African wild dog dispersal and implications for management

Successful conservation of species that roam and disperse over large areas requires detailed

understanding of their movement patterns and connectivity between subpopulations. But empirical information

on movement, space use, and connectivity is lacking for many species, and data acquisition is

often hindered when study animals cross international borders. The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus)

exemplifies such species that require vast undisturbed areas to support viable, self‐sustaining populations.

To study wild dog dispersal and investigate potential barriers to movements and causes of mortality during

dispersal, between 2016 and 2019 we followed the fate of 16 dispersing coalitions (i.e., same‐sex group of

≥1 dispersing African wild dogs) in northern Botswana through global positioning system (GPS)‐satellite

telemetry. Dispersing wild dogs covered ≤54 km in 24 hours and traveled 150 km to Namibia and 360km

to Zimbabwe within 10 days. Wild dogs were little hi...

对大范围漫游和扩散的物种进行有效保护，需要深入了解其移动模式及亚种群间的连通性。然而，许多物种的移动、空间利用及连通性相关实证信息仍较为匮乏；且当研究对象跨越国境时，数据采集往往会受到阻碍。非洲野狗（Lycaon pictus）便是这类物种的典型代表——它们需要广阔的未受干扰区域，以维持可存活、能自我维持的种群。为研究非洲野狗的扩散行为、探究其移动过程中的潜在障碍及扩散期间的死亡原因，2016至2019年间，我们通过全球定位系统（GPS）卫星遥测技术，追踪了博茨瓦纳北部16个扩散联盟（即由≥1只扩散中的非洲野狗组成的同性群体）的命运。扩散中的非洲野狗24小时内行进距离≤54公里，且在10天内可抵达150公里外的纳米比亚及360公里外的津巴布韦。非洲野狗几乎未受到...