Notes on habitat relationships of ungulates in Yankari Game Reserve, Nigeria

Yankari Game Reserve in northeastern Nigeria consists largely of savanna woodland with trees on the better soils growing to 15 m and with spreading crowns. On shallow and stony soils the tree height is generally less and the canopy is discontinuous. The Gaji River riparian zone supports a wide variety of vegetation types ranging from evergreen, closed canopy forest to sedge meadows and patches of open grassland.
Elephant ( Loxodonta africana ) range backwards and forwards along the riparian strip, feeding on perennial grasses and a variety of browse material and utilizing closed canopy forest patches for shade cover. The major movement patterns of other important herbivore species are perpendicular to the riparian strip. Areas used intensively are: waterbuck ( Kobus defassa )–open savanna woodland immediately behind the riparian strip: Western hartebeest ( Alcelaphus buselaphus major )– open grassy habitat in relatively poor woodland at middle distances from the river; Roan antelope ( Hippotragus equinus )–patches of well-developed and infrequently burned woodland, often at major distances from the river. Buffalo ( Syncerus caffer brachyceros ) during the dry season ranged between the riparian grassland areas and the more open sections of nearby savanna woodland, but travelled out to distant sections of the reserve after rainwater pools had formed.
A major problem in management was the development of a burning policy that would maintain an appropriate balance between perennial and annual grasses and the shade providing trees.