Abstract:
Savannah grasslands are occupied by large mammal herbivores whose ecological
separation between and within each guild have resulted to different foraging strategies and
preference for forage differing in attributes to reduce competition between them.
Therefore, the current study aimed at: 1) measuring the relative use of burnt and non-burnt
areas by waterbuck, wildebeest and reedbuck, and their possible shifts between the two
patches over time; 2) assessing forage characteristics in grazed sites on burnt and non-
burnt sites along with the post fire nutritive quality of the grasses; and 3) testing the notion
that waterbuck is an intermediate grazer between wildebeest, a bulk grazer and Bohor
reedbuck, a selective grazer. The study was conducted during dry season in Saadan
National Park, a moist, tall-grass savanna. The animals were found not equally distributed
between the two grassland patches, with most occupying burned areas. On the other hand,
previously grazed patches were actively selected for feeding, and Nitrogen content of the
main forage grass species was high in grass samples collected 80 days since fire. Contrary,
NDF and ADF concentrations were very low in grass samples collected 80 days post fire
but increased after six months. Reedbuck had the shortest bout lengths for all behaviours
whereas waterbuck showed the longest bout sessions. Reedbuck grazed at taller grass
height than waterbuck and wildebeest grazed the shortest grassland patches. Wildebeest
grazed mainly on Panicum infestum despite of its greenness status while the waterbuck
and reedbuck grazed mostly on green materials. The non-random patterns in animal’s
distribution between burnt and non-burnt grassland patches suggests that fire is an
important adaptive management strategy for Saadani National Park.
