Okavango-Makgadikgadi Zebra Migration Research
project overview
The Zebra Migration Research Project started in 2008 and is ongoing. The project aims to increase our understanding of the second longest zebra (Equus quagga) migration in Africa. The zebra migration was discovered unexpectedly during field work for Okavango Herbivore Research. A proportion of the GPS-collared zebra migrated from the Okavango Delta at the onset of the rains. They travelled 290km to the Makgadikgadi grasslands to the south-east, joining the large herds of resident Makgadikgadi zebra and wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus). At the end of the wet season, once the last of the seasonal water holes dried up, they walked back to the Okavango Delta. At a 580km round-trip this is the second longest intact zebra migration in Africa.
The migration is interesting for its biology, because terrestrial migrations are increasingly rare due to habitat fragmentation, but also for its implications for conservation biology across Africa. This migration could only recently have re-started, because the route was blocked by a veterinary cordon fence until 2004, and the mechanisms governing this migrationan are therefore of interest in relation to wildlife corridors and Transfrontier parks.
The project has 4 specific aims.
1. Determine how the migratory route varies annually
2. Estimate of the size of the migratory population
3. Investigate what drives the migration: resources or predation; and how energetic strategies vary between migratory and Okavango/Makgadikgadi resident zebra
4. Investigate the genetic independence of the three populations
Research is focused on the Moremi Game Reserve, Makgadikgadi National Park and the intermediary Wildlife Management Areas, which are the areas through which the migration passes.
This project is in collaboration with the Royal Veterinary College of London, who are providing high-quality GPS collars that will record high-resolution location and energetics data.
The migration is interesting for its biology, because terrestrial migrations are increasingly rare due to habitat fragmentation, but also for its implications for conservation biology across Africa. This migration could only recently have re-started, because the route was blocked by a veterinary cordon fence until 2004, and the mechanisms governing this migrationan are therefore of interest in relation to wildlife corridors and Transfrontier parks.
The project has 4 specific aims.
1. Determine how the migratory route varies annually
2. Estimate of the size of the migratory population
3. Investigate what drives the migration: resources or predation; and how energetic strategies vary between migratory and Okavango/Makgadikgadi resident zebra
4. Investigate the genetic independence of the three populations
Research is focused on the Moremi Game Reserve, Makgadikgadi National Park and the intermediary Wildlife Management Areas, which are the areas through which the migration passes.
This project is in collaboration with the Royal Veterinary College of London, who are providing high-quality GPS collars that will record high-resolution location and energetics data.
methods
The following methods are being used in this study:
- High-quality GPS collars to record movement
- Camera traps and aerial surveys to assess population structure
- Sampling forage quality and quantity in both the Okavango Delta and Makgadikgadi
- Utilising satellite data on vegetation (NDVI) and rainfall (TRMM) variability along the migratory route and in the two home ranges
findings and publications to date
This project is ongoing. To date, the major findings include:
Outputs
Bartlam-Brooks, H.L.A., Bonyongo, M.C. & Harris, S. (2011) Will reconnecting ecosystems allow long-distance mammal migrations to resume? A case study of a zebra, Equus burchelli, migration in Botswana. Oryx, 45 (2), 210-216.
Hattie L. A. Bartlam-Brooks, Pieter S. A. Beck, Gil Bohrer and Stephen Harris. (2013) In search of greener pastures: Using satellite images to predict the effects of environmental change on zebra migration. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 118 (4), 1427-1437. DOI: 10.1002/jgrg.20096 (Research Highlight in Nature - Travelling zebra forecast the weather. Nature, 500, 124. DOI:10.1038/500124a)
- Zebra follow a highly directed route during the migration. They move quickly in an orientated fashion and can cover over 40 km/day
- This is the only published incidence of a terrestrial mammal migration restarting after a break of more than one generation
- Zebra use the weather to time their migratory movements, leaving the Delta soon after the first rains and varying their speed along the migratory route according to the amount of rain and quality of forage en route
Outputs
Bartlam-Brooks, H.L.A., Bonyongo, M.C. & Harris, S. (2011) Will reconnecting ecosystems allow long-distance mammal migrations to resume? A case study of a zebra, Equus burchelli, migration in Botswana. Oryx, 45 (2), 210-216.
Hattie L. A. Bartlam-Brooks, Pieter S. A. Beck, Gil Bohrer and Stephen Harris. (2013) In search of greener pastures: Using satellite images to predict the effects of environmental change on zebra migration. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 118 (4), 1427-1437. DOI: 10.1002/jgrg.20096 (Research Highlight in Nature - Travelling zebra forecast the weather. Nature, 500, 124. DOI:10.1038/500124a)