As passionate travellers and conservationists, we are always looking for the latest updates from the natural world. However, with busy schedules, keeping up with all the information floating around the internet can be hard. Conservation Clips offers short conservation updates from South Africa and further afield.
These short pieces provide a basic overview of everything from new species discoveries to community conservation projects making an impact. We hope this will allow like-minded nature lovers to get their monthly dose of digestible conservation news. We condense the information into a summed-up, easy-to-digest format and include some sources for further reading.
Here are your Conservation Clips for August 2024.
Bordering on the ridiculous – double fencing to stop disease
Namibia’s current regulations now require game farmers to erect double fences if keeping wildebeest. While aiming to reduce transmission of malignant catarrhal fever (snotsiekte) between wildebeest and cattle, analysis shows the disease’s prevalence is very low. The virus can spread over long distances via insects, rendering the 10m buffer fence meaningless. Experts believe smaller wildebeest camps created by regulations may increase stress and virus shedding.
The double fence policy provides no benefits but costs farmers massive sums to implement. It negatively affects Namibia’s wildlife economy by lowering wildebeest prices and limiting their role on farms. They cannot be culled or sold. Alternatives like compensating proven cattle deaths or implementing a disease fund would achieve the goal of protecting cattle at a much lower cost. There is a vaccine abroad to resolve this issue.
Read the full story here
More Unesco World Heritage Sites for South Africa
The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa are now UNESCO’s 11th World Heritage site. The new heritage site comprises of three archaeological areas: Diepkloof Rock Shelter, Pinnacle Point Site Complex, and Sibhudu Cave. The sites offer outstanding value and demonstrate early human habitation and adaption during the Pleistocene era. Located in the provinces of Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, the excellent preservation of the sites also provides insights into past environmental changes.
This latest addition as a World Heritage Site recognises the significance of the country’s human origins story. It will help promote tourism through cultural heritage draws. It joins the well-known political sites in demonstrating South Africa’s diversity of histories recognised on the global stage.
Read the full story here
Chimpanzees and humans share traits
Researchers have found that chimpanzees engage in gestural exchanges that share similarities with the rapid back-and-forth structure of human conversations. By analysing over 8 500 gestures among 252 chimps across 5 communities, they discovered exchanges with response times averaging around 120 milliseconds apart, comparable to the 200ms average in people. Some exchanges even included multiple turns between two chimps.
There was some cultural variation, just like in humans. The timing matches observed universally in face-to-face dialogue but with slight differences depending on the community, such as Eastern chimps in Uganda’s Sonso group responding more slowly. This parallel with cultural influences on communication underscores how chimps and humans may have evolved related social interaction mechanisms.
The finding that another species engages in fast-paced gestural conversations without language implies this coordination style is not unique to people but more widespread in social animals. It suggests our conversation structures may share evolutionary origins or trajectories with those of other species.
Learn more here
South African plant benefits rare rodent
Researchers have found that the endangered Greater Stick-nest Rat, endemic to offshore Australian islands, prefers to eat the invasive African boxthorn plant over native vegetation. Analysing rat droppings, over half their diet consisted of boxthorn, despite it only making up 10% of available food sources. Rats were also more common in areas with dense boxthorn thickets, showing they utilize it for both food and shelter.
While boxthorn is one of Australia’s worst invasive weeds due to forming impenetrable thickets, disrupting wildlife habitats, some native species have benefited from its dense cover. For stick-nest rats, boxthorns’ large thorns provide excellent protection from aerial predators like birds of prey.
This does not make boxthorn a good plant – it could eventually displace too much native vegetation and collapse island ecosystems as the rats eat the seed and further spread the plant. However, the finding shows stick-nest rats’ flexibility in using boxthorn, aiding conservation efforts to reintroduce the species elsewhere within its historical range.
Find out more here.
Rabies in Cape fur seals
Experts from multiple organisations recently held a workshop to investigate the cause of unusual aggression among Cape fur seals in the Western Cape of South Africa. After reviewing the evidence, they determined that the seal population is experiencing an outbreak of rabies transmitted from domestic dogs. Rabies is now considered endemic among the seals. While some aggression is normal seal behaviour, the excessive unprovoked cases seen match rabies symptoms. The first cases of aggressive seals were reported as far back as 2022.
They recommended vaccine trials for seals in close contact with humans, but eliminating the virus is deemed unfeasible. With over two million seals, ongoing management will be required as rabies can persist at low levels. Public reporting of incidents will aid monitoring, and removing infected seals is necessary for protection.
Read more here.
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