APPLIED TOPOGRAPHIC-ANATOMICAL STUDIES OF EAST AFRICAN GAME RUMINANTS

The topographic relationships of the so-called “vital centres” like the spinal chord brain, heart and major blood vessels of East African game ruminants are discussed, using the impala and the buffalo as type animals for a series of diagrams. Anatomical conditions in relation to the effect of shots in the various body regions are demonstrated with the aim of reducing irresponsible and painful wounding of game animals. Investigations and diagrams are based upon material from 59 animals of 18 species; of these, 47 animals were formalin-fixed and dissected in a natural standing position.     

The forager's dilemma: food sharing and food defense as risk-sensitive foraging options

Although many variants of the hawk-dove game predict the frequency at which group foraging animals should compete aggressively, none of them can explain why a large number of group foraging animals share food clumps without any overt aggression. One reason for this shortcoming is that hawk-dove games typically consider only a single contest, while most group foraging situations involve opponents that interact repeatedly over discovered food clumps. The present iterated hawk-dove game predicts that in situations that are analogous to a prisoner's dilemma, animals should share the resources without aggression, provided that the number of simultaneously available food clumps is sufficiently large and the number of competitors is relatively small. However, given that the expected gain of an aggressive animal is more variable than the gain expected by nonaggressive individuals, the predicted effect of the number of food items in a clump-clump richness-depends on whether only the mean or both the mean and variability associated with payoffs are considered. More precisely, the deterministic game predicts that aggression should increase with clump richness, whereas the stochastic risk-sensitive game predicts that the frequency of encounters resulting in aggression should peak at intermediate clump richnesses or decrease with increasing clump richness if animals show sensitivity to the variance or coefficient of variation, respectively.     

If animals know their own fighting ability, the evolutionarily stable level of fighting is reduced

We consider a version of the Hawk-Dove game in which an animal knows its own fighting ability but not the ability of its opponent. For this game at evolutionary stability there is a critical level of ability such that animals with ability greater than the critical level play Hawk and animals with ability below the critical level play Dove. We define the level of fighting to be the probability of a Hawk-Hawk fight when two opponents meet. We show that even if an animal does not know the ability of its opponent, knowing its own ability results in a lower level of fighting at evolutionary stability than is found in the standard Hawk-Dove game in which there are no differences in ability or abilities are not known.     

A FIELD GUIDE TO THE RECORDING OF PARASITIC INFESTATION OF GAME ANIMALS

The importance of a survey of parasites in various game areas in East Africa is outlined both from the point of view of understanding the ecosystem and of exploiting its productivity. The commonly-encountered parasites are described and their normal locations in the host are given. Standard ways of classifying and assessing the degree of infestation by these major parasites are suggested, and the most appropriate manner of preserving specimens for subsequent examination is noted. A check-sheet for the recording of parasites in a post-mortem examination of game animals is included. Such a check-sheet, completed as suggested, together with adequate well-labelled collections, should be of great value in building up a general picture of the incidence and degree of parasitic infestation of various host animals in East African game areas.     

Do levels of income explain differences in game abundance? An empirical test in two Honduran villages

Although researchers have documented the role of anthropogenic huntingpressure on the abundance of game, few have measured the direct effects ofincome or economic development on game abundance. Economic theory tends topredict an ambiguous causal relation between income and the abundance of game.Here we test whether income (a standard proxy of economic development) erodesthe abundance of game in two Tawahka Amerindian villages in the rain forest ofHonduras. The two villages have similar ecologies and weather and lie 17km apart but differ in income, population size, wealth, thepresence of outside institutions, and hunting pressure. A census of animals doneover 2 continuous years suggests that the richer village had less game andrelatively fewer large-bodied animals. At the level of animal groups (e.g.,mammals) or individual species, or when we include controls for the simultaneouseffect of vegetation type, distance from the start of the hunting trail, andtime of the year through a random-effect probit model, the two villages displayno statistically significant differences in game abundance. A random-effect,multivariate tobit model, in fact, suggests that being in the more remotevillage correlated with 43.5% fewer animals seen in any one encounter; resultswere significant at the 99% confidence level. The conclusions contain adiscussion of why income might produce ambiguous effects on game abundance andthe tradeoffs of using bivariate and multivariate techniques to analyze thecovariates of game abundance in the tropical rain forests of the New World.     

Environmental factors affect swing gates as a barrier to large carnivores entering game farms

Burrowing animals such as warthog (Phacochoerus africanus), Cape porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) and aardvark (Orycteropus afer) are able to compromise the integrity of fenced‐in farmlands by digging holes under game fences. These holes provide access for predators to enter the farm where they can kill livestock or captive game animals. Data collected from the use of swing gates (n = 263) installed along a 23.93 km game fence in the Otjozondjupa region of Namibia was analysed to determine the factors that influenced their efficacy at reducing hole creation along the fence by digging animals. Statistical analyses revealed that soil substrate, grass height, vegetation density, distance to the nearest permanent water source and season influenced digging activity along the fence line. The number of holes created and reopened decreased over time from the start of the study period, probably demonstrating that burrowing animals had learnt to use the swing gates rather than dig holes under the fence. These factors can inform the correct future usage of swing gates as a large predator exclusion method to ensure that they do not enter game farms, which will reduce the need to lethally control carnivores and burrowing animals.     

Social Eavesdropping: A Game-Theoretic Analysis

Here we extend the classic Hawk-Dove model of animal conflict to allow for continuous variation in fighting strengths. Whereas the winner of a fight is chosen at random in the discrete game, in our continuous game, the winner of any fight is the stronger individual, and costs are higher for more evenly matched opponents. We identify the evolutionary stable strength threshold beyond which an animal should be prepared to engage in aggressive behaviour and show that this threshold increases with variance in fighting strength when the costs of aggression are insensitive to the level of strength asymmetry, but decreases with variance when the costs are sensitive to the level of asymmetry. In contrast to the classic discrete game, population-wide aggressive behaviour occurs only when the costs of fighting are zero. It is now known that animals can eavesdrop on the outcome of contests between neighbours and modify their behaviour towards observed winners and losers. We therefore further extend our model to allow for social eavesdropping within networks comprising three individuals. Whereas earlier work showed that eavesdropping increases the frequency of mutually aggressive contests in the discrete game by enhancing the value of victory, here we show that aggression thresholds in the continuous game are always higher with eavesdropping than without it: for sufficiently weak animals, avoiding the costs of challenging an observed winner over-rides the potential benefit of winning, so that eavesdropping reduces the frequency of aggressive encounters. Thus, even though strength is not directly observable, information is extracted from the variation in fighting ability that the classic Hawk-Dove game ignores.     

Hunting as a source of alien species: a European review

Hunting activities are responsible for the translocation and restocking of millions of animals throughout Europe, including the introduction of alien species. In a context of the growing use of game translocations and of increasing concern about the impact of biological invasions, our goal is to review the role of alien species introduced primarily for hunting purposes on the European scale. In particular, we explore: (1) the relative importance of game species in the context of alien species introductions; (2) the temporal evolution of the number of species introduced for hunting purposes; (3) the contribution of different taxa; (4) the pattern of introduced game species composition across countries (in terms of similarity), and (5) the underlying human demographic factors driving the diversity of introduced game species per country. According to our results, 24.3% of the mammals and 30.2% of the birds introduced into Europe during the last century were released primarily for hunting purposes, in total, 93 species (63 birds and 36 mammals), the most important taxa being Artiodactyls, Anseriformes and Galliformes. The species composition differed among countries, with a higher diversity of introduced game species in larger countries and in those with a higher human population density and proportion of hunters. This review stresses that hunting was a significant pathway for the introduction of invasive species into Europe in the last century. Since some of the game species introduced have had severe environmental impacts on many European regions, and introductions of non-native game species are still occurring, it is essential to improve regulations and increase public awareness regarding invasive game animals. This will help to preserve biodiversity and improve the sustainability of current hunting schemes in increasingly managed European ecosystems.     

The abundance of large wild herbivores in a semi-arid savanna in relation to seasons, pans and livestock

Large herbivores, including livestock and ostrich, were counted along a 200-km long track in south-western Kalahari, Botswana. Altogether, 37 counts were made during different seasons. The number of animals seen and group size were recorded. These variables were compared with monthly and accumulated rainfall (number of animals and group size) and distance to pans (number of animals). Observations of game and livestock were also related to distance to villages. In four of the seven studied species, most animals were seen during the wet season. Group size also varied between seasons apart from the non-gregarious steenbok and duiker. Number of animals and group size were in some cases correlated with rainfall during the month of observation or with accumulated rainfall during the preceding months. The various species were more often observed close to pans than further away from the pans. Compared to livestock, game was on average observed >10 km further away from the villages. Few observations of game were made between village centres and the livestock observations most distant from the village.     

Big game hunting in New Zealand: per capita effort,harvest and expenditure in 2011–2012

Recreational big game hunters make a significant contribution to conservation through kills of deer, pigs, chamois and tahr. New opportunities for managing recreational hunting through the proposed Game Animal Council underscore the need to understand the implications of potential changes in recreational hunting participation and harvests. Based on a survey of hunters' recall over a year, hunters averaged 15.63 (SEM = 0.58) big game hunts per year, spending 30.53 (SEM = 0.85) days hunting and killing 8.92 (SEM = 0.69) big game animals. Hunters commonly targeted several species on a single hunt, with highly skewed distributions for hunter effort and kills. Mean monthly expenditure on big game hunting items was $296.78 (SEM = $8.95). Results demonstrate that big game hunting is a significant activity in New Zealand, but this varies considerably among hunters with a small number responsible for the vast majority of kills. These are important considerations for future big game hunting management.     

Game,farming, and interethnic relations in Northeastern Luzon,Philippines

Data on hunting success, game habits, and vegetational cover in one area of the Philippines indicate that as farmers expand the area under cultivation, they create on the growing forest-field ecotone the biotope upon which some game animals are dependent. This accounts in part for the distribution of hunting populations on the peripheries of farming settlement. Contrary to the usual interpretations of Southeast Asian prehistory and of the distribution of contemporary populations, agricultural expansion may, because of edge effect, support a higher density of game, and consequently may be conducive to the persistence of a hunting-gathering way of life.     

Lead exposure in free-flying turkey vultures is associated with big game hunting in California

Predatory and scavenging birds are at risk of lead exposure when they feed on animals injured or killed by lead ammunition. While lead ammunition has been banned from waterfowl hunting in North America for almost two decades, lead ammunition is still widely used for hunting big game and small game animals. In this study, we evaluated the association between big game hunting and blood lead concentration in an avian scavenger species that feeds regularly on large mammals in California. We compared blood lead concentration in turkey vultures within and outside of the deer hunting season, and in areas with varying wild pig hunting intensity. Lead exposure in turkey vultures was significantly higher during the deer hunting season compared to the off-season, and blood lead concentration was positively correlated with increasing wild pig hunting intensity. Our results link lead exposure in turkey vultures to deer and wild pig hunting activity at these study sites, and we provide evidence that spent lead ammunition in carrion poses a significant risk of lead exposure to scavengers.     

The failure of the introduction of wild boar Sus scrofa in the island of Cyprus: a case study

Wild boar (Sus scrofa L.) were introduced in the island of Cyprus in 1990, when five animals were imported from Greece for game farming. In 1994, wild boars were illegally released in Lemesos (Limassol) Forest and in 1996 in the Troodos National Forest Park. Soon the population increased and dispersed throughout the park. In 1997, the government of Cyprus decided to eradicate wild boar because of the danger of transmitting diseases to livestock and to prevent possible environmental destruction. To control the wild boar, hunting was permitted and game wardens were instructed to eliminate the free-ranging animals. In 2004, no animals were observed in localities where they had been seen before. Surveys in September 2004 (Troodos National Park) and January/February 2005 (Troodos Forest, Pafos Forest, and Lemesos Forest) revealed no signs of recent wild boar presence. The reasons for the possible failure of wild boar to establish in Cyprus are discussed.     

Control hunting of wild animals: health,money, or pleasure?

In many parts of the world, millions of wildlife species are hunted for sport, food, skins, and other products. In recent years, a backlash has emerged from certain groups of society against this long-standing human pursuit. However, attitudes towards the control of wild animals to reduce the health risk to other animals, to lessen agricultural damage, or to protect game species, may generate a different reaction, where even killing is tolerated. In this paper, we analyze the public’s acceptance of control hunting in Andalusia (southern Spain). Our results suggest that lethal control to improve domestic animal health is highly accepted (75%) is more controversial when animals are killed for damaging crops (59% acceptance) and is highly unaccepted when the goal is to enhance game species numbers (22% acceptance). Older people and males, in particular, accept more readily some of these control-hunting measures. These results are needed to understand better the public attitudes on which conservation managers can base their decisions when control hunting is required.     

conservation in the bush: game breeding centres in South Africa

Approximately 5% of the Republic of South Africa is set aside for national parks, nature reserves, private game reserves or wilderness areas. Within these areas a large variety of animals and plant species is protected. Many of these species are indigenous to the Southern African subregion. Most of the zoological gardens in South Africa are owned privately or by a municipality. The zoo in Pretoria is the only one which has national status. In addition to facilities in Pretoria, the National Zoological Gardens owns two game breeding centres covering an area of more than 7000 ha. The game breeding centres act as important gene pool reservoirs and are used for the breeding of threatened species. They thus fulfill an important role in conserving threatened species and, in some cases, supplementing dwindling populations in protected areas.     

Potential Hazard to Human Health from Exposure to Fragments of Lead Bullets and Shot in the Tissues of Game Animals

Background

Lead is highly toxic to animals. Humans eating game killed using lead ammunition generally avoid swallowing shot or bullets and dietary lead exposure from this source has been considered low. Recent evidence illustrates that lead bullets fragment on impact, leaving small lead particles widely distributed in game tissues. Our paper asks whether lead gunshot pellets also fragment upon impact, and whether lead derived from spent gunshot and bullets in the tissues of game animals could pose a threat to human health.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Wild-shot gamebirds (6 species) obtained in the UK were X-rayed to determine the number of shot and shot fragments present, and cooked using typical methods. Shot were then removed to simulate realistic practice before consumption, and lead concentrations determined. Data from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate Statutory Surveillance Programme documenting lead levels in raw tissues of wild gamebirds and deer, without shot being removed, are also presented. Gamebirds containing ≥5 shot had high tissue lead concentrations, but some with fewer or no shot also had high lead concentrations, confirming X-ray results indicating that small lead fragments remain in the flesh of birds even when the shot exits the body. A high proportion of samples from both surveys had lead concentrations exceeding the European Union Maximum Level of 100 ppb w.w. (0.1 mg kg⁻¹ w.w.) for meat from bovine animals, sheep, pigs and poultry (no level is set for game meat), some by several orders of magnitude. High, but feasible, levels of consumption of some species could result in the current FAO/WHO Provisional Weekly Tolerable Intake of lead being exceeded.

Conclusions/Significance

The potential health hazard from lead ingested in the meat of game animals may be larger than previous risk assessments indicated, especially for vulnerable groups, such as children, and those consuming large amounts of game.     

Asynchronous snowdrift game with synergistic effect as a model of cooperation

The snowdrift (or chicken) game emerges as a new paradigm inthe study of nonkin cooperation in animals. Many situations,for example, cooperative hunting, group foraging, territorialdefense, predator watching, or parental care, can be adequatelydescribed as a snowdrift game. In this paper, we investigatethe asynchronous version of the game in which, contrary to therather unrealistic assumption of simultaneous moves, one ofthe players acts first and the other responds by knowing itsdecision. Players are assigned to be first or second moversrandomly and with the same probability. We found that both asynergistic effect of cooperation (i.e., cooperative effortis better than the sum of the individual efforts) and populationstructure (low dispersal, spatial confinement, or group formation)are crucial for mutual cooperation to emerge. Otherwise, onlyone of the players will carry the burden of cooperation.     

High influenza a virus infection rates in mallards bred for hunting in the camargue, South of france

During the last decade, the role of wildlife in emerging pathogen transmission to domestic animals has often been pointed out. Conversely, far less attention has been paid to pathogen transmission from domestic animals to wildlife. Here, we focus on the case of game restocking, which implies the release of millions of animals worldwide each year. We conducted a 2-year study in the Camargue (Southern France) to investigate the influence of hand-reared Mallard releases on avian influenza virus dynamics in surrounding wildlife. We sampled Mallards (cloacal swabs) from several game duck facilities in 2009 and 2010 before their release. A very high (99%) infection rate caused by an H10N7 strain was detected in the game bird facility we sampled in 2009. We did not detect this strain in shot ducks we sampled, neither during the 2008/2009 nor the 2009/2010 hunting seasons. In 2010 infection rates ranged from 0 to 24% in hand-reared ducks. The 2009 H10N7 strain was fully sequenced. It results from multiple reassortment events between Eurasian low pathogenic strains. Interestingly, H10N7 strains had previously caused human infections in Egypt and Australia. The H10 and N7 segments we sequenced were clearly distinct from the Australian ones but they belonged to the same large cluster as the Egyptian ones. We did not observe any mutation linked to increased virulence, transmission to mammals, or antiviral resistance in the H10N7 strain we identified. Our results indicate that the potential role of hand-reared Mallards in influenza virus epizootics must be taken into account given the likely risk of viral exchange between game bird facilities and wild habitats, owing to duck rearing conditions. Measures implemented to limit transmission from wildlife to domestic animals as well as measures to control transmission from domestic animals to wild ones need to be equally reinforced.     

Prey preferences of free‐ranging cheetahs on farmland: scat analysis versus farmers' perceptions

Human–predator conflict is one of the biggest threats to large carnivore species worldwide. Its intensity is closely linked to farmer's attitudes and perceptions of predators. As a result, farmers' estimates of the number of livestock or game‐stock animals killed by predators are often formed based on the perceived number of predators present and their perceivably favoured prey species. This study aims to examine the prey preferences of cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus in relation to farmers' perceptions and the relative contribution of livestock and game‐stock to the cheetahs' diet. Cheetahs' prey preferences were determined through the cross‐sectional analysis of prey hair, found in cheetah scat. Cheetahs were found to predominantly prey on free‐ranging abundant game species, primarily kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros. Game ranchers overestimated the prominence of game‐stock to the cheetahs' diet, especially springbok Antidorcas marsupialis. Potential reasons for these discrepancies and the importance of abundant natural prey as a potential human–predator coexistence strategy are discussed.     

Impact of environmental diversity of hunting complexes in the Lublin region on ontogenetic quality indicators in roe deer (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Capreolus capreolus</Emphasis>)

Populations of game are not confined to single ecosystems but function within higher-order units, e.g. ecological landscape. The basis for the establishment of the hunting complexes was the assumption that the existing game hunting grounds, i.e. the basic units implementing game management, are too small and do not cover the natural areas inhabited by game populations. Roe deer are flexible species and easily adapt to various site conditions, so they inhabit many different habitats, from large forest complexes, through small in-field tree stands and shrubs, to treeless grounds and field monocultures. The aim of the study was to determine a possible impact of environmental conditions prevailing in the hunting complexes of the Regional Directorate of State Forests (RDLP in Lublin) on the ontogenetic quality of roe deer. The study was conducted on 518 European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) aged from 4 to 7 years (379 bucks and 139 does) harvested within hunting seasons 2010/2011–2013/2014. The results have shown that animals originating from areas with greater forest cover and denser stands are characterised by lower values of the mean ontogenetic quality parameters (carcase weight, kidney fat index, chest girth, weight of antlers) in comparison with animals from typical agricultural areas with fragmented forest complexes. These results indicate that, even in the case of such a eurytopic species as the roe deer, the ontogenetic quality differs between individual hunting complexes. The study has proved that strategies for hunting management of the roe deer should take into account the impact of the landscape structure, which provides a rationale behind creation of hunting complexes.