Search

Elephant incursions into farms represent an important challenge for local communities and farmers living around protected areas, but also for the long-term conservation of elephants. Early detection of elephants is a promising technique to reduce elephant presence in farms and human settlements reducing human-elephant interactions. In this study we investigated the potential of infrared barriers to detect African savannah elephants Loxodonta africana. We designed and tested battery-operated photoelectric beam sensors in 12 locations of southern Tanzania and assessed the elephant detection accuracy through camera trapping for a total of 246 days. We obtained 1803 recordings of wildlife crossing the barriers range (30 different species of mammals and several bird and bat species). Our results show that infrared barriers, when located at 1.75-2.2 m high, detect 100% of adult elephants and ~ 29% of subadult elephants. Giraffes were the only other wildlife species detected by the barriers. Interestingly, large vehicles were also detected, which might be helpful to prevent motorized poaching. Given the gregarious behaviour of elephant families, and the limited access for vehicles, infrared barriers may represent an interesting and cost-effective detection system for early warning strategies in elephant-dominated areas of Africa and Asia or for other large-sized visitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The Iberian Peninsula is witnessing ever‐faster environmental changes, and new challenges for wild ungulates are continuously emerging as they become more abundant and widespread. We conducted a systematic review to analyse the knowledge on wild ungulates inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula. We used Web of Science and Scopus search engines, complemented by searches in nonindexed journals, to examine peer‐reviewed articles published between January 1990 and July 2023. The annual average growth rate in the number of publications was 17%. Most studies focussed on diseases and pathogens (36%), physiology, endocrinology and reproduction (19%), and behaviour, population and community ecology (17%). Red deer and wild boar are the most targeted species in scientific literature, followed by the Iberian wild goat, roe deer, fallow deer, Southern chamois, mouflon and aoudad. We identify key knowledge gaps that deserve further attention such as the ecological and social impacts of (re)introductions, the effects of increasing ungulate densities on ecosystem integrity and the impact of different hunting and management techniques (some unique to the Iberian Peninsula) on population dynamics. We also highlight the need to stimulate Iberian collaboration and extend the discussion to a wider range of stakeholders to integrate different perspectives on the research agenda for Iberian wild ungulates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]