Effects of human-elephant interactions at water sharing points in villages adjacent to Rungwa-Kizigo-Muhesi Game Reserve, Tanzania
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Date
2024-05
Authors
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
The sharing of water sources by humans and elephants is one of the
common practices in societies surrounding protected reserves in
rural areas across Africa. However, there is little information known
about how elephants in Tanzania utilizes water sources beyond
formal protected areas and the strategies to manage these
challenges. This study was conducted around Rungwa-Kizigo-
Muhesi Game reserve in south-western Tanzania to address the
following objectives: i) to identify the main types of water sources
that are shared by people and elephants on village land, ii) to
examine temporal patterns in elephant use of water sources on
village land, iii) to assess the number and group composition of
elephants that are using village water sources, and iv) to examine
community experiences and perceptions resulting from sharing
water sources with elephants. Data was collected via camera
trapping (n=1,369 camera-trap days between November 2021 and
May 2022), key informant interviews (n=25), and questionnaires
(n=188 households) among households adjacent to water sources
known to be used by elephants. Data from questionnaires and key
informant interviews was analyzed by Statistical Package for Social
Sciences software. The test statistics used was the chi-square
goodness of fit test to test the likelihood of respondents having
directly experienced a problem with elephants at a water source.
Additionally, logistic regression was used to explore the effect of
village habitation, sex, education, age, duration of residency, and
experience of respondents on willingness to share the same water
sources with elephants. Camera trap images were classified using
ExifPro 2.1 software and the overlap package in R software was
used to generate smoothed non-parametric kernel density
distributions showing the timing of elephant visits to water sources
over 24 hours. Results showed that shallow wells dug by hand
provided the majority of the villager‟s water needs, and 92% of
elephant camera trap detections occurred there. The camera traps
detected 24 elephant visits to water sources, all of which occurred at night. Female-led cow-calf groups were present in 58.3% of visits
and male elephants were present in 75.0% of visits. From camera
trap photos, we identified at least three distinct cow-calf groups and
eleven distinct bulls. Analysis of social-economic data revealed that
the majority of households (85.0%) had witnessed elephants at their
primary water source and 85.2% of respondents stated they had
directly experienced a problem when using a water source that was
also being used by elephants. It was further revealed that women
were more likely than men to have directly experienced problems
with elephants. Generally, around 59.9% of respondents were
unwilling to share water sources with elephants. In conclusion, key
findings include the prevalence of hand-dug shallow wells as the
primary water source for villagers with a high incidence of elephant
visits, particularly at night. The main concerns were: elephant
damage to shallow wells, delays due to elephant presence at water
sources, fear of meeting elephants at water sources, water
contamination, elephants being trapped inside wells, and elephants
dying inside wells. To address these concerns, community members
recommended constructing boreholes and communal water taps and
increasing support from Game reserve rangers when elephants are
on village land.
Description
MSc Dissertation
Keywords
Human-elephant interactions, water sources, camera trapping, community livelihoods, Tanzania