Survey of elephant damage to baobabs in Tanzania's Lake Manyara National Park

This 1981 survey assesses elephant-induced bark damage and mortality in the population of baobab trees at Lake Manyara National Park. Comparisons are made with a similar survey conducted there in 1969. The age structure of the baobab population is estimated and linear and exponential survivorship curves are calculated. Damage and mortality increased over the 11 year interval but the basic form of the population age structure remained unchanged. Damage was found to increase while mortality decreased with tree size. Both damage and mortality are lower in the southern part of the park where the trees are less accessible to elephants. The recorded mortality was higher than expected values taken from the calculated survivorship curves but lower than mortalities in other parks where baobabs and elephants have been found together at high densities.