Africa Wild

Dzombo wrote:

JoeKing wrote:The buffs are doing well. Over 120. They were introduced into the wilderness area as there are fewer lions. They did this because the herd is TB free. These animals are worth a few rands and NWT were protecting their investment.

I was reading in one of my Pilanesberg books last night. Apparently 19 buffs were originaly introduced.
If there are 120 now, 30 or so years later, I make that a roughly 6% increase (maths was never my strong point )
But that seems to be low?
How would that compare to the % increase in Kruger for eg?

maybe some have been auctioned off?

i also heard a story on na night drive, i don not know how true it is, but it was rather shocking to me.

Due to the small size of the park and the lion numbers, that there have been times that male lions were hunted(like culling them, but then by a "trophy hunter" paying big bucks).
specific lions, problem animals/older animals, were the targets.

These hunts usually took place on the western wilderness side of the pack.(sorry off topic).

My issue with the numbers are, if 20 were introduced, lets say 15 females and 5 males. after 30 years there should have been some inbreeding already.
This is the same issue that is going to happen with the cheetahs. ATM 5 males 2 groups with the one group being of spring and 1 female.

Pretty soon they will need to bring in another female(if there is a female amongst Rain's new cubs a trade would be easier, as the females are of a much higher value then the males.

Here is hoping that the corridore to Madikwe is completed soon so the animals can spread out a bit and get some new blood in the gene pool

The buffalo were seen at the Pilanesberg Centre last week!