Africa Wild

Toko wrote:Do you know how many elephants there are by now, PJL?

The application of recommended agricultural stocking rates has provided a rough guideline and since the elephants are seldom actively managed, it has generally led to exceeding these recommendations in specific areas (such as the Addo main camp). Many of these observed changes have taken years to manifest within the ecosystem and the management challenge will be to determine whether these degradation trends are continuing. The ideal elephant density within the park (particularly the main camp) is hotly debated and the previous recommendations of 2.0 elephants/km2 (Hall-Martin & Barrat. 1991; Knight et al. 2002) has been contested by Boshoff et al. (2002) who suggest that for many of the mesic Thicket habitats in the park elephant densities should be an order of magnitude lower (i.e. 0.2 elephant/km2). The density if even lower in the xerichabitats (ranging from 0.02 – 0.16 elephant/km2) while it is highest in the thicketmosaic habitats (0.54 elephant/km2).
It is immediately evident that the current elephant population density of 2.8 elephantss/km2 in the main elephant section could significantly alter the functioning of this ecosystem. Developing and opening new sections of the park (such as the 14000 ha Nyati concession area and 11 000 ha Colchester sections) remains a short-term strategy in attempting to manage these high elephant densities. Further expansion areas are limited (including the Kabouga section) and alternative management strategies need to be investigated now. These include contraception, translocation to other reserves, shifting acceptable levels of change to vegetation communities and ultimately culling, although the latter option is not preferred (Knight et al. 2002).

Addo Elephant National Park Management Plan (2008) - Page 30 Link