the dry season when the buffalo ranged further from the cover of the riverine thicket and moved through the lowland habitats into the upland habitats where Themeda triandra, which was favoured in the dry season, was abundant. The favourable nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations recorded in buffalo feacal samples on DNR suggests that buffalo are likely to perform well in this environment and the population growth appears to confirm this.
- Subjects
SOUTH Africa; AFRICAN buffalo; ANIMAL feeding; LOVE grass; SPOROBOLUS; THEMEDA; NITROGEN; PHOSPHORUS; HABITATS
- Publication
South African Journal of Wildlife Research, 2008, Vol 38, Issue 1, p42
- ISSN
0379-4369
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3957/0379-4369-38.1.42