 Reference Base  Behaviour of large mammals during the formation of Lake K... |
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Child, G., 1968. Behaviour of large mammals during the formation of Lake Kariba. Salisbury and Bulawayo, Trustees of the National Museums of Rhodesia, pp. i-vi, 1-123
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| Location: |
Africa - Southern Africa - Zimbabwe |
| Subject: |
Ecology - Food |
| Species: |
Black Rhino |
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Kariba, Zimbabwe. Black rhino are generally accepted as browsers of a variety of trees, bushes and shrubs, although they seldom eat much grass. They experienced shortages of food as islands diminished in size, which may have led to the deaths of two very small calves and an adult, but Roth and Child have argued that this had little effect on the structure of the population, although most marooned rhino were thin.
The plants eaten by three rhino on Island 17, based on observations of undisturbed feeding and the obvious signs of browsing, included Combretum apiculatum, Diospyros quiloensis, Holmskioldia spinescens, Dichrostachys cinerea, and traces of mopane were found in a few droppings. These were similar to the plaints taken by other browsers, especially impala, the most numerous species on the island, and suggest considerable competition for food. This may have caused the three rhino to feed in the shallows, where impala never went, and was substantiated by the following incident. One of the rhino had broken down a branch of Combretum apiculatum and was defending it from a grysbuck, an impala and a bushbuck. In this it was not very successful, as usually, when lunging after one of them, the other two were able to nip in and feed.
The breaking down of small trees or branches up to four and a half inches in diameter was more prevalent on this island than in any other area investigated on the Lake. It was done with the chin and meant rhino could obtain food from above the clear browse line left by impala (page 78). This behaviour in response to food shortages is common in Hluhluwe according to Dean, who describes areas of two or three acres in which most of the Acacia karroo is damaged.
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