camera trap; Central Africa; chilli pepper; forest elephants; Gabon
Abstract :
[en] In Central Africa, Gabon is a forested country with a rich biodiversity where conflict between wild animals and humans is common and causes innumerable damage to crops. The worst crop raiders are elephants, which can destroy an entire crop in a single night. These raids threaten people’s livelihoods as well as elephants because angry farmers often retaliate with killing campaigns against crop raiding elephants. To keep elephants out of farms the use of chilli pepper is recommended as a non-lethal method. But only a few studies have tested methods to use chilli pepper to deter elephants in Gabon. Results from this study give a starting point for understanding
how forest elephants react to devices using chilli pepper as a deterrent based on sequential camera trap photos. A chilli pepper device that resulted in splashing concentrate on the elephant face proved to be the most effective at deterring elephants. Surprisingly, chilli pepper concentrate directly applied to mango fruits did not deter elephants from eating the fruits, although it probably caused some discomfort. To make effective deterrent devices with chilli pepper future works need to focus on exploring practices to reach the elephant face with the least, safe quantity of chilli pepper and which will have enough strong deterrent effect.
Disciplines :
Life sciences: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Korte, Lisa; Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Gabon Biodiversity Program, USA
Johnson, Mireille; Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Gabon Biodiversity Program, USA
Vermeulen, Cédric ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Ingénierie des biosystèmes (Biose) > Laboratoire de Foresterie des régions trop. et subtropicales
Bindelle, Jérôme ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Agronomie, Bio-ingénierie et Chimie (AgroBioChem) > Ingénierie des productions animales et nutrition
Language :
English
Title :
Camera traps to study the forest elephant’s (Loxodonta cyclotis) response to chilli pepper repellent devices in Gamba, Gabon
Alternative titles :
[en] LES PIÈGES PHOTOGRAPHIQUES POUR ÉTUDIER LA RÉACTION DES ÉLÉPHANTS DE FORÊTS (LOXODONTA CYCLOTIS) FACE AUX DISPOSITIFS RÉPULSIFS DE PIMENT A GAMBA, GABON
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