Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer) social dynamics in a flood-pulsed environment

Emily Bennitt, Mpaphi Casper Bonyongo, Stephen Harris and Louise BarrettHandling Editor

Behavioral Ecology, 2018, vol. 29, issue 1, 93-105

Abstract: Environmental conditions can have strong effects on social behavior. Previous research on Cape buffalo has described large herds that occasionally split into smaller groups through fission. However, in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, data from GPS-enabled collars showed that buffalo live in subpopulations, consisting of numerous fluid groups that merge in areas where home ranges overlap. Our data suggest that group fusion in a highly heterogeneous, flood-pulsed environment is resource-driven and relatively opportunistic.

Keywords: dyadic interactions; environmental variation; fission–fusion; group size; home range overlap; migration; water availability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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