Abstract

South Africa has a long record of depredation. Since 2004, renewed awareness of this conundrum has markedly increased. The question arose as to what was learnt from historic management efforts, and how farmers, managers and conservation officials can best include it in management programs. Historical reports of two government-subsidised hunt clubs that operated in the Mossel Bay district of South Africa during the late 1970s to early 1990s were analysed to determine their contribution in managing the effects of specific predators on small livestock.

Abstract

South Africa has a long history of human wildlife-conflict; predators and some other wildlife kill and maim domestic and wild animals on livestock farms and wildlife ranches. Predation losses are mostly attributed to Black-backed jackals Lupulella mesomelas and Caracal Caracal caracal, but vagrant Dogs Canis familiaris also cause losses, specifically near human settle- ments.

Abstract

Khoekhoe pastoralists living in Gobabeb, in the arid Kuiseb River Valley of central-western Namibia, keep goats (Capra hircus). Several decades ago, palaeontologist C.K. Brain collected modern skeletal remains of goats from these villages.  The goats were butchered using pocketknives with metal blades.  We investigated the frequency of butchery marks on a sub-sample of this collection, representing 60% of the total assemblage.  Most specimens in the collection are weathered.  Moreover, most goat specimens from Gobabeb lack butchery evidence and even the use of magnification only marginally increased this number. 

Abstract

As part of a collaborative long-term biodiversity monitoring programme initiated by Kolomela mine (Kumba Iron Ore) with the National Museum (Bloemfontein) and the University of the Free State (Bloemfontein) a plant species list was compiled for Kolomela mine’s property on the Ghaap Plateau.  This is the first comprehensive plant species list for this part of the Ghaap Plateau.  Kolomela mine is situated west of Postmasburg in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa.  A total of 573 plant species, representing 81 families and 311 genera, were recorded.  Four pteridophyte (ferns) taxa, 164 monocotyledons and 438 dicotyledons were collected.