The role of man, hand-raised black rhinos and elephants on woody vegetation, Matusadona National Parks, Zimbabwe

摘要

The impact of man, hand-raised black rhinos and elephants (referred to as factors) on woody vegetation around the Tashinga rhino hand-raising site in Matusadona National Park (MNP), Zimbabwe, were assessed in April-May 2004 when the programme was running and in June 2012 after the programme was no longer running. The direct animal observation targeted at the hand-raised black rhinos and man and indirect animal observation, tailored at elephants and also man were adopted as assessment methods. Each individual plant was identified and assessed to determine the extent of damage inflicted by each factor under study. Results indicate that damage intensity and impact on woody vegetation varied among man, hand-raised black rhinos and elephants and also differed significantly along a distance gradient. Density was in the high category for some plant species, but diversity was not significantly different (P > 0.05) in all three segments. It can be concluded that the three factors had different roles in transforming a once thick vegetation area into open woodland. Management doing such programmes under similar circumstances is recommended to adopt rotational browsing and vegetation monitoring even in the post-release period.