Final Report Summary - LOCATE (Locomotion, hunting and habitat utilisation among large African carnivores and their prey)
The LOCATE project studied cursorial predators and their prey in their natural habitat of the African savannah. We made discoveries that may contribute to the survival of endangered species and inventions that have the potential to change the way we study wild, free-ranging animals.
The cursorial predators - lions, leopards, cheetahs, African wild dogs and hyenas - all catch prey after a pursuit where acceleration, speed, endurance and agility are critical to the outcome of the hunt. The predator's hunting tactics must be successful frequently enough for the energy from food gained to exceed the metabolic cost expended hunting. These hunting tactics are attributed to the predator's body size, group size, ability to hunt as a group, endurance, speed and agility, and so vary with each species individual traits.
The predators’ main herbivore prey in the study area - impala, zebra, steenbok, kudu and wildebeest - run and manoeuvre to evade capture; some also travel significant distances to feed and get water.
The key objectives of the LOCATE project were to:
1. Determine the dynamics, mechanics and extent of economical and extreme locomotion in predator and prey using innovative technology.
2. Determine the muscle physiology including power and economy of muscle tissue from some of the same species using field measurements to characterise muscle environment (contraction speed, duty cycle at preferred speeds) and dissections to determine musculoskeletal arrangement.
3. Study locomotor behaviour and ecology from an energetic and ecological perspective: ranging cost, group hunting strategies, habitat use in relation to predation and hunting, locomotor strategies in response to limited resources (water, food).
To study the locomotion of wild, free-ranging animals without affecting their behaviour, we developed long-life tracking collars equipped with GPS and accelerometers, magnetometers and gyroscopes. Most of the field research was undertaken in the Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana, where all the study species can be found. We fitted collars to lions, cheetahs, leopards and African wild dogs, and their main prey species of zebra, impala and wildebeest and collected locomotion data year-round for five years. We also investigated how the study animals use their environment. We conducted surveys of hunt routes by plotting GPS data from collars on terrain maps obtained by surveys from our research aircraft, which was equipped with LIDAR ground scanning technology and video cameras. We also mapped and surveyed the routes used by zebras when travelling between their grazing grounds and water source at the Boteti River.
Key findings
1. Our research showed that African wild dogs, which were thought to survive on an energetic knife-edge and to hunt as a pack, in this study have a favourable energy balance and hunt opportunistically as individuals, although the prey is shared with the pack. It has brought fresh insights into the basis and benefits of cooperative hunting in African wild dogs, revealing their hunting tactics and energetic balance.
2. We compared locomotor characteristics in two predator–prey pairs, lion–zebra and cheetah–impala, in their natural habitat in Botswana. We showed that although cheetahs and impalas were more athletic than lions and zebras in terms of speed, acceleration and turning, within each predator–prey pair, the predators had 20% higher muscle fibre power than prey, 37% greater acceleration and 72% greater deceleration capacity than their prey. We simulated hunt dynamics with these data and showed that hunts at lower speeds enable prey to use their maximum manoeuvring capacity and favour prey survival, and that the predator needs to be more athletic than its prey to sustain a viable success rate.
3. In their dry season range, zebra only drink every 2-5 days and between drinking travel up to 30km from the river, their main water source. We mapped the extensive network of major zebra 'highways' and showed that zebra use multiple parallel tracks and can return to their course if perturbed from it. This has implications for the distribution of fences inside zebra home ranges.
4. To relate what is happening at the muscle level to what is happening at the whole animal level, we took small muscle samples from all our study species to determine muscle power, velocity and efficiency of generating force and work. The most interesting results came from wildebeest, a herbivore known for its long distance migrations. Their muscles showed a remarkable level of economy, which enable them to undertake long distance movements and minimise heat accumulation. This enables them to exploit resources far from drinking locations.
The findings from the project have the potential to deliver positive impact through:
- wildlife conservation, by revealing the preferred habitat in which endangered and threatened species of carnivores hunt successfully;
- understanding the study species, which may in future need to change their ranging patterns in response to new anthropogenic features (roads, fences) or climate change as water and vegetation availability changes;
- high value data sets on locomotion and ranging behaviour of endangered and threatened species which may never be collected again at such quality and resolution. Comparison of these data from wild animals with captive or captive-bred animals may provide insights into differences and improve the success rate of reintroduction projects.
Further scientific impact is likely to be achieved through the technology, which has been designed to be affordable and adaptable for other applications. We have published the designs for the wildlife collars and expect that they have the potential to transform data collection in a wide range of ecology and ecophysiology applications. The research aircraft and its onboard technologies for aerial data collection could make sophisticated aerial survey, filming and tracking accessible to researchers, NGOs, government and commercial operators.
Further description of the project and a full list of publications can be found at www.rvc.ac.uk/LOCATE.
The research team thank the Government of Botswana, especially the Ministry of the Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, for their support in the conduct of this research.
The cursorial predators - lions, leopards, cheetahs, African wild dogs and hyenas - all catch prey after a pursuit where acceleration, speed, endurance and agility are critical to the outcome of the hunt. The predator's hunting tactics must be successful frequently enough for the energy from food gained to exceed the metabolic cost expended hunting. These hunting tactics are attributed to the predator's body size, group size, ability to hunt as a group, endurance, speed and agility, and so vary with each species individual traits.
The predators’ main herbivore prey in the study area - impala, zebra, steenbok, kudu and wildebeest - run and manoeuvre to evade capture; some also travel significant distances to feed and get water.
The key objectives of the LOCATE project were to:
1. Determine the dynamics, mechanics and extent of economical and extreme locomotion in predator and prey using innovative technology.
2. Determine the muscle physiology including power and economy of muscle tissue from some of the same species using field measurements to characterise muscle environment (contraction speed, duty cycle at preferred speeds) and dissections to determine musculoskeletal arrangement.
3. Study locomotor behaviour and ecology from an energetic and ecological perspective: ranging cost, group hunting strategies, habitat use in relation to predation and hunting, locomotor strategies in response to limited resources (water, food).
To study the locomotion of wild, free-ranging animals without affecting their behaviour, we developed long-life tracking collars equipped with GPS and accelerometers, magnetometers and gyroscopes. Most of the field research was undertaken in the Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana, where all the study species can be found. We fitted collars to lions, cheetahs, leopards and African wild dogs, and their main prey species of zebra, impala and wildebeest and collected locomotion data year-round for five years. We also investigated how the study animals use their environment. We conducted surveys of hunt routes by plotting GPS data from collars on terrain maps obtained by surveys from our research aircraft, which was equipped with LIDAR ground scanning technology and video cameras. We also mapped and surveyed the routes used by zebras when travelling between their grazing grounds and water source at the Boteti River.
Key findings
1. Our research showed that African wild dogs, which were thought to survive on an energetic knife-edge and to hunt as a pack, in this study have a favourable energy balance and hunt opportunistically as individuals, although the prey is shared with the pack. It has brought fresh insights into the basis and benefits of cooperative hunting in African wild dogs, revealing their hunting tactics and energetic balance.
2. We compared locomotor characteristics in two predator–prey pairs, lion–zebra and cheetah–impala, in their natural habitat in Botswana. We showed that although cheetahs and impalas were more athletic than lions and zebras in terms of speed, acceleration and turning, within each predator–prey pair, the predators had 20% higher muscle fibre power than prey, 37% greater acceleration and 72% greater deceleration capacity than their prey. We simulated hunt dynamics with these data and showed that hunts at lower speeds enable prey to use their maximum manoeuvring capacity and favour prey survival, and that the predator needs to be more athletic than its prey to sustain a viable success rate.
3. In their dry season range, zebra only drink every 2-5 days and between drinking travel up to 30km from the river, their main water source. We mapped the extensive network of major zebra 'highways' and showed that zebra use multiple parallel tracks and can return to their course if perturbed from it. This has implications for the distribution of fences inside zebra home ranges.
4. To relate what is happening at the muscle level to what is happening at the whole animal level, we took small muscle samples from all our study species to determine muscle power, velocity and efficiency of generating force and work. The most interesting results came from wildebeest, a herbivore known for its long distance migrations. Their muscles showed a remarkable level of economy, which enable them to undertake long distance movements and minimise heat accumulation. This enables them to exploit resources far from drinking locations.
The findings from the project have the potential to deliver positive impact through:
- wildlife conservation, by revealing the preferred habitat in which endangered and threatened species of carnivores hunt successfully;
- understanding the study species, which may in future need to change their ranging patterns in response to new anthropogenic features (roads, fences) or climate change as water and vegetation availability changes;
- high value data sets on locomotion and ranging behaviour of endangered and threatened species which may never be collected again at such quality and resolution. Comparison of these data from wild animals with captive or captive-bred animals may provide insights into differences and improve the success rate of reintroduction projects.
Further scientific impact is likely to be achieved through the technology, which has been designed to be affordable and adaptable for other applications. We have published the designs for the wildlife collars and expect that they have the potential to transform data collection in a wide range of ecology and ecophysiology applications. The research aircraft and its onboard technologies for aerial data collection could make sophisticated aerial survey, filming and tracking accessible to researchers, NGOs, government and commercial operators.
Further description of the project and a full list of publications can be found at www.rvc.ac.uk/LOCATE.
The research team thank the Government of Botswana, especially the Ministry of the Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, for their support in the conduct of this research.