 Reference Base  The conservation status of the black rhinoceros (Diceros ... |
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| Location: |
Africa - Eastern Africa - Tanzania |
| Subject: |
Ecology - Census Methods |
| Species: |
Black Rhino |
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The count. The animals in the Crater floor are very conspicuous and this therefore justifies a total count which gives a real minimum number of animals to be counted but with the limitation in estimating the number of animals missing during the actual count. In this study, a total ground count was employed in order to enable the present results to he compared with the aerial count carried out by Ecosystems Limited (Nairobi).
The total count was carried out during the day (08.00-17.00 hours) and during the night from May to August, 1978. A Crater map 1 : 158400, compiled from aerial Photographs, was used on the count blocks that were used earlier by Turner & Watson (1964); each block being bounded by some easily recognizable physical feature (see Fig. 2). A Land-rover was driven to cover each block adequately and this was facilitated by the absence of thick vegetation cover except in Block number 2 where a different method had to be used. Most of the rhinos were counted visually and photographed simultaneously. Four observers stood at the back of the vehicle and 7 x 35 binoculars were used to determine the sex ratios. The census was replicated four times on four different days during the wet season when the rhinos were presumed to utilize the Crater floor more intensively.
Block 2, the Lerai forest, and the swamp block adjoining it were counted only during early mornings and late evenings during which time the rhinos in these areas were easily spotted.
Identification
The shape of horns, misshapen or otherwise deformed ears, prominent scars on the body, the morphology of the tail, sex, and the pattern of the wrinkle contours on the snout provided sufficient details for the recognition of the resident rhinos in the Crater floor. A card system with close-up photographs (taken with the aid of 200 mm Pentax lens) of the head and both sides of the animal, and a detailed description of its characteristics as established by Klingel & Klingel (1966) and Goddard (1966) was used.
Most of the rhinos which were identified by Goddard (1966), Klingel & Klingel (1966) could not be identified in the present study. These rhinos may either have changed their morphology with the lapse of time or succumbed to natural mortality.
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